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Riding Inside vs Outside
Morning All!
Curious what people think about riding inside vs. outside. I know there are strong opinions on both sides of this debate. For me I think riding more inside is going to be a necessity because of time. I also find my work is more honest on the trainer than outside. But, then I get nervous that I haven't ridden outside enough. Also, when you ride outside are you riding ti-bike or road bike? I am new to my trip bike so need to get use to handling it but it really isn't conducive to the hilly, narrow roads where I live - I am popping in/out of aero constantly. Any thoughts?
Sarah
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As for the Road vs TT bike question. Once I'm in "Race Training" prep phase, I'm 100% on the TT bike. The reality is that for a Ironman, you gotta start spending lots of time in that position to get comfy. This is particularly true for IMMD where the course is flat and there aren't any natural terrain imposed reasons to sit up. Looking at where you live, I certainly would never advise riding the TT bike on Skyline Drive (although I know lots of folks who have done so- I personally wouldn't be comfortable), but I've ridden many of the other valley roads around your area on my TT bike with no trouble. It does take time getting used to it, and even if you are popping up a lot in the beginning, you'll find that you'll get more comfortable taking that same corner or hill aero after a few rides.
Hope that helps!
As for road vs tri, I totally concur w/ Nemo; you must spend time on the TT bike to get very comfortable on it. I'm 100% on it (inside and out) from late spring through the summer.
Can't wait to meet everyone in "Marlyand"!
Thanks...I knew you were going to say that and it was both helpful and what I needed to hear!
Sarah, do you have any VA state or county parks near you that might be a bit flatter. the one near me has a hilly section and a flattish section where I can do out and backs on the flats to simulate a flat course.
Now having done two Flat full distance races (IMFL and Chesapeakman), the trainer is a great tool to stay aero and just pedal away with no interruptions in the aero position...
Flat maybe fast but it really starts to get hard towards the end.
I think a thing to remember in lots of training is that (in very broad terms), the closer you get to a race, the more race-specific you want to be. I think you can take this over-literally, but the point with TT bike vs road bike is certainly that the mix has to strongly favor the TT bike as you get into your race specific prep phase.
People vary on whether they can push themselves harder inside vs out. It's more common to see them do better outside, but there are exceptions. (I am one...) if you can't get your work in on the trainer, obviously you are doing yourself something of a disservice. If you are doing an ABP ride harder inside than you would outside, I think that's a good signal that you are not losing much if anything by doing a lot of indoor training. Some well known triathletes follow this pattern of getting outside about once a week and doing the rest of the work indoors, but you need to make sure you're training yourself to ride the TT bike and are being honest with yourself about getting the work in.
I typically do my weekday workouts on the trainer. The reason isn't so much weather, light, or training partners ... living in Dallas, we are pretty good on all those. Although, I do share the 'no solo rides' rule and weekday partners are harder to find than weekend.
My reason is that the EN weekday workouts are very structured ... intervals, repeats, big gears ... and it is just tough to do that work accurately, outside, with other people who just want to ride/hammer/whatever. Also, the trainer combined with TrainerRoad has turned out to be very effective for me. If you don't have TrainerRoad, I highly recommend it. EN has all the HIM/IM and OS workouts uploaded (you have to request being added to EN group to see them) which makes it super easy. When you are done, you know you did exactly what was assigned ... not more or less ... so you are DONE for today and set up for tomorrow.
My personal approach is simple ... on my laptop
1 - queue up entertainment
2 - launch TrainerRoad and find workout
3 - put TR in HORIZONTAL mode across bottom of the screen
4 - put entertainment in full screen and start
5 - start TR, jump on bike, enjoy/suffer
TR syncs automatically to trainingpeaks and strava.
How do you let them know you are an EN person? how does training roads know what workout you are doing or need to do? How does it sync to your own TP account?
Thanks! You can PM me if no one else is interested in details....we're having lots of storms here in Austin and I'm thinking of doing a long ride inside as well as much as I hate to do that.... My last long ride this Sunday was fun but wet.... a little scarey on the descents although there were other fools out there just like me
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/Wiki/tabid/91/Default.aspx?topic=Trainer+Road:+Getting+Started
Patricia - FWIW, I like to do a couple long rides inside ... the benefit I get is understanding and training the focus it takes to really ride a low VI for 3,4,5 hours ... it is not easy (at least for me) but if you can't do it on the trainer, you probably can't on the road either ... also (and this depends on where you ride) understanding and training what it feels like to put out constant watts for that amount of time like you will in a race vs the stops that you get on training rides (stop signs, lights, refuel stops). I felt like I got a more realistic 'race simulation' in many (but not all) ways on the trainer than outside and I felt I was better prepared for race day having done both flavors than I would have been with just one or the other.