I'm new to riding the trainer. This is my first year on it. I've been doing it pretty consistently for the past month. What I've noticed is its a heck of a lot harder to ride on the trainer than the road.
As a baseline, its taking me about an hour to go 16 to 17 miles on the trainer. But when I was out on the road, I could go about 20 miles in the same time period. Plus, my legs feel so much more worked on the trainer, even though I'm doing a shorter distance.
I understand all the general principles that the trainer doesn't really give you a break, its solid spinning for the entire time. My question is then, how, or do you even, modify training plans to ride the trainer? I'm used to following a training plan assuming riding on the road, should I do less on the trainer? I've heard people say an hour on the trainer is like an hour and twenty on the road. Is that true? Is there a good ratio to follow? I'm sure it would be best to do the same workout regardless of road or being on a trainer, but I'm not sure my legs can take it (at least not at this point in my training).
Thanks for any tips.
Are you just riding in one
Are you just riding in one gear for the whole trainer ride? I am just curious, because generally you would want to use trainer workouts as interval training. The rest periods are easy spinning which gives you a bit of a break. I generally find trainer workouts easier because there is no wind indoors. And I only ride on the trainer in the winter, once I can get outdoors, then only time I use the trainer is in case of severe weather, such as thunderstorms. Or if I need a recovery workout, but I am in my lowest gears for that.
Take your time for "road
Take your time for "road time" (in minutes), and divide by 1.2. That converts "road-time" to "trainer-time". Speed on a trainer is a useless variable to compare between inside and outside, it sucks, since you have no real sense of effort (if you aren't using HR or a powermeter).
You can use trainer's for long rides, you just do less. I had to do a 4hr. ride this weekend, but instead it became a 3:20 ride, steady state. I use power and HR, so I'm able to get the same effect inside and outside.
I actually do most of my riding inside, I've seen no negative effects in how I perform in races due to if I'm riding inside or outside. Just depends on how well you are able to control resistance on your trainer.
Thanks for the info. I have
Thanks for the info. I have been doing both intervals and steady state rides. When I want to do "longer" rides it usually a steady state.
I have been using a heart rate monitor for the past month so I have an idea of my efforts, although I don't have a baseline as I just started using the heart monitor. Its good to know speed on the trainer is not a good indicator as it feels like I've slowed down inside.
To use HR properly you need
To use HR properly you need to know your Lactate Threshold on the bike, then you can set up your training zones. A quick way to get LT is an all out 8min effort. 8 beats above your average HR is around your LT. From there you can set up zones.