Endurance miles in winter

funkydisciple
funkydisciple Posts: 65
edited December 2018 in Training, fitness and health
Dudes/dudettes,

Hope you are all well wonderful people.

Is there a way to build up endurance miles during the winter period without being on the bike? I feel like this is a stupid question but if you don’t ask you won’t konw. I have joined the gym, they have a Wattbike which is really cool, but stationary bikes I find really boring. I feel like I can only do 10mins before moving on to a different part of the gym.

What workouts are you doing (off the bike) to maintain your fitness so that your are in great shape for the new year and Ready for the sportives and club rides?

Thanks everyone.
«13

Comments

  • Typical Analytical
    Typical Analytical Posts: 165
    No substitute for on the bike. Watch Netflix and get off the saddle for 30-60 seconds every 10 min and you'll be fine.
  • cycleclinic
    cycleclinic Posts: 6,865
    While the rule are really tongue and check there is no reason to stop riding in the winter. Its only cold and wet mostly.

    Those that train indoors tend to do it at home and come to terms with the bordem by using zwift or tacx. I'd rather gut myself than sit on a trainer.

    So you choice is the trainer or go ride for real. There is no subsitiute.
    http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Unless it's snowy or Icy then get out on the bike. You can't appreciate the decent weather unless you've the contrast of the winter months.

    Get your kit right and you'll have some great rides.
  • Ericshun
    Ericshun Posts: 34
    Winter miles for summer smiles. There really is no substitute for riding an actual bike. (Most) Turbo / stationary bikes won’t rock from side to side / move like a real bike will, so you risk losing a bit of core conditioning if you concentrate on stationary bike stuff alone. You also risk losing a bit of conditioning in the arms, due to a lack of ‘arm pump’ effect, which you get when braking on a real bike. TL;DR #5 #9. If it’s snowy and icy, recumbent trikes or a fat bike / bike with spiked / studded tyres work well. There’s no such thing as the ‘wrong weather’ just the wrong kit.
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    Whilst I agree, just try and convince the 'Zwift' generation of the plainly obvious benefit of keeping on the road during a UK winter.
    'They' are racking up immense winter mileages, :lol:
  • Ericshun
    Ericshun Posts: 34
    JGSI wrote:
    Whilst I agree, just try and convince the 'Zwift' generation of the plainly obvious benefit of keeping on the road during a UK winter.
    'They' are racking up immense winter mileages, :lol:

    Yep, I hear that a lot. It's just funny watching them, when they enter their first event around about spring time.
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    Just a note, the turbo has helped me a great deal over the last few years when trying to keep some semblance of condition. However, I can just refer back to a pre season when I had a 200 mile per/week commute to deal with and combined with a couple of Sufferfests a week in addition -- I was never fitter when push came to shove in my LVRC races.
    I just cannot replicate that at the moment, so I know I am on a hiding to nothing in 2019.
    The thought of 'endurance' zoning on the turbo makes me want to heave.
  • cycleclinic
    cycleclinic Posts: 6,865
    Winter riding also develops your mental fitness. Try mountain biking as well. Off road riding builds core strength and develops other muscles in a way road riding can't. It's also slot of fun.

    When it's icy, an old MTB with studded tyres comes out for the commute, it's safer than driving. When there's snow the MTB comes out again as a thick covering of snow is so much fun to ride on.

    Your kit though has to be up to it. My winter mileage is higher than my summer mileage. Currently over 250 miles a week.

    Rule 5 is harden the f... Up. It's tongue and cheak but there's some thruth to it to. You also don't have to do intervals. Lots of base miles is sufficient and when it warms up you can start the intervals. Winter miles for me are slow miles. 15 mph average is good.
    http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    My 6 mile daily sh itty car infested urban commute currently has me swearing a lot like I have that certain syndrome, does that count for mental stability?
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Zwift etc is great for training. You can get a cracking session in of a night. You can't really get that outside in the dark with cars and debris around. Do that and combine with weekend riding and you'll be flying.

    I can't see how you'd lose core strength because you turboed rather than rode outside. Your cardiovascular fitness is far more important for cycling.
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Ericshun wrote:
    JGSI wrote:
    Whilst I agree, just try and convince the 'Zwift' generation of the plainly obvious benefit of keeping on the road during a UK winter.
    'They' are racking up immense winter mileages, :lol:

    Yep, I hear that a lot. It's just funny watching them, when they enter their first event around about spring time.

    'Them' - do they wear a badge or something? How do you recognise 'them'..??
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    Clean bikes ? :-)
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Fenix wrote:
    Clean bikes ? :-)

    yep, that'll be it.. :wink:

    To the OP - realistically, there's only going to be a handful of days each winter where it's not practical, safe or sensible to ride, either due to wind, rain, snow or temperature. For all the other days - it just depends on how committed you are.

    Off-the-bike workouts are no substitute for endurance riding.
  • cruff
    cruff Posts: 1,518
    Turbo has some great advantages
    Specific training is much more possible because of the ability to hold a consistent effort without having to corner, brake, overtake slower riders etc
    It's far less dangerous than tooling round in the dark
    It won't ruin your bike (ever seen what 4 months of salted roads does to your BB?)
    It's more 'fun' than it used to be with Zwift and the like

    It's never going to be as good as riding in meatspace, obviously - and when the weather is good I'd ALWAYS ride outside if I could - but all those people saying that you should ride outside whatever the weather are the same ones who tell you a bike should only be made out of steel, you should only eat sardine sandwiches and disc brakes/aero bikes/TT suits/11 speed chainsets etc are the work of the devil :D
    Fat chopper. Some racing. Some testing. Some crashing.
    Specialising in Git Daaahns and Cafs. Norvern Munkey/Transplanted Laaandoner.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,228
    How can it be that getting out on the bike rather than riding indoors means you are mentally tough, but also people struggle with boredom if they are on the turbo for too long?
  • cycleclinic
    cycleclinic Posts: 6,865
    Riding in winter is not dangerous at all. You ride slower. You use a slower bike. Winter riding is about base fittness. That is gained by TOB. you forget about intensity. You dont need to interval train all year round. In the spring and summer only. I stop intervals in autum and winter as I cant be bothered. I'll pick those up in the spring. Your fittness does not suffer.

    When I talk about mental fittness it is more about coping with adversity for long distance rides. If the OP has no intetnion of riding long distances then there is no need to spend time on the bike.

    The turbo means you can cope with boredem. When riding out doors I am never bored though. It really depends what you ride for and what kind of rides you do. For those that do short TT's (25 miles or less) then the turbo and structured training during the winter months can work well. If your like me and like doing longer rides and I mean 6 hrs + then lots of winter miles outdoors sorts you out.

    So it just depends on what you want to do. The OP seemed like someone who though winter riding was not practical. It is but it depends on what you are trying to achive.
    http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    In order to avoid any offs or other mishaps that could happen with riding in winter. I just put my turbo on the patio and ride there for 3 or 4 hours. I find it’s better if it’s snowing then I can man up a bit.
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    thecycleclinic wrote:
    Riding in winter is not dangerous at all.

    99% of the time - no it's not dangerous - but when it's snowy or icy - the risk of 6 weeks off with a broken bone pushes me towards the garage.
  • Typical Analytical
    Typical Analytical Posts: 165
    Another alternative is to substitute intensity for time if you really hate being on the trainer. Tempo being the first choice followed by SST, LT, VO2 then HIIT.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    If you rule out heavy rain, snow and ice, in the UK there's still plenty of opportunities to ride outdoors through the winter. Decent kit, mudguards and lights and off you go. Dodging the deer and badgers can be a lot more stimulating than sitting on a Wattbike staring at somebody elses sweaty @rse.
    Great training when it's windy too: battling into a stiff headwind for a couple of hours is akin to climbing an alp, then turn round and head for home with a tailwind and you're suddenly motor-paced!
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,228
    thecycleclinic wrote:
    Winter riding is about base fittness.

    Why?
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    keef66 wrote:
    battling into a stiff headwind for a couple of hours is akin to climbing an alp, then turn round and head for home with a tailwind and you're suddenly motor-paced!

    In ooh 35 years or more of cycling - I think this has happened precisely once to me....

    But man that was a day !
  • joey54321
    joey54321 Posts: 1,297
    Fenix wrote:
    keef66 wrote:
    battling into a stiff headwind for a couple of hours is akin to climbing an alp, then turn round and head for home with a tailwind and you're suddenly motor-paced!

    In ooh 35 years or more of cycling - I think this has happened precisely once to me....

    But man that was a day !

    I wish I only had to cycle in to headwinds once every 35 years too!
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    Oh no you misunderstand. Headwinds are an almost weekly occurrence. It's just the tailwinds home that are so infuriatingly rare.
  • joe_totale-2
    joe_totale-2 Posts: 1,333
    What's at least a weekly occurrence for me at this of year is the headwind that follows you no matter what direction you travel. Headwind on the way out followed by a headwind on the way home seems far more common than a tailwind!
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    I feel your pain brother...
  • Vino'sGhost
    Vino'sGhost Posts: 4,129
    ive decided cross training and base or whatever i feel like until feb is the way ahead for me. That way i start getting good in May which coincides with the start of the good weather.
  • funkydisciple
    funkydisciple Posts: 65
    Hey all. Thanks for your reply.

    I suppose mixing the workout on the trainer with vo2, hiit, etc might work. I’ll give that a go. Thanks for that suggestion. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that.

    Also, talking about headwinds...on my way to work this morning had a nice tailwind and got in to work in record time, on way back....46mph headwinds. Normally takes me 30minutes to get home from work and tonight it was 45. Saying the F word over and over again somehow helped me cut through the wind :D

    Thanks for your replies people. You guys are a great bunch.
  • cycleclinic
    cycleclinic Posts: 6,865
    Headwinds are lovely aren't theydutch mountains.
    http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.
  • lincolndave
    lincolndave Posts: 9,441
    funkydisciple wrote:
    Saying the F word over and over again somehow helped me cut through the wind :D

    Thanks for your replies people. You guys are a great bunch.

    It normally helps me, along with some other words :D

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