Training & Nutrition - trainer/gear setting for maximum gain

What kind of setting does everybody have their trainer on? I've got the Minoura 850R. I've got it on the very hardest setting, and have found that the weaker settings don't do much. I normally have the front on the big chainring, and the rear on 5th out of 7. Yeah I'm using my old hardtail so I don't wear our my new bike. Fifth and sixth gear seems to be the best workout, but I'm toast after about 15 minutes. I've been doing two sets of 10 minutes, with weight training before, in between, and after. I can go longer on gear 4, but I'm trying to build strength as well as cardio capacity. I've heard that most people spend an hour on these things. Am I just weak, or do I have it cranked up lots more than most people? Maybe both?

In spin class we ride for an hour with an additional 30 minute cool down/warm up. During the hour we mix hard spins and high cadence spins with recovery time between. You might want to post your goals so that those more informed than I can give you some workout ideas.

I have the same trainer and work at the 7ths setting in either the hardest or second hardset gear with the big chainring on the large one (needed to special mount one as my bike only has a bash gaurd). You could go longer and harder if you didn't burn your legs out with weights before hand. :)

My goals:

1. Build leg strength for long hill climbs while mountain biking.
2. Build overall endurance for racing.
3. Burn off my winter layer of fat.
4. Do whatever it takes to start racing ASAP and not be embarassed.

I guess I don't know how to workout on the trainer effectively. I basically just go as hard as I can until it hurts too bad to continue.

Thats basically what I do as well. I just have strong legs from powerlifting. In reality my endurance strength is bad in comparisson to most roadies. Try intervals. Go fast for a couple of minutes and then really slow. etc...if you do a search on intervals you should find a routine to play by.

Intervals will help you build strength without prematurely burning out. Go all out for 2-5 min and rest (Spin) for 2-5. don't forget to keep your rpm's up where you would normaly be riding. By working intervals you will be able to build strength and endurance. You will notice as the weeks go by that you feel stronger and will able to increase your interval times. 2-5 is just a recommendation to get started. Your body will tell you what is right. :D

The endurance/winter fat problem will probably take time on the bike. Long rides at a fairly easy pace, at least until your endurance starts to develop. (Nobody can stand to spend that much time on a trainer.)

Ditto Maelstrom's interval advice for the developing power.

As far as the embarassment thing, do you do any group or club rides? That's one way to get familiarized with riding in a group. In some areas there are clubs oriented toward racing, which is an ideal opportunity to prepare for all aspects of racing in a supportive environment.

Start by dropping your weight training before and during the trainer workout. Weight training after is OK, though.


Originally posted by corndogggy
What kind of setting does everybody have their trainer on? I've got the Minoura 850R. I've got it on the very hardest setting, and have found that the weaker settings don't do much. I normally have the front on the big chainring, and the rear on 5th out of 7. Yeah I'm using my old hardtail so I don't wear our my new bike. Fifth and sixth gear seems to be the best workout, but I'm toast after about 15 minutes. I've been doing two sets of 10 minutes, with weight training before, in between, and after. I can go longer on gear 4, but I'm trying to build strength as well as cardio capacity. I've heard that most people spend an hour on these things. Am I just weak, or do I have it cranked up lots more than most people? Maybe both?

For #1, weight training and high-resistance trainer and hill work
For #2, long rides and LT intervals
For #3, long, easy rides
For #4, don't push it too hard, but #2 will get you there faster than anything else

Buy the Joe Friel's cyclist's training bible and read it from cover to cover.


Originally posted by corndogggy
My goals:

1. Build leg strength for long hill climbs while mountain biking.
2. Build overall endurance for racing.
3. Burn off my winter layer of fat.
4. Do whatever it takes to start racing ASAP and not be embarassed.

I guess I don't know how to workout on the trainer effectively. I basically just go as hard as I can until it hurts too bad to continue.

After giving it some thought, I'm going to amend my comments on developing endurance. The year that I started using my bike to commute to work (only 10 miles, round trip) was a break-thru year for me, in terms of endurance. What the commuting added was a consistant, easy to moderately paced 20 minute morning and evening ride most days even through the winter (much better weather that year, but I digress). I was no great shakes in terms of speed, but after that winter of commuting I could ride long, provided I had food and water.

So, the training advice is consistancy will yield a degree of endurance, and certainly provide a good base for longer, faster days as weather allows. And, it doesn't have to hurt to help!

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm already seeing improvements believe it or not. I think a big problem at first was that on a trainer you can really tell if you're truly spinning with the correct form or not. I've been trying to keep it as smooth as possible, but doing that burns up muscles that are not normally used. At first, about 10 minutes of this and my heart rate would be through the roof, my legs felt all swollen, and I'd be dizzy and walking crooked when I got off the bike. A 10 second blast of as hard as I could go was all I could handle. Now, like this morning, half an hour straight isn't that big of a deal, and I can pedal all out for nearly a minute, and go 85% for 3-4 minutes. I'm going to start going to spin class with my club on Thursday, they go for an hour, so that'll be the longest I've tried yet. The only thing that is bothering me is my toes, which are getting pretty cold. I hope I'm not cutting the circulation off in my feet. The room I work out in isn't heated very well at all. It connects my house to my garage, and it stays very cold. When working out, the rest of me will start sweating pretty bad, but my toes will get cold. I'm hoping that it's just the combination of wearing performance socks and shoes, then whipping my feet around in cold air, on top of cold plastic soles. I guess my feet muscles don't really do that much and that's why they're not generating enough heat.

Not hijacking C-doggie's thread on purpose here, however maybe my own questions can help us both.

I guess I'm in the same boat in a way.

I started commuting back and forth to work during January. Its been cold up here in T.O. too. So I haven't been too concerned with speed, just more or less, spin along until I get to work and then home. I've heard the colder temps force your body to work harder to stay warm too. My commuter/beater has a single 46 ring up front with 8 in the back which forces me to use medium to hard gears. I guess I should mention that the commute is 13-14km one way. About 20-25 minutes to complete relatively flat with some short moderate climbs. While I believe that this is helping me in terms of endurance, I felt I needed to do some more, however not burn myself out.

So at home, I have a couple of interval programs that I follow. One is a medium to hard session the other is just plain hard. The sessions quite honestly are a couple of videos that I "watch" when I ride. My work schedule currently doesn't quite allow me the time to sign up for a spin class or other, so I train with my "class" about three to four times a week on top of my commuting. Generally on days when I'm not commuting I hop on the trainer. I do take a day off to rest the legs too. I'm doing alright I think. I'm using a CycleOps Mag trainer on then maxium setting and while I find the videos hard and challenging providing my legs with a good burn, I'm not dead afterwards. My LBS is going to provide me with a vid that helps develop hill climbing so when I get my greedy little paws on it I'll through it in the mix somewhere.

A good positive about the trainer is that I can concentrate on my spin, and can feel the improvement a better pedal stroke gives by going a full 360 spin instead of just a 180 mash.

As the weather gets warmer and my game steadily improves, I'm going to throw in some actual hill climbing intervals in the work out too. Theres some pretty nice climbs around hear that would be perfect to do four to five sets on.

Diet is also playing a big part, I've greatly cut my fat intake, counting calories, drinking loads of water and eating five to six small meals a day. In just four weeks I've gone from 205lbs to just below 195.

I guess I'm just looking for any other suggestions or ideas really.

Thanks in advance.

Shane