Winter Training Tips

5 Reasons to Train Indoors

Unless you’re completely hard core and relish cycling in all weathers you’ll need a cycle trainer if you want to stay at a good level of fitness over winter. Here’s 5 good reasons why:

You’ll avoid darkness and bad weather: Enough said really. Safer, warmer and you can choose to train whenever you want to.
You’ll save time: With a planned programme you can get to maximum training programme in 60 mins and because you’re not spending anytime freewheeling it’s like 90 mins to 2 hours on the road (or trail).
It’s more intense: Because you can control your environment you minimise distractions you get on the road or the trail. This means you can concentrate on optimising your effort and heart rate for the session without worrying about cars, potholes, or other road hazards.
You can improve your pedal stroke: Doing one leg drills will highlight weak points in your pedalling technique and allow you to focus on and build a smooth and complete pedal cycle.
You can improve recovery: At the end of a challenging ride consider jumping on the trainer and doing 20 minutes of gentle spinning at 55% max heart rate. This is superior to massage to clear lactic acid from the muscle and reduces post training stiffness and soreness.

7 Techniques to Improve Your Indoor Training Sessions
Getting bored with the idea of indoor training sessions already? Then try these 7 techniques to improve your next workout:

Get some structure in your workouts: Have a planned programme and stick with it. Also make sure you have a variety of training programmes over time so you’re not repeating the same old structure each time.
Watch your heart rate: A heart rate monitor gives you immediate feedback on your efforts and is a great tool to give you something other than the clock to think about.
Get your mates involved: Have a friend or two bring their trainers to your place or, if there’s one available, get a group of mates together and meet at a local gym equipped with multiple machines.
Keep your mind stimulated: You can only stare at the wall or the clock for so long. Get a heart rate monitor, listen to your favourite music, read if you’re taking it easy or watch a movie or Tour stage.
Keep cool: Get a fan to keep the air moving. The movement of the air is distracting (just like real wind) and keeps you cool and comfortable at the same time. Or try riding in an unheated garage, where it is cooler than a house but not as cold as in the elements.
Stay hydrated: You’ll sweat a lot more on a stationary bike in a warm room than you will out in the elements so it’s easy to get dehydrated. Make sure you have a full water bottle handy.
Get quality gear: Good quality mag rollers and other moving parts are essential to a good indoor trainer as is solid stability. Stability of the trainer is key if you plan on sprinting out of the saddle for a little variety during the session. Make sure you get a reputable brand from a reputable bike shop and a type of trainer that suits your purpose.

Technique Specific Workouts
If you want to emerge in October/November in cracking shape then check out these indoor training tips for success and technique specific workouts:

Tips for successful training:

General conditioning:

Find a resistance-and-gear combination that gets your heart rate into your training zone.
Once you’ve warmed up, raise your cadence to 90 to 100 rpm, maintaining your heart rate at no more than 85 percent of your maximum.

Climbing strength/ big gears:

Put the bike into a low gear or increase to a resistance that forces you to drop your cadence to about 75 rpm.
Maintain this cadence for a few minutes and repeat several times during a training session.
Place a 100mm block under the front wheel to simulate riding up a hill.
Vary the ride by occasionally getting out of the saddle and pedalling at 50 to 60 rpm.
Gradually build up to 10 minutes while riding out of the saddle.

Speed work/ anaerobic capacity:

Intervals on a trainer are just the answer. You can structure interval programs similar to those you use on the road. The key is to remember to not overwork.

Technique specific workouts
Ensure you warm-up for 5 to 10 mins before your main session (below) starts:

Intervals

Start with a 10-minute hard effort followed by 2 minutes of easy spinning for recovery.
The next interval should be 8 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy.
Each hard interval decreases by 2 minutes but increases slightly in intensity with the easy 2-minute interval remaining the same.
The workout ends when you reach 2 minutes hard and 2 minutes easy.

Speed intervals

To develop speed, include sprint intervals
10 to 12 all-out, 15-second pedalling sprints, alternating with 45 seconds of easy rolling.

Power intervals

To develop power, try three to six repetitions of three minutes at 90 rpm in a big gear, with three minutes of low-gear spinning between efforts.

Progression drills

Ride progressively harder gears. Start in a relatively low gear and ride for one to two minutes (keeping the same cadence anywhere from 80 to 110 but the same for the whole workout), then shift to the next-higher gear for one to two minutes, and to the next, and so on.
When you’re finished with the highest gear you plan to ride, ride progressively back down the gears.
Riding up four to five gears is enough for a good workout.

Heart Rate Zone workout

A good workout when you want to do an endurance ride at a specific heart rate zone.
For example, if you want to work out between 75 and 80 percent of your maximum for a good aerobic workout:
Warm up for about 5 minutes, starting with low to moderate gears, and gradually raise your revolutions per minute or gearing until your heart rate is 75 percent of your maximum.
For the next 30 minutes, keep your heart rate within the 75 to 80 percent target zone. The challenge of this workout is to keep your heart rate consistent. If it rises above or falls below this zone, decrease or increase your effort.
Cool down for 5 to 10 minutes until your heart rate is below 110.