Thoughts on Indoor Training

Indoor Training

Years ago you could maybe count on one hand how many people you knew who trained either exclusively or did the majority of their training, whether it was running or cycling, indoors. Nowadays it seems that everyone is converting to indoor training, or at least incorporating it into their regular training regimen in some way. It used to be that indoor training was pretty much reserved for those of us living in cold climates to get into some quality training runs in on the treadmill, or for cyclists trying to stay in good shape through the winter by spending long hours on the bike while getting to watch some tv at the same time (a point I'll touch on later). Now however, we are seeing many athletes, including myself, not just hold a spot in our training regimen to be indoors throughout the winter, but also year-round. I think the shift in the training methods stems from a couple different factors.

Firstly, indoor training has become more fun and engaging. It used to be that when the snow started to come down and cover the streets, cyclists would either stop training until the spring, or would grab there bikes and take them out into the garage or the dark dungeon of a basement fix their bike to the trainer, and go at it suffering in absolute boredom for hours on end. Now we have all sorts of different gadgets and software tools to help the time fly by and actually use this "offseason" time to make huge gains on the bike. We have smart trainers like the Wahoo Kickr (http://www.wahoofitness.com?acc=a532400ed62e772b9dc0b8 6f46e583ff) which can do a number of fun and interesting things. The trainer can simulate climbs up to 20%, simulate downhills since the flywheel is so heavy (5kg) if you stop pedalling the wheel keeps spinning giving an incredibly realistic road feel, and it is compatible with numerous different online platforms like Zwift and TrainerRoad which can help you become a faster, stronger cyclist. Zwift (http://zwift.com/) is an interactive online world where you bike around an island and your smart trainer will automatically simulate all the climbs and downhills to making it incredibly engaging and rewarding. Basically what I mean by simulates climbs and downhills, for those who don't know how the trainer or Zwift works, is that in Zwift when your

Riding on Zwift - normally in the top left corner
are you stats like Time, Power, Heart rate, cadence
hill gradient, speed, etc. 

character on the screen gets to a hill the trainer automatically adjusts the resistance making it harder to pedal and the amount of resistance depends on the gradient of the hill. If your going downhill, the trainer lowers the resistance accordingly, and you can gear up to blast it down the hill. In terms of it being interactive, everyone who has Zwift is riding on the same Island so you have thousands of cyclists able to interact with you as you play. And it is not just merely everyone is separate doing their own thing on the island, the software has been developed so that when you are behind another cyclist you benefit from the effects of drafting, and their are always races or group rides that you can join (your speed is determined by the terrain your on and then a combination of your power (wattage) and body weight (W/kg)). The game is also linked into Strava so there are KOM's and segments where you can compare your best times to everyone around the world. It will be tough though to get some of those KOM's as there are many professional cyclists who use Zwift on a regular basis.

TrainerRoad (https://www.trainerroad.com/) on the other hand I find just as engaging as Zwift but a little more serious (I use both). Yes in Zwift races can be very intense, and they also now have workout mode where you can select from a number of workouts, but TrainerRoad is a training tool where you can either select a training plan that gives you daily workouts to complete or you can pick and choose workouts selectively without being in a plan, and as you complete the workouts instead of the screen being a character riding around a bright and beautiful island, on the screen is just a lot of graphs and numbers telling you heart rate, power, time left in interval, speed, overall time, power variability, etc. How TrainerRoad works is first you complete an FTP test, and then lets say in your plan you are to complete an interval workout of 5x10 minutes at 90% FTP w/ 3 minute recoveries at 50% FTP. If your FTP is 300W then the 90% is 270W and the 50% for the recoveries is 150W. In trainerRoad, there is something called Erg Mode which basically automatically sets the resistance on the trainer to keep your power at a certain number no matter what the cadence is, therefore you never have to change gears. What that means is you can spin at 60RPM and the trainer will boost up the resistance to keep the power at 270W and when you speed up the cadence to say 100RPM the trainer will lower the resistance slightly but still have enough to keep you at 270W. So basically during the interval you don't really have to think to much about what gear your in or keeping your cadence at a certain number to maintain your power, the trainer will do that for you. No matter what it will keep you at 270W unless of course is gets to hard and then you can't pedal anymore and need to stop. On the 50% or 150W recoveries the trainer will lower down the resistance automatically, and you recover at whatever cadence you like, again the trainer keeps you 150W regardless. In addition to having over 1000 different workouts to choose from, the training plans are extremely effective and there a numerous available to be specific to exactly what you training for from Sprint Triathlon to Full Ironman, short steep climbs for mountain biking, cyclocross, hilly grand fondos, criteriums, 40 k TT, etc. The plans are also nicely periodized into a base phase, build phase, and speciality phase.

In addition you can use these smart trainers to simulate exactly the race course you intend on racing to help you with those test sets prior to a race. You can do this by using online tools like Best Bike Split (https://bestbikesplit.com/). Basically here's what you do (it is quite brilliant):

1. Make an account on Best Bike Split 
2. Go to "My Bikes" and input all the information on your bike (the make, geometry, fit, components, wheels, hydration setup, etc) 
3. Go to "My Profile" input you FTP, max heart rate, experience, height, weight
4. Go to "My Courses" and search for the race course that you are doing, they have most, if not you could just create one; so for instance I can look up Wisconsin Ironman 70.3 
5. Then in "My Races" add the course, and the predicted weather conditions, and the tool will work out based on your FTP, riding position, weather, road surface, and the course profile the estimated time and your average and normalized power for that time. If you want a specific time you input that and the software will work out the power needed for all the segments on the course and give you all this information in a nice graph. For example for Wisconsin it may say for a 2:13 90k bike split up Observatory Hill I need to average 310 W, and then 250W on following downhill etc. 
6. Then now this is pretty brilliant, what you can do is two things with this information: either you can take their proposed power plan file for the course needed to achieve your goal time save it and load it into TrainerRoad where you can now essentially ride the course at your goal power indoors to prepare, or you can upload the power plan file to your garmin and during the race have your target power number for whatever segment of the route you are on live on the screen with your current power making sure you stay on power and can achieve your goal time. Essentially it will give up live power instructions during the race. 

Miami Prediction with new improved FTP, under this
Best Bike Split has the power for all the segments
the graph shows the power plan for the race. 

Now some of you may be wondering well how accurate really is Best Bike Split at predicting my time and the power needed to achieve that time for whatever the course is. Well the software was not developed by some triathlete or cyclist like myself just wanting a better way to be able to pace myself on the bike. Instead it was developed by a PhD Mathematician, Ryan Cooper, who came up with this super complicated algorithm late one night prior to a time trial in the Tour de France which correctly predicted something like the first 10 riders times, including Chris Froome and Tony Martin, to within seconds over a 36km stage. It has of course been refined and perfected since then so it is incredibly accurate. In Barrelman this year it predicted my bike split to within 12 seconds, and in Miami to within 22 seconds (when I had only estimated the temperature and wind speed 2 weeks prior, had I used the forecast from the day before it would have been bang on - but still 12 or 22 seconds over a 90km bike ride (and remember in Miami I had also took a wrong turn at one point which cost me some time) is pretty amazing).

So that was all my first reason for why indoor training is becoming more popular - lol sorry about that rambled on for quite a while there. The second reason why I think indoor training throughout the year is becoming more popular is because well quite frankly biking outside can be downright dangerous with all the idiot drivers out on the road. Not only do I not trust any driver out there enough to put my head down and blast it at 45 km/hr on a city street with traffic, but the fact is that with the insane level of development in the GTA and York Region there are very few places where you can go without encountering a traffic light every few hundred meters. Therefore, it is almost impossible to do effective workouts outside anyway. Think about it, your out there doing a VO2 max workout where you are really going to challenge your aerobic system by biking at 125% FTP for 3 minutes. The challenge is not hitting 125% FTP, that part of the workout is pretty easy, but the challenge really is maintaining 125% FTP over 3 minutes, 3 minutes where your heart rate is going to go up and up and up until getting close to your max heart rate. So your out there ripping through the first minute at 125% FTP and heart rate is steadily climbing, and boom, red light, you have to stop, heart rate drops back to resting, and that's pretty much the end of that interval. No point finishing out the other 2 minutes, the workout was supposed to be 3 minutes. 2 minutes at that wattage won't be enough time to get the aerobic system churning at full gas.

So to sum it up, indoor training is safer, more effective in my opinion, and becoming more and more interactive and engaging. For me, last year I did probably 98% of my riding indoors. However, having said that, I do think outdoor riding still has it's place. First off, I think it is important to still have some of that road feel outside in terms of being confident in your aero-tuck position, and also handling of the bike on turns and downhills (and being confident enough to be aggressive going downhill). On the trainer, you can sometimes get pretty lazy regarding your core activation since you don't need to balance the bike at all, it isn't moving anywhere fixed to the trainer. It was always funny last year when if I went for a long of a period of time without going outside, that first time outside, the first minute or so, you would feel a little wobbly on the bike. It would come back within a minute, but still wouldn't want to train 100% indoors and then arrive at the race without having been outside on the bike in months. Second, while I believe you are able to work on your aero-tuck position indoors, it still always feels slightly different outside. So go out once and a while and practice staying in your tuck for extended periods of time to get used to that feeling for race day. Third, bike skills like taking in your nutrition need to be practiced outside on the road. It is great on the trainer having your three or four bottles surrounding you well within reach, but outside it is different. If your like me and have a bottle up between your arms in the aerobars, and a bottle behind the saddle (the most aerodynamic spot hidden from the wind), you need to practice reaching behind you to grab that bottle. I didn't take my own advice in this case, as just before Miami I purchased a behind the seat mounted bottle, and was not able to get used to reaching behind me to grab that bottle in such a short period of time. The flexibility to do it and the balance required was just not something I had worked on and when I got to Miami, I was able to take the bottle out of the cage, but in the race I couldn't put it back in (it was a very tight fit with my bottle I was using + the bottle cage has 14 lbs of grip) so I had to just fill my front bottle with the rear one, and then toss the rear bottle (a 12.99$ bottle wasted; it was at the aid station so wasn't littering). Lastly, outdoor still has it place for extremely long rides. Yes I have done 4.5-5 hour rides on Zwift and TrainerRoad before inside. How? Takes a lot of mental fortitude, and an amazing music playlist. I think on some of those rides my Dad probably started to think the music was on random since I think I started with electronic dance/house music (my favourite training music), then changed to latin party anthems like Daddy Yankee, and Don Omar, then went to ACDC, then some old-school Blink-182, then some CCR, back to electric music, and so on. But seriously, I think it is possible to do very long rides inside, however, why not keep indoor rides slightly shorter, and more intense to get the most bang for your buck, and save the super long rides for outside where you can work on being in your aero position, find some new roads, and practice hydrating on the go. That brings me back to my point from earlier where you hear about people doing 5-6 hour long rides in front of the tv watching netflix. Personally I think my aerobic base is pretty darn good after years of pushing my body to the limit, so I really doubt spending 6 hours on the trainer watching Suits episodes where my heart rate doesn't go above 110 is really going to benefit me in any way. Indoors I like to keep my rides under 3 hours for long rides, but within those 3 hours there is a tonne of high intensity work. 

Some Final Tips to maximize your Indoor Training:

http://www.wahoofitness.com?acc=a532400ed62e772b9dc0b8 6f46e583ff
Go to Wahoo Fitness for more information on differen trainers,
they have the direct one shown here, and a cheaper but still
incredibly high-quality wheel-on model. 

1. Buy a good fan. Unlike when you are outside, inside the air around you is not moving, so you can overheat very quickly without a fan, and your performance will suffer.
2. Related to the first stay hydrated (and make note of your weight before and after rides to see how you are performing with your hydration) 
3. Invest in a decent sound system, and start compiling a good music playlist. 
4. Use a smart trainer like the Wahoo Kickr to be able to take advantage of all the online training tools available nowadays. 
5. Don't neglect your position on the bike. I like to always incorporate some drills to work on my position into my workouts. For example, lifting one hand off the handlebars and seeing to it that your body position doesn't change at all, holding that position for 30 seconds, and then switching hands. Or another could be making sure your "sit" bones are anchored to the wings of the saddle, and pelvis is not tilted forward. Indoors is also the perfect place to work of pedalling technique (kicking your toes over the top 10-2 o'clock position, and then pulling across the bottom 4-8 o'clock position). 
6. A safety tip from inside from someone who really knows it (trust me): When you are done the workout, do not linger, take the shorts off, shower and get on with the day. After a few hours sweating buckets in a pair of bike shorts, the chamois essentially becomes a petri dish for bacteria, fungus, and yeast to thrive (sorry this is so bluntly put but it needs to be said). Get the shorts off and shower, and do not, I repeat DO NOT, wear the same shorts twice. I am famous for talking too much (look at this post it was supposed to be short and sweet and here I am still writing). In elementary school and high school I spent pretty much everyday after school in the office because I was talking too much in class - many times where my parents had to be called in to the school and told by the teacher that "Frank just won't stop chatting to other students during the lesson." However, after I'm done a training session it is not the time to chat to people about how good of a workout it was (or bad), or when Tiger Woods is finally going to be healthy (come on man I'm rooting for you). Go upstairs and shower. How do I know what I'm talking about well I'll tell you, it's embarrassing but I'm open on this blog, last year in October I got an absolutely horrible infection in my groin area (from sweaty bike shorts) and it actually kept me from running for just short of a week, and when I did manage to get my run in it literally felt like I was running with shards of glass in my shorts. I also couldn't sleep at night for about two weeks because I was in so much pain and so damn itchy. Anyways, my point is don't linger finish the workout and move on. 
7. Finally, have fun. Indoor training as I think I've explained is a great way to not only stay in shape, but also improve your fitness during the winter and also year-round, so give it a try.

In my next post, I will talk about the variety of different bike workouts I like to do, and some tips on using heart rate data to it's fullest.