I had a good session on the trainer this evening. I used a fairly standard workout I picked up from The Time Crunched Cyclist by Chris Carmichael.
15 min warm up with 3x8min Steady State (SS) efforts (85-90% of functional threshold) with 8min BI (between intervals). Simple yet effective - I hope anyway.
Key Ingredients:
- Entertainment - HULU on the laptop is fantastic I must say. Especially when you've watched the 2006 Tour 23 times.
- A Good Fan - Unless you're taking it easy, a fan is critical IMO. It keeps you from over cooking and feels more like on the road with a breeze at your face.
- Power Meter / HR Monitor - If you've got one or both great. Very useful for precision workouts and if nothing else it allays some of the boredom by giving you something to look at and concentrate on.
- Something to Drink - Probably stating the obvious here. Remember to buy some of the Camelbak Podium bottles - no drippage / spillage.
- Sweat Mat - Don't sweat on the carpet, stupid!
- Sweat Towel - Keep that stuff controlled - no need to get it on the bike, floor, etc.
- Imagination- If you get bored do something different to get the workout completed. I've often found myself mentally not into it. Switch things up a bit - change the workout on the fly:
- 1- legged intervals - you'll be shocked at how odd it feels if you haven't done them before. Those pretty circles you spin so well will feel like squares.
- 20 / 20s - 100% for 20 seconds then 60% for 20 seconds and so on for 3-5 minutes and an equal amount of rest. Trust me - these are hard and time does go by more quickly.
- 1 min All out x 3 min easy for the entire workout
- Standup / sit down
It's not always fun or easy but you can make it more so by trying different things and being prepared and well equipped. I'll share some other workouts with you soon to help get through the Winter.
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