Chris R.

I'm in Montreal so we have a pretty tough winter (though as I write this it's above freezing and kinda sunny) and am having a hard time getting focused on training for the upcoming spring season. All of my training is indoors during the winter as i get to work early and leave well after dark and it's normally too cold and crappy to train outside.
That being said, I am having trouble (more mental) getting through a tough 1 hour session these days. Kinda pathetic....
i need to do some 2x20's and just can't get my mind wrapped around doing it. I'll still do some interval training but never full throttle.
Anyone else get this? This is the first season in years this is happening to me. All I am looking forward to is our yearly spring training camp (maybe Cali, maybe France...)
Ok, so call me fat, call me lazy do what you need to to get me back on my bike!

beatlebee 

I cant really sympathize too much as the problem where I live is the summer heat. But the cold snap this past weekend has been a blessing in disguise as I rode on a trainer both Saturday and Sunday. It really focused my workout: I dialed in my numbers and stuck to the plan. My legs are really sore today. So I guess what I am saying is that switching things up really helped me as I have a few typical routes that I ride over and over again. Can you add any other "tools? "

Chris R.

I can make it to the gym and do some strength work and some core stuff also. We just got a new puppy (now 10 weeks old) so it's tought to get away for too many hours though. he comes to work with me though so at least he's not alone all day. Maybe I'm making more excuses! Lol!

johnybutts

My advice - as someone who is terribly inconsistent with training and burns out every season. Go do soemthing else for a week. something active. Can you snow shoe/ski? do you have a fatbike you can go mountain/snow riding? Swimming maybe if there's indoor pools? Hiking/backpacking? Instead of another sat/sun with 6 hours on the trainer, do a backpacking trip.

When you finish that up, you'll be more mentally prepared for riding. And you'll be a week closer to spring without losing much fitness.

waterrockets 

You could also head over to the workout recipe thread and maybe choose some different workouts that you're not used to.

rbart4506

Or take advantage when the weather gods smile...

10hrs outdoors in the last 4days, 7hrs this weekend. The bike is a mess and I'm wiped, but it's only 7wks until the wife and I head to Rome GA for some fun in the sun

Creatre

Yup, I'm pretty mentally blocked at the moment too. Got sick and that weekends training went out the window. Then had trouble getting better and only rode 3 times during the week. Then went on a trip and forgot my cycling shoes so this past weekends training was gone. Basically was a way too easy rest week. But still mentally having a hard time pulling myself to get out there. Just sick of riding in the rain and cold. And pretty sure I'm a bit burnt out because of the huge weeks I had in November/December.

Capacity08

Tipped over on a patch of ice near a stop this morning...put a hole in my shoe covers. Scratched my elbow, and my confidence as well. Winter riding woes.

Maybe it'll pay off in spring.

johnybutts

Capacity08 is averaging 0.005 posts per day. I feel honored to catch him in the act.

skinnyguy

what cat do you race with the oca?

Chris R.

I had done a bunch of MTB in the fall and loved it. I had not done any real off road riding since I used to race years ago. Bought a Speclialized Epic 29er and fell in love with it again. I find it way better when it's cold out to ride in the woods...shelter, no wind, slower speeds and more technical to keep you warm.
Looks like I'm leaving on my spring training camp mid march so I have a goal at least now...and I'm going on vacation with the wife at the end of Feb so that means I can go hard up until that week, recoop and do some running on vacation then have two or 3 weeks before leaving to ride. Better slap myself into it.
I've been watching the sufferfest vids as well as old races on youtube to keep me motivated and pushing.
I'll keep posting with progress (it can't be worse so it must be progress!)
Chris

RedLeg

I was feeling the same way a couple of weeks ago.

My plan was to start ramping up the training intensity on January 1st in preparation for our first races in the end of February. After one week of 3x20', 2x20' and etc, I just could not get motivated or focused anymore. I was having no problems eecking out the power, but the motivation to do so just isn't there this year.

What has got me motivated the past two weeks was to dump the trainer, dump the powermeter and HR monitor and do all my rides either on the rollers or outside. With my work and family schedule, all my roller rides happen in the evening when I get home. All my outside rides take place on the weekend. The goal is to reach 1,000 miles by my first race on 23 February. That single goal is enough motivation to get me moving...I go fast when I feel like it, and slow when I need to catch my breath.

EventServices

Go run stairs.
Go run sprints on a snowy football field.
Get some skates and go skating. (You're Canadian; you were given skates at birth.)
Do something completely different.

Imagine that first weekend of racing when someone attacks and you can only watch them roll away.
Do you want that? No.
So you have to find a way to press on because I assure you that day is coming at you like a train.

waterrockets 

Maybe find someone to yell at you, like ^^^^ this guy

rbart4506

Master3

krobinson103

I usually ride outside for 2 hours during the week and 6-8 hours one day in a weekend. However the shortened days, cold weather, and family issues have pretty much made it impossible to get out at all this winter. I've managed to keep up the bike commuting but not much else. I try and ride my stationary bike for 90 minutes each night before bed, but it is a bit of a challenge to stay focussed.

carpediemracing 

I think that doing JRA ("just riding along") rides on the trainer help. Okay, I'm not necessarily super strong so any small gains really give me big dividends, but the mere act of pedaling has benefits for me.

I explained this somewhere other than on my blog so I don't remember where it was but my best years came after doing JRA rides over the winter. Granted, they were really long JRA rides, but JRA rides. When you're fit JRA rides become pretty fast. My teammate had had a phenomenal spring one year and I asked him what he did. JRA rides. The next winter we started planning on going to Belgium to race for a few weeks of racing, and back then there was just one category we could race, "Elite" aka Cat 1s. We were Cat 3s and not the dominant ones at that. To prepare he and I did two 130 mile days a week for a few months, until the cold really hit, then we did some totally unstructured trainer work. We went to Belgium, raced with the just-below-best-pros (one race we decided not to enter was on TV and Phil Anderson and Dag **** Lauritzen were tearing up the field), and came back looking for some payback back at home. I had the best year of my life, found motivation to go 10 years before intentionally taking a hard break from the bike (and that was more from dealing with my mom being sick rather than not wanting to ride).

My next best year ever was in 2010, and over the winter I did two JRA training camp trips, a few days in FL and about 11? days in SoCal. Again, best year ever except the Belgium one.

Because I rarely reach close to max potential (since my max potential is pretty low - "best year of my life" means I am in contention in flat Cat 3 crits and can make it over 30 second long hills without getting shelled) I decided that structured training is too hard mentally with not enough returns. I suffer like mad in a race with very little mental pressure since I'm super motivated to race. Therefore my racing becomes my hard workouts and the rest of my riding is for base, aka JRA.

That's my first thought.

My second thought is, depending on the kind of races you do, depending on the music you listen to, you may enjoy watching some of the helmet cam clips up around on the web. I have a bunch on YouTube and I watch my own clips regularly. I make those clips for me as much as anyone else - I make them how I like them, with the music I like, choosing the scenes if you will that I like. For many of those clips I was limited to 10 minutes so the clips tended to be 9:45 or whatever. You can watch two plus one more for a 20 minute effort.

btw music really revs me up - blasting some tunes (through maybe ear buds) really helps me keep rolling. Therefore my clips have music.

One of my favorites and one that seems to resonate with viewers, with multiple attacks, teammates working for me, a future pro (the Cat 4 that attacks at the end of the first lap is a pro now and his first win was at Bethel), other teams working against us, and a final leadout:

tetonrider

love it1

To the OP, I, too, must ride indoors for a large portion of the year due to roads covered by snow and ice. The biggest challenge is in finding motivation. Only you can figure out exactly what will work, but this guy's suggestion rings true for me. I get even more specific: I imagine situations where I was barely hanging on in a race, just absolutely suffering. During my tough sessions indoors, I direct my mind to those feelings. They are vivid. Next year, when I hit the same race (perhaps even with higher level of competition), if I want to be dictating the pace here I better be training hard.

CDR posted some comments about JRA on the trainer/indoors. I think it goes to show how different people respond to different things. For me, JRA on a trainer is pretty horrendous. I do it, but it feels like punishment. On the other hand, I can do lots of intensity (30" on up to 20' intervals)--my body and mind react well to this feeling of purpose. Which kind of indoor rider are you?

waterrockets 

My indoor stuff is all tempo. I don't have a PM or HRM in there with me, but pretty much go off of respiratory rate. Casual, but tiring by the end. Then I go to work and hit the intervals outdoors. I find I have motivational issues with indoor intervals, so I just watch Netflix and work on aerobic base.

shovelhd

It's like any other sport. Like AI says, it's practice. Practice gets tedious. You want to go out and play the game, but you can't. You have to practice first. Embrace it.

Chris R.

I like the JRA stuff and will be continuing on that for another week or two and hopefully get my mojo back and then get into more structured training between JRA rides.
I'm a master "A' racer in Quebec, so a fast group of racers but generally finish top 8-20 with a few better finishes in some of the cit races and lower in the more hilly road races. I'm ok with that. I just like riding and racing with no major aspirations of podium finishes (though I'd like to be on the podium once this season).
Im actually looking forward to getting on my trainer this afternoon!
CDR, great idea to watch those crits! I also have a ton of my own race vids that I can watch and I know how hard I work during those races so maybe I can more closely mimic the efforts.

Bikegeek1968

Until is stays light out past 5 PM, I do all of my training during the week indoors. It has been a tought go at it this year, but sunset is now at 5:05PM and I can get in an hour of riding after work. My motivation was fading, and on my last indoor day my trainer tried to kill me. I have an old Cannondale hooked up to a Tacx I-magic trainer. As I was riding through virtual Belgium, I heard a snap, and a second later to handlebars fell off. Turns out the 17 year old stem picked a time to break in half. I am quite lucky, I sometimes use this bike to pull my youngest in her trailer.

Creakyknees

Get as much sunshine as you can during the day and especially the morning. If your schedule allows, of course. Lunch breaks are good for quick outside sunshine sessions, just run/jog/calisthenics etc.

Have a calendar with dates circled. Work backwards filling out your training cycle to peak there. Gulp and say "oh ****". Get on the trainer.

Walrus

Always been a big fan of reverse planning, both athletic and other goals.
It's easy to set smaller goals when working forward, making exceptions and adding more rest days.
When you work backwards you focus more realistically on the goal and in my experience create a more effective training cycle.

pjcampbell

You should go skiing.