Cold Weather Training
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bsexton3
Posts: 472 Member
As the weather in the Northwest turns to fall, I am wondering what people do to train in the off season.
I set up the trainer and try to get three indoor rides a week while watching something on tv. Then, I try to find one day to get outside as long as there is not snow on the roads.
What do you do? And if you have a plan that is specific, will you share so I can get some ideas?
I set up the trainer and try to get three indoor rides a week while watching something on tv. Then, I try to find one day to get outside as long as there is not snow on the roads.
What do you do? And if you have a plan that is specific, will you share so I can get some ideas?
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Replies
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I ride/race outdoors until December. As long as the roads are clear and the temps are bearable, I'm outdoors.
If I HAVE to ride the trainer. No more than an hour. No real structure there, just cruising.0 -
I mountain bike more. Here in the Southeast I can mtb year round and cold weather is my favorite time. The trees provide wind cover and we get very little snow or ice. I also run more. I can still get in an occasional road bike ride, but I am averse to indoor training, though I'm sure I'd have to change that if I lived in a colder climate.0
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I'm currently struggling with this...
Winter 2012/13 I bought a rather fancy Computer linked Ergo-Turbo Trainer... Tacx Bushido with all the computer Training systems. Wonderful piece of kit, but my state of fitness at that point was, according to the physio I was working with "Pretty Crap. No point in trying to do high-intensity stuff until you a) lose weight and b) get some proper base fitness, so concentrate on long steady work." The Tacx was (for a Turbo Trainer) actually pretty good on that score - because it had some ergo-linked dvd quality videos that were actually pretty immersive - you could almost enjoy sitting there for a couple of hours, twiddling a low gear and grinding up the side of the Col du Tourmalet or Alpe d'Huez. As my fitness increased, there was plenty of scope for increasing the load to ensure that I spent 2-3 hours of riding at a good solid "Tempo" loading, so it was great - I came out of winter with increased fitness, both power wise AND in endurance (and, with a slightly different attitude to climbing than I'd ever had - I finally KNEW that if I could stick the bike in a low enough gear to be able to just keep spinning at 70rpm, I could keep it up for hours on end - before I'd always just tried too hard and blown up)
Winter 2013/14 was a slightly different prospect. Different curcumstances had meant I'd been able to do more riding over the intervening 8 months and was considerably fitter and stronger. I'd also bought a "winter bike" - a disk braked cyclocross bike, which doubled as a Winter Hack when fitted with road tyres and mudguards. Coupled with a surprisingly mild winter, I basically did very little on the Turbo, unless frankly, I absolutely HAD to. This, in retrospect was a bit of a screw-up, because I was finally fit enough to actually do proper "structured" training, but instead I continued just "going for a ride" I came out of winter with my endurance fitness way improved BUT when I went for my early season FTP test, I'd lost maybe 15% of the power I'd been knocking out the previous autumn.
So - as the nights are drawing in, and I'm sat here, still trying to shake off a cold that's been dragging on for nearly a fortnight now, my thoughts are again turning to what the hell to do to actually get fit. I don't want to get "race fit" or anything silly, I've no ambitions competitively - other than it'd be nice to be able to get under 26:38 for the local club's 10 mile TT course (that's the club "age standard" for my advanced years) instead of my 2013 PB of 27:22, but what I really want to do is increase my overall riding speed - it'd be nice to finish century rides before I get bored of my own company...
At the moment i'm seriously considering having a proper look at the TrainerRoad software and associated training programs, and tying them in with as much "long steady" work as I can manage outdoors... Either way, I just hope I can keep my mind on the fact that all the suffering in the winter is all to make the next summer easier and faster.0 -
I too have (had) ambitions for a doing a structured training plan this winter via, Trainer Road, Sufferfest and a weekly outdoor club ride. However, I am now working 6 days a week on a project and suffering my first of what I am sure will be several colds my son brings home from daycare throughout the fall. In addition, the roof has a few leaks, both upstairs bathrooms are leaking through the downstairs ceiling, the oven stopped working............ Needless to say, those ambitions are are pipe dreams now.
So, my reality will probably be sneaking in a handful of miserable rides in various states of illness, trying to limit the loss of fitness as much as I can. This will still be better than last year where I said screw it, and spent my limited free time watching EPL games at the pub and packing on the 16 pounds I had lost that Summer.0 -
This will be my first winter as a cyclist so I am pretty concerned!
I am finishing a construction project for work so the work days are getting longer and the sun is setting earlier. I'm looking for a Kurt Kinetic road machine on Craig's list. I also am putting winter gear on my list for Santa. This week I only managed 2 rides and I definately want to ride at least 3 to 4 times a week over the winter. Hopefully this northeast winter will not be as brutal as last years.
Good luck fixing the house I have been there many times!0 -
My road bikes get put away for the winter once the town/county starts putting salt down on the roads. Once that happens, my options are:
- trainer
- mountain biking
- running/swimming/lifting0 -
I ride on any nice day I can. Colorado makes it easy with tons of sunshine. I also have the trainer set up in the dungeon but I hate it so much. Hopefully, I'll get my lazy *kitten* in some spin classes this season. I want to be ready for the first ride of the spring, which is a brutal 50 mile, rolling gravel grinder. I failed last year. That must not happen again.
This winter I will be deciding if I really want a fat bike. I think I would love to do some snow riding. I plan on renting one from the LBS and seeing if it's worth the investment.0 -
Up until last year I focused on structured training using my indoor trainer and TrainerRoad and I had good success. Last year I basically did nothing from September until January, as I got derailed buying a house and doing a ton of work at home to get it up to snuff. Starting in January I went back to TrainerRoad and my indoor trainer, but used the Sufferfest Intermediate Road training plan along with TrainerRoad. That hurt. Bad. But but also kicked my lazy, fat(ter) and horribly out-of-shape self back into some semblance of fitness before the spring.
This year I'm not sure what's going to happen. I've had a great summer on the bike so my fitness is pretty good (for me) and I hired a coach back in July. We'll see what he has in store for me, though I've told him my weekday rides will be constrained to either lunchtime mountain bike sessions at the park across the street from my office, lunchtime gravel/cyclocross sessions at the other park across the street from my office, or the trainer. I also have built up a good selection of cool weather gear so I have more options for outdoor rides now than I have in previous years.0 -
I simply ride when I can & when I can't, I jump on the Tacx VR trainer...
Road bike will be 'going into hibernation'/Trainer mode shortly, that will be replaced by my CX which is fitted with 'guards (fenders) etc.
I don't mind the rain, but I draw the line at high winds, snow, ice etc.0 -
In cold, snowy weather, I just install Bar Mitts on a Fat Bike and ride off road. It's a great workout with a couple of inches of snow on the ground, and it's also lotsa' fun. If you fear ruining your expensive bike riding in Winter snow and ice, consider investing $199 in the single speed Mongoose Beast (with coaster brake no less!) available from Wal-Mart.com because it's cheaper than a trainer and it's actually a whole lotta fun!0
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I commute to work on my bike. Rain, sunshine, hot or cold! So in the winter I ride outside unless there is ice or snow on the roads. Then, I take the day off or go for a run. It doesn't stay on the roads too long here in Maryland, so I don't miss too many days.0
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I live in Texas. It gets too cold for cycling a total of 2-3 weeks out of the year. I get on the trainer if there is ice on the ground.0
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I commute to work on my bike. Rain, sunshine, hot or cold! So in the winter I ride outside unless there is ice or snow on the roads. Then, I take the day off or go for a run. It doesn't stay on the roads too long here in Maryland, so I don't miss too many days.
^^^This. Except I do ride in the snow/ice unless it's piled it to my hubs and I don't run.0 -
I have to say I really hate riding my trainer. So this winter I've loaded up on some quality cold weather riding kit and plan to ride an avg of at least 150 miles per week with at least 10,000ft per week climbing. This is a really lofty goal for me but I think it's doable.
I plan to incorporate some HIIT and other structured training efforts on the rides instead of just going out for a pedal with a goal of reaching an FTP of 300+ by April 1st.
I'm off to a solid start with an avg of 162 miles and 10,800ft climbing per week since Oct 1st and hopefully I can keep that up throughout the winter!0 -
As the weather in the Northwest turns to fall, I am wondering what people do to train in the off season.
I set up the trainer and try to get three indoor rides a week while watching something on tv. Then, I try to find one day to get outside as long as there is not snow on the roads.
What do you do? And if you have a plan that is specific, will you share so I can get some ideas?
I am about to launch into my structured Base Building 12 week plan (starts next week). Includes weights, yoga, lots of time on the bike (inside and out), and stretching.
Cold Iowa winters, but I suck it up and ride outside when I can which wasn't much last year due to the Polar Vortex cold temperatures and amount of snowfall. Usually only on weekends or on holidays due to it being pitch black by the time I get home from work. Luckily, the County plows one of the paved bike trails a few days after it snows, so I least have a nearly 17 mile out and back to break up all the indoor riding I do if and when the trails are clear on weekends.
Most of my winter training is on this (has power meter, uploads my rides to TrainingPeaks, HR monitor, and all the bells and whistles)...
Our basement gym has a big screen TV, and nice sound system as well, to help "entertain" myself on the rides. I can easily tolerate 90 - 120 minute rides in the basement (thanks to floor fans behind and in front of me to keep me cool), but will jump outside if the weather allows it for the longer base building endurance rides on weekends.
Bottom line for me in terms of racing: my season is won or lost in the winter training months. So I have plenty of motivation to get my workouts done in the December - April time frame.0
