Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Indoor Training

With all the typical early season shenanigins going on in the pro cycling world - Contador's impending suspension, Matt White getting fired by Garmin-Cervelo, the Landis - Lance continuing saga, I thought it best to talk about what we should all be doing this Winter - training for the next season.

Over the last two weeks, I have been working shorter workouts, but at a higher intensity, looking for a few power gains. However, this week I have started to ride the rollers for tempo workouts (45-60 minutes), and ride the trainer for longer endurance workouts (90-120 minutes). I alternate each day, and plan on extending the time of each workout by about 10-15% each week for about four weeks.

Based on what I have been doing, here is my training advice for this week. WARM-UP! On the rollers, start with a harder gear, but spin at a lower cadence, slowly working up to a tempo cadence of about 100 rpm over 10 to 15 minutes. This will slowly warm the legs, you'll be sweating hard, and will engage any power or strength training that you've done previously. To keep a tempo pace, go ahead and shift back and forth from easier and harder gears. Enjoy!

On the trainer, because of better stability, start with an easy gear, spinning at a high cadence 100-130 for about 5 minutes as an initial warm-up. Pop the gears down to a harder gear, a bit harder than your TT, and grind out some nice circles for about a minute. After that soft pedal for about 2-4 minutes, and then work into your long endurance routine.

Training indoors is always better with something to watch and with some company to pass the time. Try not to get too competitive if training with your training partner. This early in the year is about rebuilding your base, and slowly shedding any access weight from the winter holidays.

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