Fifty Plus (50+) - Indoor trainer experiences

Would anyone like to share their indoor trainer routines and such?

I've been riding exclusively indoors for about 6 weeks. I grab one of about 6 Coach Troy workouts I have and go at it.

Last weekend I did one a day for three days. This week I've been exhausted. I wonder if the intensity is just too high for an old coot.

I've paid careful attention to diet and hydration, so I don't think that's the key.

Also, I signed up for Team-in-Training to do the Fletcher-Flyer (includes gentle rolling hills in Ashville, N.C.) century. I'm wondering how one hour of high-intensity spinning two or three times a week, complete with blood coming out my nose and ears, translates into riding a century.

I am riding 5 times per week which includes 2 to 3 trainer / roller sessions. The trainer is harder than the road and we use a factor of 2 to convert trainer time to road time. I do not recall how old you are but I am 60.

My trainer routines would not work for you but...I will comment that a century requires component of base mileage. These are the long rides of several hours at a lower heart rate. I am not familiar with Troy but I suspect it is more intensity driven. I would suggest adding some lower intensity trainer rides of 6X15 with 3 minute rest between intervals at 125 to 130 heart rate. That will give you an equivalent of 3 hours on the road.

During the rest period you can get off the bike for a minute or two if you want. During the 15 minute sets, stand up for 15 seconds every few minutes. This is boring stuff but you will be able to recover from this more easily than multiple high intensity sessions in a row.

If 6X15 seems like too much do whatever but keep the 15 minutes and rest period. Do not go beyond 3 minutes. I would prefer 2 minutes but I am going easy on you. Always monitor your heart rate recovery time during the rest period and make sure you recover to below 120 within two minutes. If you do not, decrease the intensity and increase the rest period.

would anyone like to share their indoor trainer routines and such?



no

I agree with Hermes, Coach Toy's workouts are more high intensity than base building. I would save the HIT stuff for once a week or less, for a diversion from the trainer rides, then add some once you get outside. A century ride will be more about endurance and condition than biding up sprint speed and on the road recoveries.

Since your event will take 6 hours or so to complete the best thing you can do now is get saddle time in the lower HR zones. The more hours/week you can do now the more prepared you will be once you get outdoors for real rides of 3 to 5 hours. Doing high speed spin ups and single leg drills (SLD) in an over gear at this time will refine your pedal stroke and make you a better rider. As Hermes pointed out doing lower intensity intervals will provide a base for later work. I can't just sit on the bike and pedal aimlessly for 1 or 1.5 hours, I need a planned program to keep focused and to divert my mind and eyes away form the clock.

Depending on your fitness, you could also do some lactate threshold intervals that take you to the point of burning lungs and fatigue. If you develop your aerobic system over the winter then you can hit the spring training at a higher intensity. I do this LT ladder every couple weeks to gauge my progress. I start out riding the trainer at 16 mph then every 5 minutes I take it up 1 mph until I can't make a 5 minute segment. I do two sets of these and you wont believe how quick the 1 hour on the trainer goes. I did the LT ladder last week and at 22 mph was only able to hold it for 2.5 minutes on the first set and 4 minutes on the 2nd set. Another LT drill is to use an overgear, maybe a 53x12 @ 55 to 60 rpm for an extended time with accelerations of 6 to 10 rpms for 1 minute every 2 or 3 minutes during the drill. That drill will also help on long hill climbs and refine the 4 parts of the pedal stroke.

Thanks all. Except Stapfam.

I suspect that my spin work-outs might be actually too high intensity for my goals.

OTOH, on group rides I can hang EXCEPT high-intensity moments, ie. testosterone-fest hill-climbing when I get dropped like a rock. I'm hoping the HIT helps when I do group rides.

BTW, does anyone know how to take a work-out off Ascent and post them here? SKT generates some nice graphs, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet, and I never refer to the "help" drop-down of a program.

Don't own a trainer and have no wish to get one either- but occasionally I get down the gym for spinning sessions. Takes about 4 weeks before I get into the swing of a lot of effort going no-where and even then I am not sure that it does me any good. I may get sore legs and the cardio vascular works overtime but as to whether it does me any good in comparison to a good gym work out or a couple of hours on the bike- I reserve my judgement.

But one thing I do know from my "Normal" training program-- I cannot do much on consecutive days and get away with it. Long hard ride on a Sunday and I cannot ride again till tuesday. Then I can go for a 20 miler at speed or up some stiff hills- but once again I have to have a day off before I exert myself again.

I know its only a trainer- and I know it does not give you as hard a workout as a good ride- but perhaps you need recovery time from each workout.

Or perhaps you need to put more effort into that training session to remind the body to only do it every other day.

I ride the trainer three to five times a week, but only an hour each time. I only ride to keep my butt use to the seat, and my legs loose. In the winter I try to run 3 to 4 miles a day five days a week, then in the sprinw if it ever gets above freezing I will only need to work on my legs condition.

Since I work out at a university gym, I'm the token 50+ guy in spin classes filled with 20-year-old estrogen. My heart rate monitor says I'm consistently in the 150 beats-per-minute zone. There may be a variety of reasons for this.

The big problem with trainers is boredom, I found. I used a couple of structured workouts that were published in Bicycling magazine; they had an article with 5-6 different routines. They all involved a lot of gear and cadence changes, which helped with the boredom.
I would set mine up in front of the TV and rig a fan to blow on me; it's easy to overheat indoors.

All these routines were only 45 or 50 minutes in length, including a warm-up and cool-down. I found that quite sufficient several times per week, just to get through the Winter.

I sort of admire those guys who can go out and ride in the cold, but it's not for me; my knees ache, and I have "non-allergenic rhinitis"; that is, my nose runs like a sieve at anything below 50 or so.

I "ride" a SportsArt recumbent bicycle (see below) at home, which allows me to ride intervals, hills, random, etc. I have a TV mounted above my line of sight so I don't get bored.

http://www.exerciseandleisure.com/images/commercial/bikec52r.jpg

I suspect your routine is just too intense for that kind of frequency....at least until you can build up your base mileage. I would vary your routine with long, slow "rides". Then again, I find my recumbent isn't a true match for getting out in the great outdoors and riding.

The gym at work has a couple of recumbent bikes, an upright bike, a few ellipticals and a few treadmills along with a variety of strength building and weight lifting machines. I go in there for about an hour, three or four times a week. I spend about half of that time working upper body and torso on those machines and about half on one of the cardio machines trying to keep my heart rate around 140.

I just started this last week and it seems to be helping me feel better. I like getting a little tone back in my upper body.

I know weight training is good for you, but it is hard to get reved up for it these days. If only I was trying to impress some babe......

The work I'm doing with weights is not for building up muscles that would impress the babes, but for a little tone and strength in my torso and upper body. I'm hoping that it will help me to maintain my road bike riding position longer without neck and shoulder pain. Also, I hope that more arm and chest strength will help me with mountain biking and standing climbing on the road bike.

I know weight training is good for you, but it is hard to get reved up for it these days. If only I was trying to impress some babe......


The work I'm doing with weights is not for building up muscles that would impress the babes, but for a little tone and strength in my torso and upper body. I'm hoping that it will help me to maintain my road bike riding position longer without neck and shoulder pain. Also, I hope that more arm and chest strength will help me with mountain biking and standing climbing on the road bike.

Not into weight training but I do use the machines to keep body movement that I would not normally use. Low weights but repetions do work. And to be honest- Some of the Babes at the gym impress me with what they can do. Well not really babes-unless you can call 200lbs of flab in a female body a babe.