Training & Nutrition - Trainers and work intensity.

Today it rained for most of the day. Had to do something. At work yesterday, our Christmas Party left us all with that awful 'bloated feeling.' I did not do something I would bust open. Why do we do that to ourselves.?
Anyway, so I got on the trainer for about 40 minutes. Since I scoff at training within four walls, I strapped on my Heart Rate monitor. To my surprise I got my heart rate up to about 65% max. for over 20 minutes. Does that not prove, that it isn't a waste of time.
Would prefer nature, but second tv does not have VH1. Instead had to watch MTV. God, that is awful. The state of music today. Disgusting. Maybe being out in rain with all that garb on is better than MTV. Well, can resort to soaps.

A GOOD 1/2 hour workout on the trainer can be worth 2 HOURS workout on the road.!!!!!

Ride indoors and outdoors
Pat

Originally posted by pat5319
A GOOD 1/2 hour workout on the trainer can be worth 2 HOURS workout on the road.!!!!!

Ride indoors and outdoors
Pat

A bad 1/2 hour workout indoors can be the same as getting a flat 38 miles from your house and having no spare. ;)

A good 1/2 hour workout is just a good 1/2 hour workout regardless of where you get it, IMO. I find the exercise bike to be a drag personally. It's not a terribly expensive one so it's less comfortable than it could be. For whatever reason, when I used to go to the gym I had no problems getting my HR up to 65%. Now at home, it takes way too much effort to do the same.

I said " CAN BE" not "is".

Most people tend to ride a trainer/exercise bike at a higher intensity than they do their road bikes partly because they can't coast and many just tend ride harder on a trainer/exercise bike than their road bikes, and there are some specific types of high intensity workouts that are very hard or impossible to do on a road bike

Ride Hard
Pat

Am now using trainer occasionally.

Any great ideas on how to keep track of miles on a trainer?

Also, I am thinking of getting a used "beater bike" for the trainer instead of wearing out my Lemond BA. Any thoughts?

The key to using a trainer is duration and intensity, not distance. The best thing I can suggest is that you get a heart-rate monitor and ride the trainer for on hour at a time, keeping your heart rate between 75% and 85% of your max heart rate. That's GOOD training.

Well, that's a start, anyway... but that formula will give you a solid cardio-endurance workout. You can do other things for different kinds of workouts...

Originally posted by velocipedio
The key to using a trainer is duration and intensity, not distance. The best thing I can suggest is that you get a heart-rate monitor and ride the trainer for on hour at a time, keeping your heart rate between 75% and 85% of your max heart rate. That's GOOD training.

Well, that's a start, anyway... but that formula will give you a solid cardio-endurance workout. You can do other things for different kinds of workouts...

Well, that is great, but I STILL would like to keep track of my mileage - bike wear and all that, and just for info.

Anyone else have thoughts? I guess I could mount a cheap computer on the rear.

A wrench whose opinion I value told me that you could expect 10% drivetrain wear on a trainer compared to wear on the road. The reason is that you don't actually get any dirt and grit into your drivetrain and that actuall strech and friction of clean parts accounts for about 10% of wear.

Having said that, I think it's fairly easy to estimate your mileage if you don't have a computer or a distance sensor on the back wheel [though the cheap computer idea is a good one]. Just calculate your gear ratios, or use a gear calculator (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/) to calculate for you. If I spend one hour in 39x15, then I've covered about 32 virtual km.

At 10%, that's 3.2 km. Even if I ride my trainer 50 times this winter [which I won't], that'll be 150 km of wear. On a 5000 km chain life, that's not terribly sitgnificant.

just got off the trainer, I got a cycleops fluid trainer for christmas.

I Went for an hour today. I agree using a Heart rate monitor is key to riding indoors. good music of your choosing helps.

I warmed up 15 minutes to 65% while talking on the phone with my dad hung up and added some gears and brought it up to close to 85% for 5 minutes then droped the gears and recovered back to 65% hung there a while then added some gears and some intervals it was worth my time concidering the temp is 10 degrees F.

for me the training I do on the trainer is all about heart rate and time spent in zones not miles.

I have a cat eye astral its attached to the rear wheel so The bike computer keeps running while on the trainer it gives me the readouts on cadance and elapsed time the rest I dont worry about sometimes out of courisioty iLL check the miliage after a trainer session today in and hour according to the computer the rear wheel rotated the equivelant of 12 miles I know this was slow but i wasnt working on speed today.
catfish

Originally posted by DnvrFox
Well, that is great, but I STILL would like to keep track of my mileage - bike wear and all that, and just for info.
Anyone else have thoughts?

I bought an extra monitor install kit and mounted a sensor on a rear spoke. In seconds I can install the pick up and tape the display to the top tube with electrical tape.

I also worry about wear on the frame of my Cannondale from the trainer. If I stand and work hard the frame feels like its made of aluminum or something. ;)

Greg. I have heard from more than one source, a bike on a trainer is hard on the bike's frame. Don't understand that. Asked my bike mechanic, didn't think so.? Seems lack of vibration, pot holes all that would be easier on the frame, No?

Originally posted by cyclezealot
Greg. I have heard from more than one source, a bike on a trainer is hard on the bike's frame. Don't understand that. Asked my bike mechanic, didn't think so.? Seems lack of vibration, pot holes all that would be easier on the frame, No?

I'm sure the stresses on the bike while riding can be high but when it's held solely by the rear drop outs the flexing of the frame can really feel exagerated. This tortional flexing is not something the bike ever goes through under normal riding circumstances.

Mabey I'm just paranoid but when on the trainer I just stay in the saddle and spin and try to not get too carried away.

here's my 2 bits:

we have a triathlon group that does a spin class weekly in addition to our rides.

As I see it the benefits are:

1. you can focus specifically on your stroke and cadence without worrying about road hazards, corners and traffic. This is especially good for those single leg intervals.

2. when you do intervals, you can plan exactly the intensityu, duration and recovery, again without being distracted by variable grades, wind, hazards, traffic or whatever.

Obviously you need properly planned workouts that reflect the stage of periodization your are in, but that 1 hour on the trainer is still the best "technical" bike workout I do.

I think its impoirtant to use your race bike on a trainer so you are trainig in your geometry. The wear and tear should be negligible, esp on a rim trainer.

Had not considered the flexing of the frame. Can't say I have read this concern in any bicycle magazine. Anyway, I have put my hybrid on the trainer. A heavy duty cro-moly frame over my aluminum framed race bike.
My trainer is a rim driven trainer, but of course the bike is suspended at the hub/spindle. Glad in So. California winter is short and to some standards non-existant. Guess, a secondary concern for not taking my bike out in the rain, don't like to gunk up my drive train with grit.