Sick and tired of trying to train in the winter? It’s cold, cloudy, snowy, and you have little motivation to ride (or at least we do). In this latest edition of Tips From a World Champion, Alison shares the ways she keeps winter training exciting. The written article below is all about how to keep the dreaded trainer exciting. Enjoy and good luck!

Learning to Love the Trainer

Staying fit throughout the winter can be a challenge, especially if you’re trying to ride your bike. We all love hiking the Incline and backcountry skiing, but if you want to race this coming spring, you really need to spend time on your bike. And with the cold temperatures and snow on the ground, that can mean time on the trainer.

Aaaah the dreaded trainer. There are some easy things you can do to make riding the trainer tolerable, if even enjoyable. First, I recommend riding the trainer in front of your TV or laptop. Watch an action-packed movie that will keep your attention. No love stories. Next, have a purpose when riding the trainer. Even if you are supposed to do a 2hr endurance ride, you can still spice things up to keep it interesting. For example, ride for 10 minutes at a cadence of 50rpms. Then do 10 minutes at a cadence of 120rpms. Then ride for 5 minutes standing up. Then ride with one leg. Switch to the other leg. Before you know it an hour has passed. The third thing I recommend is breaking down your ride into one hour segments. Don’t jump on the trainer thinking you’re going to do a 3hr workout. It won’t happen. Instead, start your ride and only focus on the first hour. Once the hour is up, get off the trainer and stretch, go to the bathroom and have a snack. Then get back on the trainer and focus on riding for another hour. When that second hour is up, get off and do the same thing. I’ve used this technique for a four hour trainer ride. Call me crazy but it really works!

Riding the trainer is never going to be as fun as going outside, but for those of us that sometimes have no choice, riding indoors can still be a great workout. It’s all in the attitude. Figure out a way to make it fun and you’ll get a heck of a lot more out of your workout.

Happy trails!

Alison

For all of you who have been asking for an Endurance-specific program – here it is! We’ve just added our second Endurance program, which is aimed at events from four to six hours long. It is also great for folks that want to do longer events but don’t have the time necessary for our eight-hour-plus program! You can check out a free sample by going to our homepage and following the links from there.

Here’s the latest Tips from a World Champion.  In this edition, Alison talks about and demonstrates how to ride steep climbs, and also how to get started on a steep climb if you’ve stopped.  Check it out!

Here’s the latest Tips from a World Champion. In this edition, Alison talks about training with heart rate vs. training with power. Check it out!

Here are some videos from this weekend’s NACT ‘cross races in Boulder:

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt