Does anyone else get bored during longer intervals? I did Washington +5 yesterday and it was hard, I needed a short back-pedal in the 3rd interval and (especially with the kids interrupting the 4th interval) but then there was 30 minutes at Z2 which was mind-numbing with no variation.
I just can’t focus on pedalling smoothly for that length of time. There is nothing flat near me at all. All rolling or hills. I have to do a 100 mile ride to get 20-30 miles of flat riding in the middle so I never have ridden like this outside. Even the local triathlons and TT courses aren’t flat.
Is this just me that gets bored and is there a solution? (I listen to the podcast, music etc). File for non-smooth effort below.
I can watch or listen to anything I want. I mean just churning out the same power for long periods of time.
I need more variation. Obviously most sets are varied a lot but there are still a fair amount that aren’t.
Riding outside all the time isn’t an option as stated above, I have to ride for 20 minutes through 10+ sets of traffic lights to get to open roads and have kids to work around so don’t have the time.
And I understand what training is and I do ‘do the work’ as you can see on the file.
I have to watch something easy to follow while I’m on the trainer. Dark … doesn’t fit that profile. I can just see myself cranking out some vo2max intervals trying to get my brain around the family “tree.” Great show, though.
good point - i do save Dark for post rides - I did just watch both seasons of F1 - Drive to survive (I have zero car racing background) and really enjoyed it. Didn’t even really need to know the F1 universe to understand it. SEE on Apple+ is another great option.
When I hit something like this, I’ll introduce standing drills, cadence drills and start swapping between the hoods and the drops. I find this helps to break the interval in more manageable chunks.
This was tonight’s recovery/steady ride. I was engaged the whole ride as there were changes every 3 minutes, even so much that I added 5 mins to the end. If it was 175w for 45mins straight I would have been very bored.
Is it ok to do little variations like 5-10w over, 5-10w under and vary cadence throughout these longer continuous efforts even if the plan is a straight line?
I have, visual stimulation really doesn’t make much difference at all. It is holding the same cadence and power for long periods because I never have done on the road (apart from long climbs but they are usually lower cadence and still variable grades).
Yep, I think a lot of the TR endurance/tempo workouts utilize that strategy. I often swap out Pettit for Baxter-2 or something similar just because the minor cadence/power changes are way more engaging.
Honestly boredom is just part of doing longer intervals I think. I’ve also noticed that some days they seem way more boring than others depending on my mindset, but I haven’t figured out how to harness that to my advantage yet It sometimes helps to remind myself that “good” (ie structured and consistent) training is usually pretty dull and repetitive, and that every minute that drags by makes me a mentally and physically stronger athlete. (Bit fruity I know, but if it gets you there…)
Also group workouts might be helpful if that’s your kind of thing! Surprising how fast a 90min endurance ride can go by when you’re talking absolute nonsense the whole time.
audible is great because you can just listen and assuming the book is good and you are engaged then the time melts away. I can do audible up to SS, but typically have to go to music at that point.
It’s funny because I find the opposite. Baxter annoys me because it changes too much. I prefer Mokelumne over Petit because it’s just basically one power target the whole time. I do like to think that I’m practicing being smooth and steady and I am, but despite that, I’m still pretty quick to mash up a hill outside.
From this I take it your not using erg mode or on a dumb trainer? Erg really helps with these always changing steps as you can just switch off and watch something.
It sometimes helps to remind myself that “good” (ie structured and consistent) training is usually pretty dull and repetitive, and that every minute that drags by makes me a mentally and physically stronger athlete. (Bit fruity I know, but if it gets you there…)