I train to ‘win’ races (and by win I often mean ‘win’ for me - i.e. achieve my goal, that may mean a top 10, or podium or a time trial PB or top 100 etc).
I don’t ride for fun, I ride to compete - against others and myself.
I’ve trained fairly consistently since 2013 but in Oct 2019 I set myself a goal of qualifying for my age group at world duathlon champs, with the qualifying event in Sept 2020. I managed to qualify and now training towards those championships in Sept 2021.
Since Oct 2019 I’ve not missed a workout, 3 rides, 3 runs every week - mostly following TR plans (but with longer sweetspot rides substituted in during SSB1 and SSB2).
Every bike workout is done indoors as faster and more efficent. I ride outdoors (non races) maybe twice a year - one of which is normally on my birthday! I do maybe 4 races a year - usually 1 big goal A event and few smaller warm up races.
Maybe I’m weird but I like the consistency and yes I would say (or at least my wife would say) I’m obsessed/addicted to the consistency and habit.
However I do think it is important to be sensible and especially when far out from goal events to listen to your body. If you need a mental break, go ride outside (I just never need this break), if v tired then swap in a substitute workout (I did this yesterday as ran a half marathon PB in training on Tues so on Wednesday legs felt heavy so did 75 mins tempo rather than 60 mins threshold that was on plan).
I guess I’m holding my hands up as totally obsessed/addicted to the workouts but I think the consistency is main thing and substituting odd workout (maybe 1 a month or so) is good for most people.
I guess it all comes down to priorities. For me, enjoyment isn’t one but improving is. Hence I don’t miss indoor workouts and don’t swap them for unstructured outdoor rides.
That’s why pretty much 99% of my rides happen indoor. Outdoor is the absolute exception. Obviously, it helps that I really like indoor training and absolutely hate outdoor riding. The latter mostly due to traffic, people, and time commitment.
Guess it’s ultimately the other way around for me. Riding outside alone or with friends isn’t fun. Training indoors and getting faster is.
I enjoy researching and formulating a plan. I enjoy nailing the plan. I enjoy the routine. I enjoy getting stronger.
About 10% of my TSS for the last year was outdoors. I just make it work with my overall plan, and they’re a different kind of stimulus to what I do indoors, so I don’t feel guilty at all. Nice solo long Z2 ride in summer on a Sunday, and a Tuesday group smash up replaces my hard Tuesday workout for about 2 months in summer without really sacrificing anything.
I have to admit, I feel conflicted about going back to a Sunday group cafe ride if Covid ever ends. Going to be painful amounts of Z1, but I’ll probably do it.
Yup. The question I’m asking myself is not “is an hour of riding outside with my friends as effective for improvement as an hour on TR?” (we all know the answer to that!) it’s “what’s the right balance of indoor/outdoor, structured/unstructured, solo/group, training/racing to keep me enjoying cycling and training ~10 hours/week all year round for years to come?”. Because that consistency is what’s going to make me be the best rider I can be. And for me personally I know that there is no way I will stay motivated to do ~10 hours/week if it’s all structured and solo, even if it’s a mix of indoor/outdoor. All indoor on TR I doubt I’d last a month. I need regular social interaction in the bike (background in team sports), I need fresh air and sunshine (office job) and I need rides where there is no real plan beyond going hard/medium/easy (that’s progress - a few years pretty much every group ride was a hammer fest). That’s not to judge anybody else, that’s just me!
I’ve gotten better at handling this over time as I’ve been with TR several years now. A couple years ago I was definitely the guy who failed one workout and proceeded to bail on the plan I was following and rethink everything. Thankfully I’ve grown and now realize it’s really not that big of a deal.
Stay on target, focus on how the training feels and don’t obsess over just one workout. I like many got my ass kicked by Spencer +2 recently and even though it sucked in the moment I know i’m good. My FTP isn’t wrong it’s just that 3 min at 120% is freaking hard. I dropped the intervals to 90 seconds and carried on. Next workout was 4x10 min at FTP and I nailed it so like I said I know my FTP is good.
If you’re failing workout after workout then it’s an issue, but obsessing over nailing all of them just isn’t productive to me.
How hard you prepared to work and sacrifice to achieve said goals?
For me, as someone in their late 40s with a family, career, etc., I’m using TR to try to get fitter and in the process a little faster for my personal well-being/health and I have no racing aspirations. So while I’m pretty diligent with my training, if I have to miss, move, or swap a workout, I don’t lose sleep over it. Because, my goals are pretty loose and I don’t have a timeline, which means I have a lot of flexibility.
But if I was in a position where I wanted to be the in the top ten in my age group in my province/state and competing this summer at nationals, well then the decisions I’d be making around my training plan and my dedication and compliance to it would be considerably different and pretty inflexibly. Because, if you are following a plan because you believe it will help you to achieve your goals and your goals are very important to you, well it just makes sense you are going to follow the plan. And if that means more time on the trainer and less outside so be it.
Also just as an anecdotal observation. Pretty well anyone I’ve ever met who is a high level athlete or who is truly pushing to be a high level athlete, the sport doesn’t matter, is always incredibly driven and dedicated to their training and training plans, to the point you could say they have OCD as @rocourteau so aptly joked at the start.
I missed 30 / 90 minutes (effectively 18 minutes of 102%) of my threshold workout yesterday due to tiredness and feeling ashamed and guilty already the whole day. The guilt feeling is probably over once I finish a brutal TR workout or when I start becoming sane again.
Literally like 3 days ago told my wife: “I wish I spent more time outside, but I do all my workouts in the garage, even when it’s nice. I don’t know why.”
There’s definitely some guilt from missing a scheduled workout and doing something outside. Logically, I know it’s ridiculous, yes. I’m not trying to be truly elite. I just like structure and seeing the box checked.
I use TR so that I can fully enjoy the benefits of being outside and using the fitness Ive gained in a real (outside) world scenario… Train when it rains.
This is a really interesting thread for me, so thank you to everyone. I started TR in January of 2021 and substituted an outside ride for an endurance session for the first time yesterday.
I’d heard that “an hour on the trainer is the same as two on the road,” so that’s what I used as my yardstick. Instead of a 90-minute endurance workout at 65-75% of my FTP or thereabouts, I did a three-hour ride out to and along the Arakawa in Tokyo. Average power was actually higher over the three hours, but cadence was not as consistent. This was inevitable, given traffic on the way there and back and other things.
At the end of it all, I felt that I had a great workout and certainly hit or surpassed the endurance goals that the indoor session would have given me. I also got some fresh air and a change of scenery.
Honestly, if it’s substituting for a long endurance session, the weather is good outside, and still hitting power output goals, I can’t see much of a downside to, say, a weekly spin in the sun. Three hours outside is definitely more enjoyable than 90 minutes on the trainer. Still, being a newbie to TR, maybe I’m wrong to think that way.
The choice between doing a workout on the trainer and doing unstructured riding outdoors seems odd to me. My structured days are very important to me but I choose to do them outside as often as I can. Trainer is fine when there is snow on the ground or family commitments that I need to prioritize but I am so much happier doin the work outside while riding my bike instead of sitting indoors on the trainer.
For less structured days, riding with goals in mind help keep things productive. The idea that riding is either structured trainer workouts, races, or junk miles seems like a narrow viewpoint to me.
The problem I have with outside workouts is local terrain. To be honest, I’d rather have the handiness of indoors, than do hill repeats, for the hard days.
Nope. Zero need to check off every workout TR puts on my calendar. As an old guy that’s targeting distance I appreciate that LV plan for a Gran Fondo (Davis Double actually) gives me short challenging workouts during the week, but come the weekend it’s time to hit the road and log 80 miles and 3k of climbing. Intervals during the week help, but there’s no substitute for five hours on the road.
