So I won't be able to join people in the morning Central Park rides and will have to train on my own in the evenings (on an indoor trainer). Is there anything I should be focusing on: time, sprint repeats, Hill repeats?
Thanks for any advice.
Shervyn
There will be evening rides as well as morning rides. An email will be sent to all participants letting them know when it's going to begin.
"As for indoor training, here are a few things that have worked for me. I'm not a trainer so take this with a grain of salt. I usually find increases in strength to be porportional to the degree you are willing to let your body suffer (to a point of course).
1. Work with the tension and cadence. Bring the tension up enough to sustain >83% heart rate with a cadence of 70 to 90 in the saddle for 15 to 20 minutes. Focus on a smooth pedal stroke using all the muscles in your legs. Try sliding your butt back to maximize use of your glutes. At the end of this ""hill"", attack hard and approach your red line. This step is supposed to be uncomfortable.
2. Now enter active recovery. Decrease tension, and bring cadence to about 100 to 110. Depending on your fitness level, let your HR fall to about 70 to 80%. Whatever you do, DONT BOUNCE IN THE SADDLE. If your butt is bouncing at all, increase tension slightly and focus on a smooth peddle stroke while maintaing cadence. As a general rule, keep your upper body as still as possible, with elbows slightly bent and shoulders relaxed.
Repeat the hill (1) and active recovery (2) cycle. Cool down (HR < 65%) and stretch when you're done. This is just one semi-homeade approach. There's lots you can do indoors. Happy training :)"
When I did the A-19 SIG, my work schedule did not allow for any group riding during the week. I would hook up my bike to a Cyclops fluid trainer and do workouts about twice a week (excluding weekends), which would leave me enough time to recuperate and be fresh for Saturday SIG rides.
I found that the best way to stay focused (and somewhat interested) while riding indoors was to use training videos. I would recommend Coach Troy or Carmichael Training Systems. You can purchase videos for all kinds of training (hill repeats, big gear strength, aerobic training / low intensity spinning, recovery, etc.).
I still ride indoors during the week as I find it is the most time-efficient workout. Good luck!
"Training by HR on an indoor trainer is doable, but can be problematic unless you are aware of 2 things:
The first is that HR can rise dramaticly on an indoor bike unless you make special efforts to cool yourself. And if that happens, you will not be putting out anywhere near the same amount of power on the bike as you would at the same HR outsides. If there is significant sweat building up on your arms or legs, or dripping off you, you are too hot. At a minimum you should have a powerful fan blowing on you. Riding in a cool room might help even more.
(Sometimes in preparation for a ride to be held in hot weather you might want to ride indoors w/o a fan, but that is a special case)
The second problem is more subtle, and affects any form of training by heart rate. The issue is this: improving fitness means improving your ability to ride at any given power output or speed with LESS stress on your body. Less stress on your body can be measured by a lower HR. So it can be misleading to measure the intensity of your workout by HR alone. For example, say you are pedalling along and someone says ""Ride at 83% of your max HR."" That can mean a lot of things. You could be pedalling at 16mph, concentrating on being relaxed and be at that HR. Or you could be tense or not breathing as well as you should and be going 14mph with the same HR. The former is what you should be aiming for.
The upshot is this: if you're doing some sort of specific workout using a HR monintor, DON'T aim for a target HR and put your mental energy into that. Instead, try to have the bike go as fast as you can w/o having your HR go out of your target zone. If you find that your HR is not up into the target zone, DON'T focus on driving it up. Focus on riding faster and HR will follow. HR is a measurement, not a goal."
I agree about HR caveats. An HR monitor is a nice tool when combined with a comprehensive evaluation of your training and riding techniques.
"Its impossible to give someone a training program when we dont know your past or present workouts,however if your going to train on an indoor trainer make sure you hydrate and cool the room with a fan and/or an airconditioner.Read JOE FRIEL'S CYCLIST TRAINING BIBLE or CHIS CHARMICHAEL BOOK or both.I just finished ""TRAINING AND RACING WITH A POWER METER by HUNTERALLEN and ANDREW COGGAN,excellent book.I read and re-read all my books two and three times I learn more stuff the more I re-read.I recently finished ""THE PALEO DIET FOR ATHLETES"" another super good book.Most if not all good athletes do a lot of research to get to where they are not many are born super fast cyclist.Never underestimate the power of a schedule,it works thats why people use them.Hope I helped some,Rich"
My indoor trainer experience didn't duplicate the muscle stresses I experience outdoors - especially on the hills. If you can, try to join an evening outdoor ride at least twice a week in combination with an indoor training ride.
Over the past two years (due to demands of work)I've ridden a high end indoor trainer (computrainer)doing simulated hills, intervals, watts training, race against myself - about 4,000 miles total. The indoor riding provided excellent cardio training (and I did increase my power output to an avg. 250 watts versus 220 watts on a 40 mile ride). But, when I went outside my leg muscles needed to adjust to the stresses on the hills - I was never out of breath though!
All the good advice in other comments aside, for the first month, focus on time.
All training programs start out with a solid base. Before you start intervals, you should probably have at least 5 weeks of base miles behind you.
Many training programs suggest base miles at very low heart rates, so don't get crazy for a few weeks. Just try and get your body use to the bike. Especially if you haven't ridden all winter.
As the SIG speed picks up next month, you can start intervals then.
Thanks for the suggestions.
At the B-SIG Sunday Meeting at the church, someone left orange lens sunglasses with a plastic frame. The glasses were left on one of the tables. Just let me know the brand and I'll bring them to the next B-SIG ride to give to you.
As for my own personal set of glasses, I found them. Thank you for anyone who looked for them at the end of the meeting.
