Turbo Advice?

Inspired by members of the club's achievements at the full Ironman distance of 130,6 miles Ive decided to finally attempt to the level for 2012 & signed up for Challenge Henley in September. 

 

Although I probably should be most worried about the 2hr30min swim cut, work commitments mean my available hours on the bike will be severely limited & thinking it might also help if I didn't crash again.

 

So its time to get a Turbo! 

 

But my previous experience of turboing just resulted in neighbours complaining about the noise & just producing enough sweat to rehydrate africa.

 

Although I have carpets now i'm still worried about annoying my neighbours & doubly worried about the sweat.

 

Any tips or advice on turbos and training with them would be much appreciated?

 

Looking at getting this one from wiggle mainly because all the reviews say its quiet as a mouse

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-crono-fluid-elastogel-trainer/

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Permalink Reply by Chris Lund on January 2, 2012 at 17:28

Hi Paul

Can't comment on the elite, but my Cycleops seems to be quiet enough to not upset the neighbours (think it's this one - http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cycleops-classic-mag-turbo-trainer/)  though I think the fluid ones are supposed to be quieter still.

Having said that, I'm ground floor - if I had people below me it might be a different matter!

On the sweat front,  definitely worth investing in a bike thong (not as uncomfortable as it sounds! - basically a bit of towelling that stretches between bars and seatpost  that seems to catch 90% of sweat.) and I've put an additional mat under my bike to be on the safe side - dedicated bike mats seem to be ridiculously overpriced so I think mine came from Argos!  it also seems to dampen sound a fair bit more with the extra cushioning under the trainer.

Hope that's useful

Chris

Permalink Reply by paul on January 2, 2012 at 23:43

I would have thought it would help your transition time too...

Permalink Reply by Oliver Jones on January 2, 2012 at 19:14

That's awesome Paul!  Its an amazing journey and you're going to love the whole experience!  Im not a fan of turbos and aside from the fact they can shred your tyres, I prefer to be out on the road.  Having said that I was able to benefit from the spin sessions at the lido so I don't know if you have access to something similar at a local gym or something?  In addition to the spin session, I found some quiet hilly roads and did an hour of overgearing on a climb as one session and then another brick session where I did an hour of race-pace followed by a 8km run ( I only started doing this with about 6 weeks to go).  Needlesstosay, the big bike ride at the weekend is the important one.  Make sure you do it on a Saturday so you do your long run on a Sunday on 'tired legs'.  Jonathan gave me a priceless weekend schedule for 7 weeks out which I stuck to like it was gospel.

Loads of good turbos out there but I don't think they're essential

Permalink Reply by paul on January 2, 2012 at 19:44

Tested the Henley course today... the coldest I've been on a bike for a long time, think i'll stay indoors on a turbo for the next 6 months until it warms up before venturing out again!

The course is set in stunningly picturesque countryside and far more hilly than I expected. Its got one long drag up a dual carriageway (not sure if bothsides will be closed for the race?)

Was too cold to do more than one lap doing it three times will certainly be a challenge.

Find it below

http://g.co/maps/ajjm3

Permalink Reply by Lenski on January 5, 2012 at 0:06

Oli - fancy sharing that schedule?  I've been looking for something to get my biking going apart from losing a kilo or 3.

Permalink Reply by Laura A on January 2, 2012 at 21:13
Good luck with the race prep Paul! My coach has me doing 3 turbos a week since it is so dark now (one of which i do as the lido spin session so i dont go nuts!!) along with a long ride at the weekend. I guess it is all down to individual preference, they are dull if you are just doing a session with no intervals, but I tell myself I will be faster for it! Intervals of some type keep it interesting, as well as something good on TV! I know Jon Hotchkiss does a lot of turbo sessions when he is pressed for time or it's not safe to ride outside. You need to fit a turbo tyre to your back wheel as they are a lot stronger and i havent gone throughi one yet! I have found that the harder the gear the noisier the session, so I think making the resistance harder on the turbo flywheel is a better option (mine has 5 different settings of resistance) and then not using the full range of gears at the back. I hope this helps!
Permalink Reply by Oliver Jones on January 5, 2012 at 12:20

Hello mate - i've put my IM schedule below.  Not really sure cycling is the best way to shed the kilos - generally swimming burns the most calories and is physiologically a better way to 'get in shape'.  This is what I did from Jan to early May and then underneath is my weekend schedule with 6 weeks to go. 

Another good session to do is overgearing efforts on a fairly hilly road (I used college road).  Basically just 10 efforts of getting up and back down in the biggest gear, followed by a short run.

Pretty daunting, looking back at it now but it got me there in the end.

Monday    rest day (start as we mean to go on)

Tues        15km hilly run at tempo speed

Wednesday   90 min club spin session followed by 5km treadmill run

Thursday  Interval swim session (60 minutes in the morning)  Interval run session in the evening - 45 mins - yasso 800s

Friday  long swim straight off - approx 3km

Saturday  long bike ride - 130km

Sunday  long run - 30km

 

 

Then with 6 weeks out, I had to load more into the weekends and do more brick sessions:

Week 1 (Ironman practice weekend) : Friday (free);  Sat 3km swim (am),   180km bike (pm);   Sun 30km run

Week 2:  Fri: 3.5km swim; Sat 150 / 10km brick;  Sun 30km run

Week 3:  Fri:  3.5km swim; Sat 90 / 20km brick;  Sun 20km run

Week 4:  (Ironman practice weekend) : Friday (free);  Sat 3km swim (am),   180km bike (pm);   Sun 30km run

Week 5:  Friday:  3.5km swim;  Sat 160 / 10km brick;  Sun 30km run

Week 6:  Fri:  3.5km swim;  Sat 90 / 12 km brick;  Sun 20 km run

 

Hope that helps

Permalink Reply by Lenski on January 5, 2012 at 20:26

You've never seen a 'fat' cyclist :)

Thanks for this - it gives me something more focused to work on as I been dabbling with training.  I'll adjust the distances as I've challenged myself to complete a couple of Olympic distances later in the year.  I've just discovered what the YASSO 800s are - brilliantly simple approach.

I have College Rd as part of my route to cycle into work once the weather gets better; which I think I'll start doing at the weekend.

 

 

Permalink Reply by Oliver Jones on January 5, 2012 at 22:05

Hi Len

No problem - you've got lots of time until the summer and so plenty of time to reach your goals.  The above was very much for longer stuff and so might not be ideal for olympic distance.  Broadly speaking for something like an olympic distance event, I would recommend doing one technical session and one tempo/distance session for each discipline per week.  E.g for the swim do one session of drills or intervals and one 'distance swim'.  For the bike do the spin session with the club and then one weekend ride.  And then for the run, do one 'distance' run (for olympic I would do a 10km to 12km run) and one interval session - something like 2 mins 8/10, 1 min 9/10 and then 3 mins easy - 6 times.

Be disciplined and you'll really see some improvement.  Mix it up a bit where you can but stick to a schedule.  Be honest when you're injured or ill and don't overdo it.

Good luck buddy

Permalink Reply by Lenski on January 5, 2012 at 22:20

Like it - cheers man. 

Permalink Reply by Michael Laws on January 6, 2012 at 17:08

For full IM training, I echo the view about it being best to just get out on the road. However, turbo was great when the weather made it is possible  / dangerous to get outside. This was especially useful between Dec - Feb last year.

Looking back at my plan - I think there were 4 or 5 weekends last year that is was impossible to get outside (too icy, snow, awful rain) - so the turbo allowed me to atleast get some cycling in.

I went for a Kurt Kinetic... it did exactly what I needed it to do.

Turbos are boring, noisy (even the good ones) and much more uncofortable than actually riding (I never managed more than 3hrs on the turbo)... also (as mentioned by Oli) they destroy your tires - defo need a tire / wheel you use on the trainer; it visably deteriorates.

For the sweat - I used to set it up next to an open patio door and make sure the heating was off.... I even set it up in the garden a few time (roads were too icy). I also wore just cyling shorts and my shoes and had plenty of towels handy - not much else you can do here really!

The IM swim is nothing to be worried about. Basically; it is so much more relaxed than in an olympic or sprint mass swim start as no one wants to ruin the day because they tried to catch an few seconds in the swim. Everyone was much more considerate and gave each other much more room...

Hope it all goes well.

 

Permalink Reply by paul on January 28, 2012 at 13:02

Finally got my Turbo 'pain-room' setup. Which is just as well because just running 100km+ a week probably isnt enough of a balance between discipline's 

I can recommend the elite crono alot seems considerably quieter than the Trac i've used.

Currently I'm doing my own interval sessions going from tempo to threshold every 5 minutes (while listening to audiobooks) but has anyone got any of Hotchkiss's set lists from the wednesday night sessions?

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