Training

How to Beat Indoor Trainer Boredom

October 4, 2013 by Lee Agur

Indoor trainer - sometimes you are forced to cycle indoors — Indoor trainer – sometimes you are forced to cycle indoors

How I Beat the Indoor Trainer!

Watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the 10th time is fun and all, but you have to switch it up on an indoor trainer to keep it fresh and “exciting”.

The Commercial Break Game

It is simple and free, every time a commercial break comes on… you sprint! Commercials last about 2 to 3 minutes so plan an effort that you can sustain for that period of time. I generally watch 1 or 2 shows while playing. This will build strength and ability up short climbs. You can also play this in reverse! Hard efforts during your show and easy efforts during the commercials. If you play this way you may even learn to love commercials.

Intensity

I mix in as many intervals as I possibly can so I do not have to be on the indoor trainer more than an hour. Lots of 2-5 minute max efforts. (All out sprint 15 second sprints don’t work well on a trainer)

Test Yourself

Every few weeks I test myself with a 10 minute warm up, 20 minute max sustainable effort, 5 minute easy, 20 minute max sustainable effort, 5 minute cool down. I have a power meter on my bike so I can see if I can hold a certain power for each 20 minute segment; however, if you put a cycling computer on (non GPS) you can see what speed you can hold or how far you can go in each 20 minute segment. Remember to set up your indoor bike trainer the same way every time and inflate tires to similar pressure.

Secret weapons

Ok… so I mentioned what I do at the start of the winter season above, but when I start getting bored of that I turn to cycling videos. There are so many out there, a few I recommend are Charmichael Training Systems indoor trainer workout, ERock Rocks! Indoor trainer workout, and I have heard great things about sufferfest videos (my next purchase). Ask friends which cycling videos worked for them and why or read reviews on different videos before purchasing. Everyone is looking for something different.

Outdoors

Truthfully, I can’t survive the whole winter indoor training, I get on my mountain bike and bike to the ski hill.

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Importance of Salt Sticks

October 3, 2013 by Lee Agur

Have You Ever Seen This On Your Jersey?

Two weeks before my 112 mile race I went out for a training ride and I tried something new! People have been telling me for years about this and I simply ignored them. So what is it?

Salt Sticks

Salt sticks! I do not know if you have tried them or not… but it might change your life! I generally faded after about 60 miles. I took one of these every half an hour and I swear that these salt capsules allowed me to push over 10% harder (I have a power meter so I can tell).

To be honest I do sweat quite a bit. I am not an ogre, or a hairy monster I am actually just a little guy… 160lbs, but the more I talk to people, the more I realize people are taking them quite often. Maybe this was common sense to everyone, but it was not to me.

If you ever get cramps, or have a jersey that looks like the picture above I can nearly guarantee that these electrolyte caps will change your life as well.

The salt caps replace the important sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium that you lost and contrary to what you might think, they allow you to rehydrate and absorb nutrients faster.

Post Ride Massage – Selfie

October 2, 2013 by Lee Agur

If you can spend an hour or two riding a bike, you can spend 5 to 10 minutes stretching and giving yourself a post ride massage. Unfortunately, I did not always believe this and it resulted in lower back pain and a few knee injuries. It all could have been prevented!

Post ride massages help you: recover faster, reduce/prevent injury, relax/elongate your muscles, improve circulation, flush metabolic cellular waste byproducts, calm your nervous system, relieve pain and feel better.

Now I do not know about you, but not many people are lining up to give me a massage. Weird. I use a foam roller, a lacrosse ball and a hand held massage device. I have a quick little ritual I do.

I start rolling on my lower back which usually cracks a few times and it instantly makes me feel better. Then I move to my IT band (source of my knee injuries) and I pretend my leg is on a rotisserie, rolling up and down… moving from the IT band to the quads, to the inner thigh and finally the hamstring. After my legs are done I massage my glutes, and most of the time I forget the calves… but I recommend hitting them up as well. 5 minutes down 5 to go.

After rolling it is likely you found some “awesome” spots (read as: “sore” spots). I try and spend a few minutes concentrated on them with the lacrosse ball. If they were “awesome” with the roller they are going to be really “awesome” with the lacrosse ball. Sometimes these areas just hurt too much and I remember that I need to focus on them later.

In the evenings I generally come back to the “awesome” spots and use the handheld massage device to focus on these areas while laying down and watching a TV-show or a movie.