Winter Turbo Training - Get stuck in!
The prospect of starting some winter training so soon after the 2018 season ending is tough to swallow.
The simple fact is the longer you put it off, the longer it will take to get going again once the clocks change and you’re training in darkness all week!
Make one of your first structured sessions of winter training a turbo session, get your workout uploaded to your Garmin or Wahoo computer and make sure you follow the session to start as you mean to go on!
Here are some cycling coaching tips for getting ready!
Make sure your head unit it charged, there is nothing worse than getting half way through a session and losing the way of recording it!
GET A FAN! Overheating whilst training indoors can be torturous, look beyond a normal desk fan and start thinking industrial sizes!
Have your drinks ready – if you’re doing a long or intense session 1 or 2 bottle simply may not be enough hydration, have extra bottles filled and ready to go within reach of the bike so you don’t have to get off half way through that killer sweetspot session!
Get Interactive! Turbo training can be tedious but getting online with apps such as Zwift get make the time fly by! A small monthly subscription can give you hours of riding with other interactive users making time fly by a lot quicker!
Choose your turbo wisely! There are hundreds of different turbo trainers to choose from, starting simple and cheap can get you on the indoor training ladder, but there is a good chance the experience won’t be that good. Committing to a direct drive (no rear wheel needed) smart turbo trainer that connects to your power meter and/or computer will likely help you enjoy (or hate a little less!) the indoor training you choose to do.
Be realistic with your session! Long sustained efforts can become boring or tedious quite quickly, if you’re forced onto the turbo through time constraints then make sure you are realistic with the type of session you aim to do. We regularly set shorter more intense efforts to keep the brain stimulated for the session as well, that 6 or 90 minutes will soon fly by!
Don’t over dress! Typically, a pair of bib shorts and base layer is enough to keep you cool enough!
Keep a towel to hand! You will nearly always get sweaty when training indoors, so a towel resting on your handlebars will help to keep the majority of the sweat off your bike. This helps to prevent bolts from corroding while limiting the amount of clean up required post session!
An indoor mat for putting the bike on may also help catch the sweat!
Here are a couple of example sessions for you to try this winter!
Sweetspot/FTP Changes
5 minutes warm up L1-L2-cadence 100 --- 20 Minute Block – 3 mins @FTP, 2 mins @sweetspot (87-93% of FTP)-Cadence @ 80-90 (keep the variation of efforts until the 20 minutes is complete) --- 10 Minute Block - Recovery -L2-cadence 100 --- 20 Minute Block - 3 mins @ FTP, 2 mins @ sweetspot (87-93% of FTP)- Cadence @ 80-90 (keep the variation of efforts until the 20 minutes is complete) --- 5 minutes recovery.
Visual representation of the session!
Session 2 - Mix of intervals
5 minutes warm up L1 -- 10 minutes L3 --- 10 minutes @Sweetspot (87-93% of FTP) --- 5 mins L2 --- 4x1 minutes @FTP - Cadence 60-70 30 secs- L2 recovery between efforts -- 10 minutes @sweetspot (87-93% of FTP) --- 4x1 minutes @FTP - Cadence 60-70 30 secs- L2 recovery between efforts --- 10 minutes L1 high cadence recovery
Visual representation of the session!
