I have seen a lot of talk on here about how important cooling is for indoor training specially in regards to having a proper fan or two.
What i haven’t seen someone address what the “ideal” room temperature for indoor training would be.
The room temperature is usually 21°C/70°F but i do notice that i perform better when i cool the room prior to the workout. I have the luxury of having an air conditioner in my pain cave so i could cool the room if wanted to.
Have they adressed this topic on the podcast
What is your preferred temperature for indoor riding and do you use an air conditioner if you have one in addition to a fan?
For sweet spot and higher, as cold as I can make it, cold enough that I’m shivering when I start.
If I had one, I would use it in addition to a fan.
The cooler my environment, the less effort my body has to dedicate to heat management. They have talked about it on the podcast, and there’s a deep dive in 206.
My temperature preference:
Easy zone 2: 16-18C
Hard zone 4-5: 10-14C
That’s with 2 x lasko type fans for cooling
I do training in the morning. I open the paincave room window first thing when I wake up. Room cools down by 5-10 degrees during the time I make coffee and get ready (at least in winter).
I also have a big fan next to the window pumping cold air into the room when temperature outside is not very cold.
18C is best for me. Anything over 20C makes the workouts really difficult as it feels like my breathing is restricted. I have to shut off any heating an hour earlier and have a window open too.
I use a small desk fan on my face and a Cleva fan Infront of my bike on the floor directed at my chest.
My garage here in North Idaho has been 34-41F this winter. I start with a shirt.on and.the fan off for the warm-up. Right before the first work set i take the shirt off and.plug in the fan (i can do this from the bike). It seems ideal.
I can do endurance or sweet spot workouts with the room in the low 70’s. For harder workouts I prefer 68F or cooler. I hate doing VO2 Max workouts in the summer because it’s really tough to get the house cooled down to that temperature when it’s 100F outside.
Way too hot … my partner likes it 21-22 in the house and I must respect her wishes. This morning I lost 3L of sweat in 2:15. I figure it is about 20C downstairs. I would say 15-16 would be a good start.
My trainer is in a flat roofed single skinned garage, too big and awkwardly constructed to properly insulate although I might price up doing the roof.
I’ve trained in there in temps low enough to turn my water bottle into a slush puppy and make a protein bar inedibly hard (lowest recorded was -2 but sure it has been lower), and in the summer you can feel heat radiating down the roof above long after the sun has gone down.
Through SSB1 I only put fan on for a couple of sessions and for some I skipped the recoveries between intervals to try and stay warm.
In this part of the UK temps have risen by 10 degrees overnight though so as moved into SSB2 next week I’ll probably be using the fan more.
Last week we had a thick heavy frost and cold windy days, yesterday I was out the whole day (doing DIY) in just shorts. Crazy.
