60 minutes: fine. 90 minutes: mental torture!

Howdy,

I have been using TR off and on for quite a while now, but one of the constant struggles I have is with the longer sessions.

60 minutes in a session is tough, but manageable, the next 15 minutes, I just want to get off the turbo and the final 15 minutes are a struggle to block out an overwhelming urge to stop.

I can happily ride for hours outside, but on the turbo I find it increadibly difficult to keep going.

Having seen all these people posting about completing Disaster, I wonder how people keep themselves going for so long.

What are your tricks to staying the distance beyond an hour of staring at a set of lines moving across a blue mountain range?

Thanks!

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Music, Netflix, running Zwift simultaneously.

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What do you struggle with?
Is it that the workout gets too hard?
Are you bored?
Is your ass hurting?
How long have you been doing this?

I listen to audiobooks
Or sometimes Lear French or German

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ride your trainer a lot

get used to the environment and the stimulus

slowly increase the dose

eventually you do stupid crap like this

https://www.strava.com/activities/2932704556

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You haven’t done a long workout until you’ve done Bandeira

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I’d say it’s more mental than anything.

Don’t get me wrong after an hour I am normally fatigued, but it’s more like an anxious, itchy I need to get off this thing feeling. Which in turn makes any physical difficulty tougher to push through.

I have been using TR for 3 years or so. I normally use it during the winter months but then tail off as I end up outside when the weather improves. I’ve previously just been swapping the 90 minute sessions for the 60 minute versions, but I’d like to make a concerted effort to really push my FTP and endurance.

Using the new planner tool, some of the suggested rides are 2 hours. I’d like to do them properly rather than dropping things down all the time.

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What do you usually do when on the trainer? Are you just in a quiet room and listening to the fan and the occasional interval beeps and watching a blue line? If so, I would stop that self torture right now haha. you need to at the very least listen to music, audiobook, or podcast (depending on intensity). Or watch something. For harder stuff I’ll watch crit or mtb videos on red bull or YouTube. For endurance up through lower end sweet spot I’ll watch Netflix. Sometimes for longer stuff it helps to switch it up, Maybe videos during the rest intervals and music during the intervals for example.

Are you fueling during the workout? For a 60 minute workout you can get away without any food on the bike. If you are going longer, try having some food around the 30 minute and 60 minute mark. A small sugar boost can do wonders for your mental state.

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the longest I ever sat on a trainer was 5 hours, back in '89. Midwestern winter, and a 22-year old with dreams.

the things you can get your mind to do…

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Get yourself a fan and get some entertainment. I like to watch TV, either movies or football, or I just play poker while on the trainer. Some of those games like Words with friends, scrabble, etc work great with trainer rides and you can do them while watching tv.

I used to be like you as well but once you start doing the 90-120 min workouts regularly, they don’t seem as long. In fact, I am not even warmed up until 20-30 min into a ride and a 60 min workout is an easy day even if it’s something intense. Don’t bail on them! Take a 5-10 min break and come back and finish.

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I will not ask what, as a 22 year old, you were dreaming about - but I can guess.

All I need is good music. I don’t even need video/other stimulus. I just stare at numbers. Time flies in big effort intervals honestly. I’m gonna bet on “you’ll get used to it.” Or maybe some of us are just psychopaths :smiley:

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I’ll cast a vote against distractions. For me, music, TV, books (I don’t understand how anyone can read while training – and I’m an author and English teacher), and Briek Schotte forgive us, video screens, just make the time drag.

When I started, it was just a trainer and a fan – in the dark days of the mid-80s. But, that does help develop task focus, rather than environment focus. And I got used to it. My indoor setup now is still a dumb trainer and a fan, in front of a window. I have the tree, at least. But then the sun sets, and I have only my own reflection, which I would rather not look at, so I don’t.

Turn the pedals. Kill the brain.

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I normally listen to some music. I find something fast paced fairly good. Have tried podcasts and audiobooks with limited success.

I guess I just need to toughen up and struggle through. :slight_smile:

I often forget to put my earphones in (for podcasts normally, sometimes music) and I can easily do 60-75 minutes with nothing to divert my attention at all.
I think a lot deoends on what type of session yuou are doing. If it is say 4 * 20 min sweetspot that is quite hard - but if it is 3 minutes on 3 off or similar then I can manage quite well.

I often am in aero position and see how long I can go before looking at the clock. I can often manage 20 minutes or so.

However if you do want to get distracted then play music but don’t look at the screen (clock) until the end of each track. That can be anything between 3 and 7 minutes so it is a good way to break up time.

Listening to the podcast I might not look at the clock until a question/answer has been completed. Sometimes that is a problem when Chad goes into a deep dive.

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Anything with David Goggins on it will help you get through.

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Listen to music , focus on breathing to get in the " i can do this forever zone" :wink:

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don’t put 90 minutes on a pedestal. you’re giving it too much power. Make it the new standard.

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I find switching the distraction around the hour mark gets me through. The first hour is TV that I don’t have to think too hard about- it’s been Riverdale on Netflix for the past few weeks. Then I’ll switch to either fast, aggressive music to finish a hard workout or a podcast (TR or something funnier like My Favorite Murder or The Dollop) to finish an easier one.

And honestly sometimes I’ll hop off during a recovery interval and do some pushups or kettlebell swings or just stretch or pet my cat for a minute or two.

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