Indoor workouts

c/- Chris Carmichael

 

Maximize fitness while minimizing trainer time

 

When it comes to having fun on a bike, most cyclists would rank riding inside on the trainer somewhere between bonking 20 miles from home and getting hit by a semi. But riding inside doesn’t have to be torture: The key is to adopt a get-on, ­get-off attitude and build more intensity into your workouts so you can spend less time ­pedaling to nowhere. Here are some simple guidelines for making the most of your rec-room sweat sessions. 

Be Consistent
If an athlete wants to main­tain fitness over the winter, I recommend he or she ride four times a week and build intervals into three of those sessions. That might work out to two midweek rides on a trainer and two weekend rides. If two won’t fit into your schedule, you could do a program with interval workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and (if road conditions are good) an outdoor group ride or long endurance ride on Saturday. 

Go Hard, Not Long
Indoor training is all about working at the right intensities without wasting time idly pedaling. Some of the workouts that follow are tough, but you can complete them during a trainer session of just 60 to 90 minutes. 

Then Go Harder
You might be riding three or four times a week with a bunch of hard efforts, but if you don’t incrementally increase the workload, all you’ll do is burn calories. That’s not a bad thing, but if your goal is to emerge from the basement a fitter rider, you need to increase time at intensity, starting first by focusing on endurance-building aerobic intervals (tempo), then on harder workouts that will raise your maximum sustainable pace (steady state, climbing repeat) and boost your top-end speed (power intervals). 

Below, you’ll find an eight-week plan that uses a winter event as an incentive. Click here for descriptions of each workout in the chart (including the CTS Field Test). 

Your Winter Workouts
Twice a week, do the recommended interval sessions (see chart) as part of a 60- to 90-minute ride. Your third ride of the week should include a long tempo interval during the first three weeks, and three sets of 10-minute steady-state or climbing-repeat intervals during weeks four through eight. On the fourth day, do a long ride or group ride outside, if weather permits.

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8
Workout 1	CTS Field Test—to gauge your fitness and set intensity goals for each workout.	3 x (1 min. Fast Pedal + 1 min. RBI)// 2 x (15 min. tempo + 5 min. RBI)	3 x (1 min. power interval + 1 min. RBI) // 3 x (8 min. steady state + 4 min. RBI)	3 x (10 min. steady state + 5 min. RBI)	2 sets of 3 x (2 min. power intervals + 2 min. RBI), with 6 min. recovery spinning between sets, or RBS	6 x (2 min. power intervals + 2 min. RBI)	10 x (1 min. power intervals + 1 min. RBI)	3 x (10 min. over under [1 min. under, 1 min. over] + 5 min. RBI)
Workout 2	3 x (10 min. tempo + 5 minutes recovery spinning between intervals, or RBI)	3 x (1 min. fast pedal + 1 min. RBI) // 30 min. tempo	3 x (8 min. steady state + 4 min. RBI)	3 x (10 min. steady state + 5 min. RBI)	3 x (9 min. over under [2 min. under, 1 min. over] + 5 min. RBI)	3 x (10 min. over under [3 min. under, 2 min. over] + 5 min. RBI)	10 x (1 min. power intervals + 1 min. RBI)	3 x (2 min. power intervals + 2 min. RBI) // 5 min. rest // 4 x (3 min over under [2 min. under, 1 min. over] + 3 min. RBI)
Warm-Up	3 minutes easy // 30 seconds at a high cadence // 30 seconds easy // 2 x (1 min. max effort at high cadence + 1 min. easy) // 3 min. easy
3rd Ride	Long tempo interval, preferably during a 1.5- to 2-hour outdoor ride			3 x (10 min. steady state or climbing repeat intervals + 5 min. RBI), preferably during a 1.5- to 2-hour outdoor ride
4th Ride	Group ride or long endurance ride if the weather permits