Peter Cannell on Indoor Training

Indoor Training
by Peter Cannell
2008 US Masters 30-34 Time Trial National Champion
2007 US Masters 30-34 Road Race National Champion
Founder & Principal, Cannell Champion Training

This article will focus on the topic of “Indoor Training”, specifically riding your road or TT bike indoors.  There are a number of important factors to consider when embracing indoor training and I will try to cover the basics here.  To successfully incorporate indoor training into your cycling life, considerations such as why to train indoors, what equipment to use and proper setup of your space are critical.  

Training indoors brings an element of simplicity and purity to workouts that can be very difficult to reproduce outside, especially for those living in urban areas.  Distractions such as schedules, family obligations and weather are removed.  There is no need to worry about what the group ride is doing or if your training partner is going too fast or too slow.  Indoor training allows for uninterrupted workouts that can be extremely effective, efficient and something that just about every cyclist can benefit from.

The right environment and equipment make all of the difference between an enjoyable training session and one that is more like torture.  First of all, it is best if you have a place in your home designated for such activity.  This way you are not hauling out all kinds of equipment every time you have a workout to do.  Basements and garages are excellent choices - basically anywhere you can carve out a space and hopefully get plenty of fresh air and ventilation.  Ideally some type of rubber flooring or rubber mat should be used to keep things tidy.  Cooling and ventilation should be your next concern, and one that should not be ignored.  Your ability to generate power and enjoy the workout will be greatly reduced if you cannot keep your body cool.  A very large fan is a necessity – specifically one that moves 4000cfm or more of air.  Having fresh cool ventilation through open windows or a garage door is also very important.

Many riders find that having music, TV or movies make the time go by faster.  An ipod with the TV going (on mute with CC) is the way to go.  Having good music you associate with excellent athletic performances is very powerful and not to be overlooked.  When you have a good playlist that works well for workouts and gets you fired up, it can also be very beneficial to use during race warm-ups.

On equipment – I have strong feelings about what the best way to ride indoors is, but there are a variety of trainers and rollers that work quite well.  My favorite is the inside ride e-motion rollers, followed closely by Trutrainer rollers, then kurt kinetic pro model fluid trainer.  The key thing is having realistic resistance and a good solid road feel.  Cheaping out on the equipment will simply make the workouts more annoying or downright difficult to complete – but the right gear will make riding inside a true pleasure.

Now one of the most convenient aspects of indoor training is that it can be done any time of day regardless of weather.  This is very important for athletes with commitments that can make getting outdoors difficult.  This is especially true during the winter months, but many athletes find that it makes scheduling workouts so much easier that they adopt indoor training year round.  Personally I prefer first thing in the morning workouts as much as possible.  There are no reasons whatsoever that you cannot do a workout before work, before the kids get up, etc – it is a really great way to achieve consistent workouts.

Finally – what you do once you get on the trainer or rollers is important as well.  It is critical to have a very specific goal every time you ride indoors and it can be very useful to write out that workout goal on a small whiteboard and have it staring you in the face.   I won’t get into the details of what you should be doing, but focused, specific workouts are key – warmup, do the workout set, cooldown.  There is little reason to spend more than 90 min indoors, and most really good workouts can be done in 60 minutes.  

I have found through both my own experience and working with numerous athletes that indoor training is akin to a secret weapon to use not only during the winter months but throughout the season.  Athletes that embrace the pure nature of hard workouts, done in an efficient manor will achieve better gains than those who are beholden to the weather and other constraints that exist with riding outside year round.

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Peter Cannell is the founder and principal of Cannell Champion Training, a highly personalized coaching service that focuses on maximizing an athlete’s full potential through discipline and focus while balancing work and family life.  Peter can be reached by email or at www.cannellchampiontraining.com. 

Comments

[Greg]

what's the power difference between indoor and outdoor workouts? When I was riding the trainer indoors after breaking my hand this summer I was murdering myself to hit 300W for 5 minutes but once I got the cast off and was back riding outdoors, I was hitting 350-360 no problemo...

[peter cannell]

There are a number of reasons why some riders have trouble producing power indoors vs out - but not all do, and some even do better indoors.

First - a watt is a watt, so just because it feels harder indoors doesn't mean it is a better workout.

Second, I'll assume you are using the same bike, same powermeter, etc - otherwise calibration and validity come into play.

Some possible reasons:

-Poor cooling
-Poor equipment choice (ie, crappy trainer vs nice smooth trainer or rollers)
-Mental fatigue/boredom

Just like many aspects of our sport, training indoors is a skill that can and needs to be practiced to improve and become an expert at.

Cheers,
Pete

[cc]

I think this article is great and I understand trainers/rollers are a great way to train if you just want don't want the hassle and need just a recovery ride or ride though you have a broken arm or dislocation. ..but how is 60-90 min on the trainer increasing aerobic energy production (capillary density, mitochondrail mass) especially during the fall/winter months when most of us (i think) adhere to ''the wider and deeper the base, the higher and more sustained the peak'' IMO, I think trainers/rollers are great towards the end of base training and used to 'peak' towards the end of this period with HT intervals.

[Va Cyclist]

cc- not sure your question is concerning "indoor trainer" or more training philosophy, sure pete could address both as an experience coach/cyclist but maybe not on this form.

[ARDcycling]

CC-
Read this http://www.biketechreview.com/performance/base.htm
Pete is spot on. Most cyclists don't have the mental discipline to do 20 min and above sst intervals indoors or even outdoors. Hell anyone can go ride around for 4-5 hours at L2- but do a 60 min interval at 90%-95% of LT- much harder!
I ride with guys who put in 20 hours a week and I ride 8 hrs a week and smoke them!
Think- If you have been doing the same thing you'll get the same result. Once I rode less and rested more I started winning!

[peter cannell]

Yep, exactly what CC said - training philosophy is well beyond the scope of this article, but feel free to contact me off line.

[Jaxrolo]

A friend of mine rode his bike at the Atlanta MS 150 a couple of months ago. We had some bad weather here in Florida for a few weeks and he did most of his training indoors. He has a nice setup in his garage.