Wind and Mag Training

Cycling Friend Joined: Posts: 9

Cold, wet and dark=indoor training. I've used some type of wind trainer for about 15 years. I think I've worn out three or four of noisy irksome things. So I think I have a couple of good ideas for how to survive 4 or 5 months in the basement.

First, if you can, use a wind or mag trainer on a cement floor, in a garage or basement. The vibration and noise when used on other than a cement floor would likely drive the people you live with to acts of physical violence against your person otherwise.

Set some goals. Like riding from Albany to Miami from November 1, to say the end of March. To do so, you need to keep records. Keep track of all of your minutes spent on the trainer. I have used a conversion factor of 60 minutes equal 13.5 miles. I log the minutes on a spreadsheet that converts the minutes to miles and accumulates the miles. Plot your miles on a map, say on a monthly basis. You'd be surprised how far you can go over a typical Albany winter.

Next to keep from going completely nuts while riding on the trainer you need to very your workouts. Here the magic of cable, video tape and DVDs comes in real handy. I try to do a couple of long rides each week, say 75 to 90 minutes. For these it’s a movie, tape or DVD works best since there are no distracting commercials. Tapes of last year's Tour work great! The longer rides are for maintaining aerobic base.

You also need to build in some workouts that are more intensive. For these I like to watch boxing on cable. See, a boxing match has three minutes rounds with a one minute break between rounds. Ride at a steady pace to warm up say 10 minutes, then hammer for a round, recover between rounds and then hammer again. Two or three sets of this followed by a 15 minute cool down is a good workout.

For a little variety, and to work other muscle groups, have a few free weights and a jump rope near your trainer. Warm up for 10 minutes, then ride briskly for another 10. Dismount and do two sets of ten curls, standing military presses and 15 sit ups. Then do 30 to 60 seconds of jump rope. (You might want to put some platform pedals on the bike or use your commuter so you can wear regular sneakers for this work out.) Hop back on the bike for another brisk 20 minutes and finish up with another set of weights and jump rope.

When you really get cabin fever you can do stuff like pedal with one leg for as long as you can in say a 38X15. I think I go 8 minutes once last winter doing that.

Keep a towel near by, since you'll sweat like crazy indoors. Also make sure you drink plenty of water, its real poor form to get dizzy and crash while in your basement. Speaking of crashing in your basement, there is always riding rollers to consider. I don't have much time on rollers, but they seem like they give a good workout.

I know the request was for indoor training ideas, but don't forget to ride in the snow at least once each winter. My kids and I have an annual snow drag race on the lawn when we get the first couple of inches. You'll laugh and never forget it!

I got to go log this evenings training minutes. Watched 75 minutes of "Pirates of the Caribbean" That’s good for nearly 17 miles. Not bad for a cold, wet, and dark Monday evening.

Jonathan Benn