indoor training

[Crankin]

I bought the Cyclo Core/Cyclo Zen winter training program 3 years ago. While I know that some think that Graham Street is a little full of himself (he may be), the program is a good one. But, it's different than Spinnervals in that the rides are not on video, (except one of the most difficult ones, which is done about once every 10 days), but on a CD that you can download and print out in a booklet format. I like this program for several reasons. First, I bought the "low volume" intermediate level program. Basically, this has about 60% of the workouts of the regular volume intermediate program. Street did research after the first couple of years and found that a lot people who bought the regular program only did about 60% of the workouts and they still improved their fitness, so he offered a version with more rest days. For me, this gives me flexibility to include the winter sports I do and fit the bike training in. The CDs have 2 30 minute yoga programs, an 8 minute power workout, a core workout, and a stretching workout. I use those all year round as a complement to my riding. There's also 6 different, short functional training and resistance workouts that are part of the winter training program, along with a bonus abs/core workout and a stretch. They are hard; in fact I can't do a couple of the things, so I modify.
This year, I am doing the prescribed workouts/rides on an accelerated basis. So, I will be finishing the 12 week program in about 9-10 weeks. If the prescribed program for a day is too long for the time I have, I sometimes split up the riding part and the core part. But usually, the riding part of the program isn't more than 45 minutes at a time. There's lots of very hard drills combined with easy spins; no horrible 2 hours on the trainer! He recommends doing one long outdoor ride a week, but I have been substituting x country skiing/snow shoeing for that. Today, I will ride outside for the first time since the middle of December (it's warmer), but I feel much stronger.
One thing about this program is that you have to be motivated to do the bike drills without a DVD, i.e. just reading it from a book. I watch the news or listen to music and I'm fine. But other people might want the "push" of a video.

[ivorygorgon]

I can't say enough about Cardio Coach

http://www.cardiocoach.com/

These are guided workouts for the ipod. Coach Sean is amazing, and the music is really good. No visuals, but oh, these are fabulous workouts.