Originally Posted by
deadprez012
Totally broke (so far as discretionary cash goes), so there's no money left for gadgets--I got the bike, I have the motivation, and...well, I don't really have the time, but I'll do what I can.
How can I train without all the fancy equipment? As mentioned in my other training help thread, I want to improve my TT (for triathlon) and improve my crit skills. I have a watch and plenty of discipline, but when I read the training recipe book, I don't really see what I could emulate without a power meter or trainer or whatever.
Help? When I come back from visiting family (hell, while I visit family) I'll have more time with which to work and would like to maximize my results given the constraints.
You have two opposing goals here - one requires steady state and the other requires bursts of energy.
Overall though, powermeters and HRMs are just tools. People got fit and fast before these were invented - they just allow you to focus better and have a reliable track record of your progress.
Generally, you want to build base fitness first (ie, "ride lots"). If you have good fitness you can then do intervals. Intervals are just high level efforts for a set period of time, so if you have a hill nearby that is 3-5 minutes long with you being very winded at the top, that would be a good "VO2Max" repeat - ie, go up it as fast as you can and repeat as many times as you can - and time it.
Each repeat should take the same time. If you can do more than 6 of them, you were taking it too easy, if you can't manage more than 3, you were taking it too hard - if you can manage 4-6 that's just right.
Shorter hills can be used for sprint training - 30 sec or 1 minute efforts - climb as fast as you can, coast slowly down and repeat.
These sorts of drills done 1-3 time a week will help raise your "functional threshold power", and you can keep track of it by logging how quickly you do each repeat (taking it out harder if you start to find them easier).
HTH