When it gets to January (unless you live somewhere like California, and then not always), for most of us who like to ride all year round, we have to go back to our old friend/foe the indoor trainer.
When the cold and darkness prevent you from going outside, what else can you do?
Well, you can make the whole thing a lot more interesting for a start. Hours spent looking at a blank wall will drive anyone crazy, so try and keep your senses alive with other things as well as your exercise.
Now these are not new ideas, everyone wears earphones or looks at the gym TV when they exercise, but make it more of an event and you will look forward to exercising instead of dreaming about warm weather in Kona and possibly not bothering at all because it is too boring.
There is some essential equipment apart from your bike and trainer that you will need. Several towels are always a good idea, remember you are going to drip sweat all over the floor, so put them beneath your bike, and have one to hand so you can wipe your face and body. Also, make sure you have plenty of water or sports drinks, just because you are not out in the sun does not mean you will not dehydrate.
A fan is also mandatory, especially if you are in a small room like a basement or a garage, because let’s face it, you are going to get very hot if you are training properly.
An mp3 player is a pretty good thing to use for a short session, you can download podcasts about almost anything these days, even training tips about triathlon, so get yourself one. It does not have to be a top end one with all the bells and whistles, just one that does the job and is lightweight (you can use it all year round then when you train outside as well).
As you are indoors, you can also make use of even better things than a plain old mp3 player. How about that oblong thing in the corner that they call a TV? Catch up on your shows or the news, or watch a DVD movie or a training DVD for inspiration, I always find watching quality athletes on DVD makes me push myself harder, and before you know it the session is over.
So what about the actual workout, won’t all this entertainment just distract you? Not in my experience. As long as you concentrate and know what you should be working on (always remembering that you are there to train and not just for entertainment purposes!), you should have no problems.
The training intensity will obviously not be as high because it is off-season, so this may be a good time to work on other things such as your technique or your weaknesses, as well as building strength.
Always work on a few drills after your initial warm-up and before you get stuck into the main portion of your workout. Increase you strength, power and endurance with something like one legged pedaling, which will also help with your dead-spots.
Once you are fully into the workout do things like hill climbs or seated climbs every time the first commercial comes on, make up similar routines or “games” so your whole session is more interesting and moves more quickly and you will definitely get a fantastic non-boring indoor workout!
