TE December Indoor Cycling Challenge

[Miranda]

My cycling coach mixes up the motivation quite a bit. Some days we have scenic cycling videos (where it's shot from the rider's perspective, so you rarely/never see a bike, just the road and scenery ahead) which he sets to music at whatever cadences we are working at for the day. Other times we use Robbie Ventura videos to simulate races, sprints, pacelining, etc. On time trial days, we usually get treated to footage of Lance, or even better, Fabian Cancellara, again set to music by the coach to keep us pedaling at certain cadences. There are days with no video at all, where it's just music and drills, but that's OK too. All in all, a great combination. Definitely never boring!

I've tried to sit on the trainer in my garage and I simply can not motivate myself to do it for long. Boooooring, and more importantly, I just don't push myself the same way I do in class.

I totally heard that lol. Even as an instructor I can usually push it just a little bit more when someone else is mixing up the fun.

[Aggie_Ama]

Have had a cold all week, finally feel like I am getting the upper hand but not ready for spin class yet.

[Susan Otcenas]

Hour-long cycling class at 6am today. Focus was on cadence drills today, with most of the work done at 100 and 105 rpm. When I first started working with this coach (15 months ago), my natual cadence was ~ 80rpm. Now I am closer to 95rpm. So, these drills DEFINITELY work!

[Giulianna23]

Starting spinning classes today .....yay!!

[pll]

Hour-long cycling class at 6am today. Focus was on cadence drills today, with most of the work done at 100 and 105 rpm. When I first started working with this coach (15 months ago), my natual cadence was ~ 80rpm. Now I am closer to 95rpm. So, these drills DEFINITELY work!

It would be great if you or someone described some of those cadence drills. I have slowly managed to increase my cadence from ~60-70 or so to about 80 (with some bursts of 90-100+), mostly through consistent riding, but also with some obsessing about my cadence during rides. Using the trainer (as much as I hate it) seems to have helped.

Re a previous comment about the intensity of the workouts, for me the trainer has been a good opportunity to push really hard (to the point of getting sick) because I'm in the comfort of my place. I can collapse comfortably on my floor, if need be.

[Blueberry]

8/8 done.

Have been doing my own intervals - and my average HR/mileage comparisons tell me I'm working harder than some of the ECT's Yesterday was easy. Today was not. 45 minutes.

[Susan Otcenas]

It would be great if you or someone described some of those cadence drills.

Sure!

So, this morning, after a warmup, we had 3 main worksets.

1st workset, 20 minutes:
1 minute pedalling at 105rpm, at mid zone 2 intensity (around 80-85% of threshold power)
1 minute at 85rpm. No adjustment to the tension knob, just a reduction in rpm. Yields ~ a mid-zone 1 intensity effort (60-65% of threshold power)
REPEAT 10 times to get to 20 minutes

2nd workset, 13 minutes:
5 minutes at 100rpm, varying zone intensity via the tension knob only, as follows:
1 minute at mid zone 3 (100% of threshold power)
1 minute at low zone 2 (75% of threshold power)
1 minute at high zone 3 (105% of threshold)
1 minute at low zone 2 (75% of threshold power)
1 minute at mid zone 3 (100% of threshold power)

3 minutes of active recovery in mid zone 1 (60-65% of threshold power) at rider's preferred cadence

5 minutes at 100rpm, varying zone intensity via the tension knob only, as follows:
1 minute at high zone 3 (105% of threshold)
1 minute at low zone 2 (75% of threshold power)
1 minute at mid zone 3 (100% of threshold power)
1 minute at low zone 2 (75% of threshold power)
1 minute at high zone 3 (105% of threshold)

3rd workset, 6 minutes:
1 minute pedalling at 105rpm, at mid zone 2 intensity (around 80-85% of threshold power)
1 minutes at 85rpm. No adjustment to the tension knob, just a reduction in rpm. Yields ~ a mid-zone 1 intensity effort (60-65% of threshold power)
REPEAT 3 times to get to 6 minutes

Cooldown.

There was also a few minutes Z1 recovery between each workset, for a total of an hour-long workout.

We ride on Cyclops stationary bikes equipped with power meters. We've all been tested, so that we know what our threshold power is, and what all of our intensity zones are. Each of us has a laminated card on our bikes, so that we don't have to do math or remember our zones. :-)

These classes are coached, and he's excellent. He continually gives us cues, reminds us where we are supposed to be, encourages us, corrects our form, etc.

Of course, a workout like this is totally tranlatable to what you do at home, even if you don't have a power meter. You can go by perceived exertion, heartrate, etc.

Hope this helps!

Susan

[pll]

Thanks! I will have to print that tomorrow and try it.

[Catrin]

1 hour on the spinning bike tonight and I felt great! I was pretty much able to do everything in class at close to my old intensity, the injections are working