First Real Trainer Workout

[gudujarlson]

I pulled off my first "real" indoor trainer workout tonight. I had only done recovery rides and tire rolling resistance experiments in the past. I warmed up for 10 min, road at ~90% FTP for 20 min, and then cooled down for 10 min. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The hardest part was warming up and cooling down. Outside I warm up for at least 15 minutes, but I cut it short inside. I didn't notice any downside to this.

I used no fan and I didn't feel uncomfortably hot, but I sweated like crazy and my max heart rate was about 8 bpm faster than outside. I'm going to at least need to put a tarp on the floor.

One odd thing is that my self selected cadence was 10 rpm lower than outside. I think part of the reason was gearing. If I downshifted 1 gear, I couldn't make 88% FTP at 100 rpm. But it still felt like I had a higher tolerance for lower cadence. I can't explain it. But anyway, I might try putting a different cassette on the bike.

About half way through I noticed that I was rocking back and forth in an attempt to use body momentum to help push the peddles down. I don't notice the same behavior outside. I thought this might be cheating or at least might be causing extra stress to the bike and trainer, so I actively tried not to do it.

TSS for the 20 min interval was 26.8. TSS for the whole workout was 40.5. It's unintuitive to me that 20 min of ~100w warmup/cooldown is 13.2 TSS. Riding at 94.5w for 60 min is also 13.2 TSS. When I do the same workout outside it is about 60 TSS because of the extra 20 min of screwing around. It seems like it might be hard to compare inside and outside workouts based on TSS. That or there is something very unintuitive about physiological stress.

 

[frost]

I don't think it is uncommon to have lower cadence on trainer. I would put it on lower inertia (that's been discussed quite a lot recently on wattage) on trainer and more even power production (outside you almost always have some up and down and/or wind gusts breaking the rhythm in which case at least I find it easier to handle the small accelerations with lower gear/higher cadence)

Definately use some cooling. It has a major effect to your performance.

 

[Felt_Rider]

Originally Posted by frost .
Definately use some cooling. It has a major effect to your performance.

+1 Absolutely

Now that our weather has changed and my house is about 60F when I come home to train indoors I find it frustrating to turn on the fan(s) to blow cool air, but within the 5 minute warmup that quickly changes. Sometime I will not turn the fan on until after the warm up and I start the timer for the first interval and notice a difference in positive change in performance and not just because I am holding L4, but because my core is being cooled. It does make a huge difference from my observation or at least in my case.

The rocking back and forth does sound odd. I try to keep in mind what RDO says that while on the trainer to keep my upper torso from being involved at all. But I imagine that this will smooth out the more time you put in on the trainer. Even with using the rollers I try to keep the bike as still as possible with very little side motion of the tires. If I am in the groove, focused and still pushing my L4 the bike stays pretty calm, but that took some practice.

As far as warm up goes you sometimes have to do what ya gotta do and in my case I have very limited time, which means there are days I have to virtually start L4 from the start of the clock or within a few minutes. I have not had any issues other than it is seems just a touch more discomforting with a harsh burning sensation in the muscles for a minute or so, but if I stick with it I am typically good to go.

As far as TSS for indoors just remember quality is what matters. As Dave has mentioned before in reminding us about CTL that we can go out and rack up a lot of TSS to bump CTL, but what that number doesn't tell us is the quality of the effort in that CTL. When the duration is short and the intensity is raised to match the short duration there is that quality of the TSS that we strive to hit based on the metabolic adaptation chart guide. I too get about 30 TSS for a 20 minute L4. Since my time is limited and considering there are tiny bits of rest time between L4 2 x 20's I am extending the my sets now to 30 minutes or more and removing the rest time. By doing this I am getting upward to 85 and 90 TSS for those indoor sessions in just over a 60 minutes session.

Last night I did 40 minutes, rested about 3 minutes to let my core cool off a bit and then hit another 20 minutes. Both of those were at 92% FT and then I finished with 10 minutes of 95% FT just to round it up to 85 TSS [COLOR= #ff0000][SIZE= 14px]*. [/COLOR][/SIZE]This has just been my creative way of increasing my stress load with a limited amount of time. Each of our schedules and goals are different so it comes down to working through and with time you find an efficient path or you come closer to finding an efficient path by looking and observing trends in the PMC or whatever program you are using. (* - I wanted to do 2 x 30, but got overheated even with 2 fans running and a cool room)

When I train outside my mindset is that I have already done my quality work indoors through the week. Now it is a time to enjoy cycling for cycling and my longer outdoor ride has more CTL, but certainly less quality because of traffic and other interuptions that break a sustained effort or me not being able to smooth out the hills. But I don't worry about this and kind of just enjoy cycling in more of a recreational manner with a variety of intensity levels. If I do my regular 80 mile route I typically can get several long blocks of solid L3/SST/L4, but in that TSS there is also a good portion of L2.

 

[gudujarlson]

Originally Posted by Felt_Rider .
As far as TSS for indoors just remember quality is what matters. As Dave has mentioned before in reminding us about CTL that we can go out and rack up a lot of TSS to bump CTL, but what that number doesn't tell us is the quality of the effort in that CTL. When the duration is short and the intensity is raised to match the short duration there is that quality of the TSS that we strive to hit based on the metabolic adaptation chart guide. I too get about 30 TSS for a 20 minute L4. Since my time is limited and considering there are tiny bits of rest time between L4 2 x 20's I am extending the my sets now to 30 minutes or more and removing the rest time. By doing this I am getting upward to 85 and 90 TSS for those indoor sessions in just over a 60 minutes session.
in that TSS there is also a good portion of L2.

Right. The problem is that if I do all my workouts outside I will have a much higher CTL, but this CTL might not represent more stress or more fitness than if I did them indoors. It wouldn't be a problem if I did all my workouts indoors or all of them outdoors, but if I mix it up my CTL might be really inaccurate. I wonder if simply tracking hours in zone would be better than TSS in this scenario. It's really hard to make a decision because the physiology behind TSS is not explained anywhere as far as I know. There's just a statement that says "this is better". I also have not found a physiology paper that tries to model or define "stress". Has anyone else? Lacking a basic model for stress and adaptation response, how can we say one workout has more "quality" than another?

 

[bgoetz]

I just did my 1st real session as well and it sucked! I have basically taken the last 3 weeks off and jumping back on the bike and heading right inside is a rude awakening. I am just doing 1hr each morning this week at about 60-65% of my FTP at the end of the season (I have no doubt with the time offy current FTP is lower). The real training starts next week! With regards to the rocking, I have noticed that I develop a pain on my inner right groin on the trainer, like I am grinding on it. I have had problems in the past with this when I train indoors. I am starting to wonder if my right leg is not actually shorter causing me to put more pressure on this side since the bike is stationary. I may try to shim my right cleat and see if there is a change.

 

[gregf83]

Originally Posted by Felt_Rider .


Last night I did 40 minutes, rested about 3 minutes to let my core cool off a bit and then hit another 20 minutes. Both of those were at 92% FT and then I finished with 10 minutes of 95% FT just to round it up to 85 TSS [SIZE= 14px]*. [/SIZE]This has just been my creative way of increasing my stress load with a limited amount of time. Each of our schedules and goals are different so it comes down to working through and with time you find an efficient path or you come closer to finding an efficient path by looking and observing trends in the PMC or whatever program you are using. (* - I wanted to do 2 x 30, but got overheated even with 2 fans running and a cool room)

When I plug in your numbers (40m @ 92%, 3m @ 0, 20m @ 92%, 10m @ 95%) I get a TSS of 102. Did I calculate incorrectly?

 

[Felt_Rider]

Your calculations are probably okay.......my memory.....uhh.....not so much /img/vbsmilies/smilies/redface.gif
I just looked at the laps on my phone and it was 30 minute, 20 minute and 10 not counting a light warm up and cool down time.

Edit: A round about way of getting a screen capture of that particular session since data and WKO are not with me at this moment. Lap 3 was part intensity and part cool down combined into the same lap time. But for the most part my indoor sessions are somewhere in the 85 to 95 TSS range.

 

[Richard L]

2x20x5 at 92% FTP:



It was tougher to produce the same power on my indoor trainer, even with a fan in front of me.

 

[Conan]

Originally Posted by Richard L .

2x20x5 at 92% FTP:



It was tougher to produce the same power on my indoor trainer, even with a fan in front of me.

You won't get adequate cooling with a typical household fan - at least not for anything over L2. You need an industrial strength fan, although from the picture it looks like your in your living room which could be a problem with noise.

 

[alienator]

You won't get adequate cooling with a typical household fan - at least not for anything over L2. You need an industrial strength fan, although from the picture it looks like your in your living room which could be a problem with noise.

This is the end all/be all of fans for indoor training:

 

[Richard L]

Noise doesn't really bother me or the wife. I was looking for a similar fan with a remote control so I can turn it on after warm up without getting up from my seat. Does such thing exist?

 

[Conan]

Originally Posted by alienator .


This is the end all/be all of fans for indoor training:

In my best 'Crocodile Dundee' voice... That's not a fan... That's a fan!

 

[Conan]

Originally Posted by Richard L .

Noise doesn't really bother me or the wife. I was looking for a similar fan with a remote control so I can turn it on after warm up without getting up from my seat. Does such thing exist?

Remote control...! I'm just about to bury myself with some L4 torture but I'm too lazy to get up to switch the fan on /img/vbsmilies/smilies/ROTF.gif

Rig up an extension lead with a switch perhaps?

 

[BrianMacDonald]

Originally Posted by Richard L .

Noise doesn't really bother me or the wife. I was looking for a similar fan with a remote control so I can turn it on after warm up without getting up from my seat. Does such thing exist?

I have one of these. It has remote control and other functions.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CSS27I/ref=s9_simh_gw_p201_d6_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1ZX95MB416YBGFF40ZB0&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1389517282&pf_rd_i=507846

Its not an industrial fan but it meets my needs. I believe it also comes in a shorter model.

 

[ira41]

Grats on getting the indoor season started, if it wern't for my IPAD I wouldnt be able to do it.
Currently I am in the garage which is usally around 62f, I still use two household fans and still sweat buckets.

I am focused on mostly L4 with a longer ride 2-3 hours on Sunday. The goal is by spring to not do another L4 but just enjoy riding in L2 and L3 with surges for the most part.

 

[gudujarlson]

I haven't done another indoor session since then. I've been riding outside, however we received a foot of snow on Sunday and the roads are now unrideable even with studded tires. My work commute went from 1 hour to 2-3 hours and I got in 5.5 hours of L2 today. Luckily, I'm not busy at work right now. There is no way of doing quality L4 outside, so I might be doing some more indoor sessions.