Off-season training and conditioning
 

Do you have any off-season workout routines or training methods to ensure you're in good physical condition for touring?

I have a trainer which I use once or twice a week. What I use 2 or 3
times a week is a Concept 2 rower. I find that a lot more enjoyable to use indoors
that the trainer.

I have some weights, kettlebells and elastic bands I use at home; and I have been meaning to
join a gym.

If I do that it will be twice on the rower, once on the bike or spinning class and twice in the gym.
It's not as bad as it sounds, I deliberately progress very slowly in the gym, and I do intense once
a week and only 3 times a month and I haven't even started getting intense yet except when I shovel snow.

The best exercise is the one you will actually do.

If you like swimming, swim. If you like powerlifting, grunt.

If you get a rower, get a used Concept 2. It's the only brand to get,
and most used rowers have had a very easy life.

Try a spinning class, the pedals are double sided, SPD and Look usually.

On the trainer five nights a week: three nights of sustained output for endurance; two nights of high intensity speed bursts rotating with high gear chunks. Cross-train twice a week with a Bowflex and a routine with dumbells that focuses on core and upper body strength. The secret seems to be an ice cold glass with Guinness Draught on Friday night.

I live in San Francisco, so the winter isn't that bad (at least, not compared to the summer!). It can rain for extended periods of time and I don't ride in the rain (I don't work, which helps).

I have been thinking about getting a trainer that I can use in my garage for the extended periods (several days) when I can't get out and ride. I've made arrangements to get one but haven't used it yet. I also have a treadmill that I have used in the past just to get my heart rate up after several rainy days in a row.

I often plan a "training" tour for the fall (April) to motivate me to stay in "touring shape" during the rainy season and use that tour as my booster to full training shape for tours planned for later in the year.

Ray

The best offseason training maneuver I did was buy a top quality waterproof jacket that's breathable and waterproof pants. Unless it's snow, I'm riding.

I commute to work every day. When the weather's good, I take the long way home or go for a long-ish ride on the weekend. I don't really think about "training" as such, I just ride my bike.

If I needed to stay indoors I like the Concept 2 rowing machine much better than bike trainers or rollers. That said I just trail run all year, rain, snow, sleet, or whatever.

I think Late has the right idea when he suggests doing a sport that you enjoy and therefore will do.

+1
Twenty miles a day, six days a week. Strength training with weights and workout machines every other night. No Guinness unfortunately...losing fifteen pounds before the ride season comes around... :(

Living in western Washington you should have that rain gear all year round! :)

I'm sure glad the rest of the country thinks this way. Please don't ever move here. It rains all the time and you wouldn't like it. :)

Most of my tours surround a long distance event of some sort, and I need to train in order to race 24-hour races or to ride 1200K randonnees. So therefore I may take a short break to catch up on some rest during a down time in the year, but most of the time I'm quite active.

When I lived in Canada I spent my winter ...

- cycling outside - commuting, riding on the weekend, and riding monthly centuries
- cycling inside - especially in the evenings when it is dark outside
- spinning classes - once or twice a week
- weightlifting - I usually had my own equipment, but would often do a workout in a gym on the days I did my spinning classes
- cross country skiing - that's a good, whole-body workout!
- snowshoeing - good leg workout
- walking - walking in snow with heavy winter boots is great for building up the calf muscles


Last winter, here in Australia, I took a break from cycling for various reasons, but when I started again in mid-August, it was on the trainer. We had a very, very rainy winter and spring, so I was on the trainer until some point in September when Rowan and I finally started riding outside again. But in addition to riding on the trainer, I walk about 15 km a week, and have been doing that for 6 months now and will likely continue doing that as long as we live where we are and I work where I do.

Now that summer is here and it has warmed up, we're out cycling quite a bit (did a 1200 km month in October), and for some variety we've started canoeing a bit. I had my things from Canada shipped and we've each got a set of golf clubs now. We've gone out one evening to do some practice shots and may work up to playing a game soon. Plus there's the weight bench on the back deck and the weight bench in the garage, and weights in various locations around the house any time I feel like doing some weights, I've got the equipment.


A tip for anyone planning a tour to a part of the world where there may be a combination of cycling and train travel or hostels with lots of stairs (i.e. Europe, parts of Australia) ... focus on building up your upper body strength. There can be a lot of heavy lifting on a tour ... and a lot of very hurried heavy lifting as you rush to disembark from one train, and navigate long corridors and flights of stairs to get to your next train which is set to leave in just a few minutes. A stronger upper body makes that a bit easier. A strong core and upper body also makes staying in the saddle for long periods of time easier. If you've got a strong core, your posture on the bicycle is better, and you can hold that posture longer.

In 2011, one of my goals is to build up my core and upper body strength so that my triceps and abs don't ache at the end of a long ride. I think canoeing is helping with that, and I've started doing crunches.

I grew up on Vashon Island

Doh! The joke's on me then. :)

Not intending to hijack this thread, but as a western Washington native, I have webbed toes, and when it rains around these parts I have the natural ability to walk, or in this case ride between the rain drops. I rarely ever get wet! It amazes my family and friends!! LOL!! Not really, but to this day rain doesn't impact my day too much. When it does, it is because of family and friends' rain adversion. :)

It's the cold that keeps me inside on the trainer.

Good one. This is the first "winter" (Austin has mild winters) that I have ever tried to really keep riding through. I hate cold weather (that's why I live in the southern US), and have decided that I will ride if it's wet, windy, or chilly (high 40s is about as cold as I will go on a road bike - mtb bike is a different story), but I won't ride if 2 or 3 of those evil ingredients are present. I can't get in the mileage I would like to ride, but I figure that something is better than nothing, plus I should be able to appreciate the better weather all the more when it arrives.

As far as other off season conditioning, I also swim a lot with a masters program. I also keep threatening to start doing some weight training at my club where I swim, but i never get around to it...

Gym. Boring, but it has to be done.

Cycle Trainer. Less boring with the right DVDs and I try to do at least 10 hours a week.

Snow shoes! That's a new one, but 1/2 in deep snow with them makes 1 hour at the gym feel like nothing. I can't go too far yet, but it's fun and turns into something of a 'family activity'. I break new ground for my husband creeping behind me on cross country skis while the dog bounds around through the snow up to his chest or shoulder. When I need to take a break to let the lactic acid leave my leg muscles, he and the dog skijor back and forth along the new path. When we get home, we're all happily exhausted. :)

Commuting all year 'round. Nothing you'll experience out on the road is going to compare to a 15 F dark morning ride;)

I rode a trainer once...30 minutes felt like about a year and a half:twitchy: I'd almost prefer falling on ice to riding one again.

I have commuted the past three winters and this is the fourth. I like commuting year round. Below zero, starting in the dark keeps me motivated for the day. I have slowly begun to use my X-country ski machine again. I use the Bow Flex every other day mostly for core with some upper body thrown in. I do some other assorted things. I'm a beginner at Tai Chi and do arms and shoulders on parallel steel bars ( isometrics ). I try to do some stretches each day. I'm not into the mileage lots of you folks are. I seem to be steadily going that way though. Safe touring and commuting to y'all.

Commute all year round. Complete set of rain gear (warm rain, cool rain, cold rain). Fenders on 3 out of my 4 bikes.

Over the past 4 years I ride as many miles in the fall and winter (October - March) as I do in the spring and summer (April - September).

I've owned 3 trainers and never used them.

Have rarely ridden since September, but I'm getting motivated for a tour in April.
Not too serious though. Just riding to do erands and pick up groceries.

All of the above, plus ice skating: three times a week indoors, and some pickup hockey when the outdoor rinks are in shape. And "cross country" skating on the Rideau Canal. The section maintained for skating is the biggest rink in the world -- seven kilometres long and as wide as a freeway. It's a lot of fun, especially when the weather co-operates and the ice is in decent condition. Skating is good for the legs and the heart and lungs, and its multi-directional demands on your balance make it a good core exercise.
I get the bike out when the roads are bare and dry, but that's not very often.

In the winter I try to go to the gym and spend 30 to 40 minutes on a stationary bike around 3 times a week. I also try to do some ice skating and skiing as often as I can during the winter.

My exercise regimen keeps me in shape for anything I want to pursue...

Aside from commuting half-time (2000 to 3000 miles per year), year around, I do also do the following year around.
Interval training with:
1- jumprope 30 mins 1x/wk; with the intervals, this equals about 24 mins of jumping
2- kettlbells (350 - 24kg KB snatches in 25 mins) 3x/week; often I'll throw in other strength work such as suspension, body weight stuff, Akro wheels, etc.

I also run at least 1x/week @ 4 miles in ~30 mins.

Most weeks of the year, I work out all 7 days. I have enough variety that I have been able to avoid injuries associated with overtraining. Some weeks/months/years, I may do more of one thing than another, but always something intense everyday. I've been doing this for almost 9 years.

Since starting KB work ~2 yrs ago, my resting HR has dropped about 15 bpm. My understanding is that Lance Armstrong is a fan of KB training because it's so effective...

Get yourself an abwheel and use it 2 to 3 times per week. Try to build up to being able to do 100 straight from your knees. When you get there, your triceps and core will be as strong as you need them to be.

Personally, I use Akrowheels. They're similar, but because they're independent, I can do more than just roll-outs with them.

And, of course, as mentioned in my post above, there's always kettlebell training.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...r/studdedf.jpg

It's too cold to ride much but these let me get a little riding in a couple of times a week. I've just been walking in the snow in big hiking boot a few minutes a day mostly though. I plan on doing those two things more and more for a month so I won't be in too bad of shape when the ice starts to melt.