TRAINING INDOORS AND OUT
Our intrepid trio continue to see the benefits of combining training indoors with Zwift and riding on the road.
Indoor and outdoor training can be painted as seasonal. The spring and summer is there to ride your bike on the road, the winter to keep fit indoors without suffering in the cold.
It shouldn’t be seen as such a binary choice. Both can be enjoyed, interchangeably, and with the advent of Zwift, this year-round combination of indoor and out has never been easier to maintain.
Matt Rowe, of Rowe & King Cycle Coaching, has always been a big fan of turbo trainers, particularly for his clients who, generally, don’t have loads of time to train.
“Turbo sessions can get boring. Music is great, and so is watching TV or films, but Zwift has been a gamechanger in keeping motivation up for our riders. We can all jump on a ride together in the game and although we all might have slight variations in the workouts we’re doing, we see each other’s avatars and it gives a sense of club run unity. All from our garages.”
We already know about the playability of Zwift, but why should someone opt to log in to this virtual world on a warm summer’s evening when the real world is looking so good?
Time is a big factor, and when our hobby has to fight for the upper hand against work and family life, cycling can’t always come out on top. Which is where short, high-quality Zwift sessions pay dividends.
“The simple rule is that one hour on the turbo is worth at least 1.5 hours, if not more, on the road,” says Rowe. “It’s all down to muscle tension. When you freewheel round a junction, your muscles relax and your systems recharge momentarily. On the turbo, we produce those same powers but without rest, so it stresses your system that bit harder.”
In the competition season, Rowe advocates split training days (if your lifestyle permits) whereby you double up on indoor and road sessions on the same day – and still save time over going for a long road ride.
If you don’t have the time for one three-hour steady, zone 2 road ride [see boxout], you could do an hour in the morning – perhaps your commute – and top it up with either a one-hour Zwift sweet spot session (zone 3) or a half-hour high-intensity interval training, or zone 5, session.
“What you want to avoid,”says Rowe, “is two high-intensity sessions in the same day. On any given day, we could all do a hard Zwift session in the morning and a tough road ride with the local chaingang. What you can’t do is that repeatedly, on back-to-back days, over a long period. Most people won’t get the necessary recovery.”
For zone 2 sessions, the key is not to be too regimented, or staying strictly within the zone – without going overboard. “It’s unstructured structure. Let the terrain dictate how hard you go. Jump onto other riders’ wheels and follow them to the top of climbs.”
It’s about finding the balance between indoor and outdoor riding. Together, they can transform your fitness. On their own, both can lead you down blind alleys.
“When the heavy snow came last winter I spent three weeks only riding indoors,” says Rowe. “My first ride outside after that and the sensation of getting out of the saddle and feeling my bike flow from side to side felt alien.
“The turbo is about supporting your cycling. If you have a big race or sportive goal, combine both to keep that feeling on the bike.”