Trainer Time: 3 bike trainer workouts for triathletes

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Trainer time is romantic time in our household. John and I on a recent long ride in prep for the Florida Double Anvil.

I could blame the colder temperatures for the time I spend on the trainer, but that would be dishonest. I ride (and like to ride) the trainer year-round, and I find for shorter workouts, it can’t be beat for time efficiency – as well as the ability to nail a workout without worrying about stop signs, squirrels, flying saucers or cars.

Even so, John and I are just a little bit crazy with the time we are willing to put into the trainer. We’ve done quite a few 6 hour heat acclimation rides, and we are steadily working up to 12-14 hours in preparation for the Florida Double Anvil, which will be on March 6-7.

Suffice to say, I have plenty of time to think about trainer workouts. In the past few weeks, I’ve developed a few that I really like, and I wanted to share 3 bike trainer workouts for triathletes that I though you all might find helpful.

But, don’t worry: none of these workouts are over 90 minutes (unless you want them to be!). Each session can be adapted to be shorter or longer depending on where you are in your season and the specific needs of the race you are training for.

Cycling Efficiency

It’s always a good time to work on the efficiency of your pedal stroke, which if you are like most triathletes (who aren’t uber cyclists), you probably aren’t giving that much consideration to form. There are several different ways to work on cycling efficiency, including single leg drills, and high cadence drills. I’ve been mixing up these various drills, plus a few more that I’ve found, to create a series of efficiency sessions.

The one I’m sharing with you in this post focuses on highlighting the pull and push phases of the pedal stroke.

WARM

Ride 10 minutes easy, warming up into the ride.

5 x 1 minute single leg drill, done as 30 seconds left leg, 30 seconds right leg. Take note of your weak points throughout the 360 degree revolution. Work to strengthen those areas.

MAIN

Ride 5 minutes steady. (If you use a 5 zone HR or power system, this is zone 2.)

Ride 5 minutes easy (zone 1), emphasizing the forward push of the pedal stroke (from just before the12 o’clock position into the bottom of the stroke), imagining that your toes might touch the very front of your shoe. You are focusing on a smooth transition through the top of the stroke into push phase.

Ride 5 minutes steady

Ride 5 minutes easy, keeping the top of your foot in as near-constant contact as possible with the top, inside of your shoe by pulling up into it. Try to minimize how much you push down on the pedal (if at all). While the previous focused on the downstroke, this drill focuses on the upstroke. You should be applying excessive upward force, but rather creating easy and smooth movement on the upstroke.

Ride 5 minutes steady

If you find doing 5 continuous minutes of each of these drills is too challenging at first, you can break it up by doing 1 minute steady, 1 minute downstroke drill, 1 minute upstroke drill, 1 minute easy. Repeat until you get to 20-30 minutes of riding for the main segment. Remember: the focus here is becoming a more efficient rider – so don’t push through. You can increase the time spent doing the drills each week. It’s more important to have smooth movement than to hit the 5 minute target at first.

COOL

5-10 minutes easy

I love me some big gear!!
I love me some big gear!!

Big Gear Biking

Easily my favorite type of cycling workout: BIG GEAR! There are so many big gear workouts that I love, but I recently created this one, and I’ve tried a 55 minute version and a 90 minute version. If you aren’t used to doing big gear workouts, then do NOT start with the 90 minute version. In fact, you should start with a shorter version of the 55 minute session (Contact me if you want suggestions for how to do this.)

Those with bad knees should sit this session out. Big gear work on the trainer can be a tricky for the knees. So, if you feel any tweaks or niggles, stop the session.

Here’s the 55 minute version:

WARM

20 minutes easy

*About 10 minutes into this opening warm-up insert 5 x 1 minute SLD, done as 30 seconds left, 30 seconds right. As with the previous workout, take note of your weak points in the 360 degree revolution.

MAIN

1 minute big gear, 60-65 rpm. Effort level: first time riders doing this (during any phase of training) or any riders during base period, stick to steady/zone 2. More experienced riders working late base or build phases can ride mod-hard/zone 3 or hard/zone 4, depending upon your projected race intensity. (Half IM to IM should be Zone 3, sprint to olympic can be zone 4).

4 minutes easy spin, 90+ cadence

2 minutes big gear, 60-65 rpm (same notes on effort as above)

3 minutes easy spin, 90+ cadence

3 minutes big gear, 60-65 rpm (same notes on effort as above)

2 minutes easy spin, 90+ cadence

4 minutes big gear, 60-65 rpm (same notes on effort as above)

1 minute easy spin, 90+ cadence

5 minutes big gear, 60-65 rpm (same notes on effort as above)

Riding with the gang in our self-styled pain cave/garage.
Riding with the gang in our self-styled pain cave/garage.

COOL

10 minutes very easy spin, 90+ cadence

The 90 minute version makes a similar progression but starts at 5 minutes and builds to 10 minutes. This longer version is very challenging, and should only be attempted by experienced riders, who have gradually worked up to the total duration of big gear riding required for completion of this session.

Long Bike Trainer Rides

Okay, not 6 hours long, but 90 minutes+ long.  I find it pretty challenging to consistently hit an effort without breaking up the monotony just a bit when I’m on the trainer. So, one of my favorite ways to do this are build sets. These can be anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes in length, and you gradually build to the top end of steady/zone 2 throughout the duration of the interval. Lately, I’ve been structuring my long rides this way, and it really helps to break it up. Here’s what a ride with 15 minute intervals might look like.

WARM

30 minutes warm up

MAIN

4 x 15 minutes done as:

– 10 minutes build from the low end to the top end of zone 2/steady

– 5 minutes easy

COOL

10 minutes easy

The main sets can be shortened to 10 minutes, doing a 5-8 minute build with 5 to 2 minute recoveries, or lengthened to 30 minutes, with a 25 minute build and a 5 minute recovery. You can also make each set different cadence ranges as another way to mix things up when the training duration gets long but the outdoor riding isn’t possible. If you are close to a race, you can steadily build toward projected race effort – using heart rate or watts, depending on your available technology.

You might also alternate the length of the build sets, going from 10 minutes to 15 minutes to 20 minutes, and then moving back down the pyramid. I like doing sets in this manner as it helps to keep the focus interesting.

Using these shorter sets in an overall longer ride is a helpful way to maintain focus, which is probably the hardest part about trainer sessions.

Heaaayyyyy!!!!
Heaaayyyyy!!!!

Riding indoors doesn’t have to be monotonous. Think of the trainer as a specific tool with advantages for helping you to work on the efficiency of your pedal stroke, build bike- specific strength, and gain endurance without worrying about the distractions and hazards of the road. Like any other tool, it needs to be maximized for the strengths that it brings. I hope these workouts help you to maximize your training, or spur ideas for how you can get the most of your trainer sessions.

If you have questions about any of these workouts, or training in general, please feel free to contact me.

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What do you think about trainer workouts? Do you have a go-to trainer workout that you love? Share it here! Trainer selfies also welcome 😉 

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*Know your limits before starting any fitness program. Do not attempt these workouts if you have not built adequately to the duration and/or intensity offered. Consult your doctor before you begin any fitness regimen.  If you haven’t had a physical in a while, get one!

 

 

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