training diary 2

The secret to a good trainer work out is variety. You need to keep both your body AND your mind interested. There are many different areas of your cycling that you can focus on.

Pedal efficiency work

During the winter, time spent indoors on the stationary trainer is a good opportunity to improve your “pedaling efficiency.” To get the most out of each pedal stroke, you should try to pedal through the full circle (i.e. up as well as down). Here are 2 workouts I do once or twice a week in the winter to improve pedaling efficiency.

1. One leg drills. In an easy gear, cycle with one leg clipped in, one leg resting on the trainer. Pay attention to pedaling smooth circles. Try 45 seconds followed by 1 min 15 seconds easy spinning with both legs. Alternate legs for a total of 6 sets (3 per leg).

2. High cadence drills. In an easy gear, raise your cadence to a level that you can sustain comfortably for 5 minutes. I usually aim for 125 Cadence. Follow each set with 2 minutes of easy spinning. Complete 3 sets.

Endurance work

Endurance work takes time so perhaps the trainer is the not the best place for it. One interesting workout is pyramids.

3. Pyramids. Ride at your riding cadence (for me 90C) in the big chain ring and the 7th easiest gear on the rear cassette for one minute. After each minute, shift up to a heavier gear. Maintain the same cadence. Continue this for all the remaining gears. I try to set the resistance on the trainer so that I bridge my lactate threshold (for me 163HR) in the last minute.

Lactate threshold work

By training at your lactate threshold, it is in theory possible to raise it’s level. Therefore you can work harder without going anaerobic (into oxygen debt).

4. Steady state training. Do 3 sets at your lactate threshold and your riding cadence. Try to hold your HR at a few beats either side of your lactate threshold (for me, between 160 and 165 HR). Once you have found a good gear, you can hold this HR by raising or dropping your cadence slightly. Ride 2 minutes of “Tempo” between sets (for me, between 130 and 140HR).

The excel sheet is a sample workout I did today and last Thursday incorporating all these exercises. The HR details are not important for pedal efficiency exercises.

Give it a try!

Photo – trainer set up in the laundry room, beers chilling on the balcony