I did it, I'm alive--aka the Spinervals Noobs thread/tips and tricks

[Starfish]

I have the Tucson Spinerval that has a core workout of about 75 minutes of tempo climbing. Then there are a couple shorter additional climbs.

Actually, last night instead of falling asleep, I made up in my head a trainer workout to simulate my local mountain climb, which is about 5000 feet in about 19 miles. I know how long it took me to do last year, and I know the road very well (how long it goes at what percentage grades, etc...and how long those sections take me, at what cadences, etc. Yesss...I am a little detail oriented...).

I have an indoor climbing workout coming this weekend, and I am going to try out a simulation of that ride, and see what happens!

LOL...it is a favorite motorcycle ride route for one of my brothers and his daughter...maybe I can have him follow me up the road this spring with her on the back videotaping...make my own "Spinerval" for my own private use! Evil Coach Starfish!

[maillotpois]

I have to say I'm really liking Tough Love for the tempo pace endurance workout. The aero base builder is good, in general. But for a climbing simulation like what she's looking for, her Tucson thing or Tough Love seems to be pretty good.

[Starfish]

I have to say I'm really liking Tough Love for the tempo pace endurance workout. The aero base builder is good, in general. But for a climbing simulation like what she's looking for, her Tucson thing or Tough Love seems to be pretty good.

Alas, I am budgeting. This morning I finally broke down and ordered some shorts and a saddle from Terry, both on sale.

I have been SERIOUSLY in need of another pair of shorts (just at that point...everything I have is worn out, and my current saddle has never been perfect...found one on Terry on sale I have wanted to try since it was introduced, so went for it.

Just had to do shorts/saddle over Spinerval purchase for now.

[jobob]

Well for what it's worth, I've seen a big improvement in my speed on the flatlands over the past month or so since I started doing spinervals.

I'm still finding it hard to believe that on the long flat stretches of my commute I'm cruising easily at 17-18 mph. I haven't been doing much climbing lately but I think that might have improved some as well.

The big test will be the 200K brevet this weekend.

[salsabike]

Jobob, which ones have you been doing? I know Aerobase V, I think, is one of them?

[SouthernBelle]

Since I am trying to work on a steady higher cadence with Spinervals, I've noticed an improvement in my speed too. Fortunately, almost all of them help with this.

I did 3.0, Suffer-a-rama last night. I find this one a bit irritating. I think it's because it has some longer soft-pedals with that really irritating soft pedal music he uses.

Wouldn't Uphill Grind help on the climbing?

[Thorn]

I did 3.0, Suffer-a-rama last night. I find this one a bit irritating.

Grrr...that one is on the docket for tomorrow....I really, really hate it and I don't know why. But, now I'll be blaming the music.

Uphill Grind helps with hills (I think any work that forces you to push bigger gears will help), but the hill work seems to be more like sprinting to get over small bumps in a criterium--hard spins in hard gears with a lot of standing.

I like the Tucson rides for sustained climbs. Gates Pass, to me, is an aero workout with 3 good-sized hills to push the heartrate outside of aero--kinda like a real ride with hills. Mt. Lemmon is just cruel--relentless climbing.

I also use Hillacious for climbing work. It has two sustained grinds (75RPM), some fake rolling hills (mostly seated) and some big-gear grinds. More like climbing for a non-racer type.

[jobob]

Salsa, you're right, I've been using Aerobase V, as well as No Slackers and Uphill Grind. For about the last month I did NS and UG once a week, separated by at least a day, and ABV twice a week. More or less.

I actually have 3 other DVDs from the interval 5-pack that I haven't cracked open yet - Suffer-o-ama, Muscle Breakdown, & the Sprinting Machine. I'll get to them eventually.