News has reached me of someone who has just spent over 6 hours riding a smart turbo trainer.
Apparently some people have far too much time on their hands and frankly I’d rather be out in the fresh air enjoying the lanes and our wonderful countryside. Admittedly on the day in question we did have the worst storm in years with winds recorded at 122mph on the Isle of Wight, it also partially ripped the roof off the Millennium Dome or 02 as its currently known with a rare ‘red’ weather warning, maybe not a day to be out on a bike!
If you absolutely had to train that day then an indoor session was probably a wise choice – but six hours? The same training adaptation can be made in an hour or just over for the average club cyclist. A professional athlete may be a different matter, these guys and gals are a different breed with power outputs and power to weight figures the rest of us can only dream about therefore adaptation required for them is far greater.
So where do you start?
As with all effective training you need to know your numbers – by this I mean an accurate set of training zones. Without these any training session is meaningless and just a series of ‘junk miles’. This initially requires a bit of hard work but testing regularly will save you a lot of wasted time and energy. It’s best to update your zones every 3-6 months. There are various ways to do it, a threshold or ramp test for experienced riders or a sub max test if less experienced. You can do these yourself but it may be preferable to employ professional help. I’m sure myself or one of my coaching colleagues with the right kit will always be delighted to assist for a small fee and you will also learn a lot from the report.
So what should you do? – thought you’d never ask!
It depends on what you are trying to achieve and turbo training sessions generally fall into three categories, endurance, strength and speed.
Lets deal with endurance first or ‘building your engine’ warm up to mid zone 3 and ride a series of intervals at upper zone 3/ lower zone 4 this can be by heart rate or power based measurement but its good to have both as an additional check. Start with five minute intervals, 4 or 5 repeats with 2 minutes recovery between. Build up week by week adding more time to the interval till you are able to do 4 x 12 minutes.
Strength sessions usually employ bigger gears/more resistance and lower cadence. Again a good warm is crucial then start with a 2 or 3 minute interval and aim to hit a HR upper zone 4 heart rate by the end. Take a 1 minute easy spin then go again. Start with 6 repeats and increase number of intervals week by week.
Last but by no means least is the speed session you’ll need to know your threshold power sometimes called FTP or its heart rate alternative FTHR this is the pace that you can ride flat out for 1 hour or if you were riding a 25 mile time trial. Do a good warm up over 20 minutes with a couple of 1 minute race pace efforts to finish then ride at 105% of your threshold. Start at 5 minutes and do 4 intervals with 90 seconds to 2 minutes between. Gradually increase interval time then reduce the rest period.
As with all turbo training always progress the sessions, never do the same workout otherwise your body won’t adapt and your fitness will plateau.
The above sessions are just the basics and are done at your own risk and if you are new to training please get yourself checked out by a doctor before you start. All are adaptable and can be programmed to run in conjunction with one of the popular video distraction apps, I’d count Zwift as the market leader but others such as Rouvy, Trainer Road or RGT being just as good with the latter even having a free option. You might prefer to train without and find distraction apps just that - a distraction and just get on with the business of the day, you can train without despite what TV adverts and marketers would have you believe.
However you train do it properly, do it well, but don’t spend 6 hours on a turbo trainer!
Happy cycling.