Pragmatic Tips on Indoor Training for Long-Course Athletes

As Featured on Xtri

Although the delay was nice, winter appears to be rolling through Ann Arbor, Michigan, and I'm sure the same is true just about everywhere else that is accustom to frigid temperatures and snow from January to March. Yes, cross-training by doing things like snowshoeing and cross-country skiing can be a great part of base training, but it remains just that; only a "part" of the routine, and for most serious athletes, a pretty small one. Let's face it. Even if an athlete has the most well-rounded annual training plan and benefits immensely from various cross-training activities, at the end of the day racing fast at long-course triathlon requires a lot of sport-specific work during all phases of training. And while so much of the December and January triathlon writing scene was swept up by articles and suggestions on outdoor fitness-building activities for triathletes, very little focused on how to get by indoors; particularly on the trainer, and for some living where conditions can get icy and downright miserable, the treadmill too.

Against that backdrop, many basements, garages, and even living rooms are probably in the process of being converted to training facilities. With that in mind, here are some suggestions to not only help you get through your indoor training, but also to get the most out of it, and hopefully make your indoor training somewhat enjoyable too...

Pick the right spot, and vet it with other important stakeholders: The last thing anyone wants to do is constantly lug their bike and trainer from room-to-room, or even worse, up-and-down stairs. Picking the right spot in the initial set-up is key!

• Find a place that is cool with good ventilation, or, a room with decent window coverage
• Get a box-fan; air going over your body will help keep you cool and as a consequence, keep your heart-rate down (of course you may not want to use it all the time, especially if you are purposefully targeting heat acclimatization trainng
• Ensure good positioning of electrical outlets and stands for entertainment devices
• Over-communicate the space and when and what it will be used for with others that you live with, as you don't want your training to be a frustration or feel like a burden to anyone else.

Take advantage of a controlled setting to dial in your workouts: No stop-lights, wind, change in temperature, or potholes; certainly part of the reason that two hours on the trainer/treadmill seems so long, but also, the reason that two hours on the trainer/treadmill can really help you take your fitness to the next level.

• Make sure every workout has a purpose. Too many athletes just hop on the trainer, throw on a movie, and ride. Yes, time in the saddle is time in the saddle, but forced time in a controlled setting can be even more powerful if used to target specific adaptations. Between trainer resistance, gearing, and a front-wheel stand, you can train at virtually any cadence, heart-rate, or power level. In addition to the targeted physical benefits, including various sets in a workout absolutely makes it go by faster.
• Personally, I try to avoid the treadmill at all costs, but if I am forced on it by too-icy roads, there is no better way to dial in a specific set of hill-repeats, and that type of sport-specific strength building is generally what base phase months are all about.

Have fun with food: This one should seem obvious, but there are still more than a few triathletes that refuse to depart from their sports-drink and gel routine. Yes, it's important to practice like you play, and during key workouts, I think it is a very good idea to experiment with and replicate race-day nutrition. That said, not every single long workout must mimic race-day nutrition, especially this early in the season and when you are already testing psychological motivators by doing the high duration ride on the trainer to begin with.

• Yes, the cereal aisle is probably a top contributor to Type 2 Diabetes in America, but it is also a great place to get well-balanced carbohydrates and trust me, there is never a lack of variety. Just be sure to pick something that is easy to eat dry; e.g., pretty much anything that isn't a pebble or rice-crisp.
• Experiment with bars. There are so many out there, so if you have always gone with one brand, try another.
• Home-made pumpkin bread and muffins work too.
• With the above in mind, I do want to be clear; devote at least a few workouts (maybe 2 a month) to tweaking and replicating your race-day nutrition plans. This is no doubt an important part of training the gut; it just doesn't have to dominate your entire winter.

Entertainment: I said earlier that it's probably not the best use of time to just throw on a movie and spin-aimlessly. That's not to say that music, television, and movies don't help make indoor training more enjoyable. If anything, your entertainment choice is probably the variable that contributes most to enjoyment and time-fly...or at least prevents time from moving in slow motion...

• Match the entertainment to your workout's purpose and subsequent level of exertion. I find that movies or TV shows are great for recovery spins since I can devote nearly all of my mental focus to the unwinding story on the screen.
• For mid-intensity rides, I love watching the news or political talk shows. A perfect choice since you can "zone out" from what you are watching with little consequence for when you choose to zone back in. And if nothing more, this opens up the potential for you to be a rock-star at (and have something other than triathlon to talk about) social gatherings. There is a direct correlation with my worldliness and time spent on the trainer, and I've got to admit, this debate season has been very entertaining...
• For intervals or other more up-tempo workouts, I would recommend ditching the TV and going with music. You want your mental focus to be solely on the work at hand, and music will support this, not take away from it. Within this category, there are so many great free options to choose from, so long as you have a computer, some speakers, and an internet connection. Spotify lets you build and save playlists so you can be in full control. If you are looking for a bit more of a surprise, Pandora allows you to select an artist or song, and then will play endless music that is similar to your selection (great way to find new favorites).
• For all streaming music, be sure to keep your computer within arms-reach from your bike. Every once in a while these websites prompt a response from you to continue playing the music. Nothing worse than having this happen midway through a 2x20 minute threshold set, with your computer 10 feet away...

Motivation: Simply hanging a poster, writing down a quote, or even date of a key race can be a great tool to mentally focus and help motivate you to get the work done. For example, I have one of my favorite quotes from triathlon Coach Paulo Sousa,"Chop Wood, Carry Water," written on a wood block, and nailed next to a picture of Mt. Everest on a wall directly in front of my bike set-up. You can create your own state-of-the-art (OK, so maybe a more honest representation is "serviceable") training center under almost any circumstance. For instance, I live with my girlfriend in a mid-size one bedroom apartment on a college campus. By following the recommendations above, I have come to thoroughly enjoy indoor training. And as the attached pictures show, it's not for glamour reasons either!

I'll end with probably the most simple yet power advice there is: more than anything, focus on your goal races, and know that the fitness you put in the bank now is earning interest over time, and come summer, you'll be happy to redeem it.

Train as Much as Possible

As featured on Xtri.

I love a quote that I was made familiar with by ITU Long Course World Champion triathlete Jordan Rapp. In the context of being asked his opinion on a whole manner of training and recovery methods, he simply said that the best approach is to "train as much as possible." Breaking this statement down into its two component parts makes it even easier to understand:

1) Train as much: More volume and more intensity is good, so long as...
2) As Possible: The body and mind are in a position to successfully adapt to the applied training load

Smart, structured, and long-term training is all about introducing physiological stimulus to the body (e.g., your sport-specific and functional strength workouts) which triggers adaptation over time (e.g., getting faster, stronger) . Most athletes fully understand the first part of Jordan's statement -- introducing escalating levels of volume and intensity into their routines -- but not as many understand how it is enabled by the second part.

The body's ability to take on more training in a positive way (leading to fitness gains, not injury) is contingent on far more than an individual's current fitness level. This is not to say that current fitness levels don't matter, because they do; it would be irresponsible to prescribe a 4-hour ride for someone with a current max ride duration of 2-hours. The same goes for intensity. No doubt about it, the body must be aerobically and structurally ready to take on increased levels of training stress, and an incremental "building" approach is the only way to get there...But that's just one part of the equation and I find that many don't place enough importance on the other parts of the equation, if not overlook them altogether.

The "as possible" is a 24/7 type of thing, influenced literally by everything we do, both inside and outside of sport. To better illustrate my point, imagine two athletes with the exact same fitness level at the start of 2012. Now, I am going to differ a few critical "as possible" variables. Note that I am really going to extremes to juxtapose the two, and this is to make my point clear and obvious.

Sleep: Athlete 1 is a graduate student taking a very manageable course load, and is able to sleep 8-hours a night, and also has the time for naps on strenuous training days. Athlete 2 just got promoted at an investment bank, and thus, has had to stay up later and wake up earlier in order to manage increased responsibility at work. Athlete 2 sleeps 6 hours a night, and napping is not an option.

Nutrition: Athlete 1 has the time to think about and prepare most of his meals. He almost never misses a meal, and always fuels his workouts properly. Athlete 2, constantly cramming workouts in wherever they will fit, is often forced to eat sub-ideal foods, and unfortunately, even finds himself missing [the most important] meals after workouts due to the generally rushed nature of his life.

General Life Stress: Athlete 1 has a job lined up for when he finishes school, is in a supportive and loving relationship, and is also in a good financial position. Athlete 2 is working through some tough things with family, feels an internal pressure to beat the guy next to him at work, and consistently has superiors [at the bank] in his face about meeting deadlines.

Acute Recovery: Athlete 1 can wear compression tights to class, ice his body while taking care of reading assignments, and works with a great local massage therapist. Meanwhile, Athlete 2 would be hard pressed to wear compression tights on Wall Street, let alone even have the time to get the damn things on!! Icing is an option, but only on weekends, and massage therapy rarely fits into Athlete 2's schedule right now.

Long-Term Plan and Comfort: Athlete 1 works with a coach he trusts, and has a plan that he is confident in, and is constantly tweaked as a result of his response to it. Athlete 2 also works with a coach, as a matter of fact, the same coach as Athlete 1. That said, Athlete 2 just doesn't have the time or energy to communicate frequently, and even his virtual updates are short, and often lack qualitative feedback from workouts.

Imagine that each of these athletes has 15 hours available to train weekly. If they execute the exact same workouts, I would almost guarantee that Athlete 1 becomes fitter -- and races faster as a result -- than Athlete 2.

As a matter of fact, Athlete 1 might be able to take on even additional training (e.g., 18-20 hours a week). Athlete 1 can up the "train as much" part of the equation, because the "as possible" part enables it. Following the same logic, Athlete 2, on the other hand, would likely be wise to decrease his training load (e.g., maybe to something more like 10-12 hours a week). In short, a baseline fitness level (remember that in this example, Athlete 1 and Athlete 2 had the same ingoing fitness) is only one component in determining how much training an athlete can take on and positively respond to. Therefore, it is important to account for, and to the extent possible, manage the other components too. Although some of the "as possible" variables are out of our control, many of them are within it, and it's really just a matter of prioritizing what is important at certain times of life (e.g., do I take on the crazy job with the equally as crazy compensation, or do I max out my athletic potential??). It is also important to remember that so many of the "as possible" drivers are constantly changing; two-years from now, Athlete 1 (from our example above) may have 3x the "as possible" limiters as Athlete 2.

"Train as much as possible" really helps simplify things in an era where there is increasing complexity and variety on the market for training programs. So, what to do with all of this?

Constantly take stock of your "as possible" limiters and be sure that your training plan reflects them. At times, this may manifest in a window of opportunity to really up the training volume and intensity, while at other times, it might mean doing the opposite. Along those lines, realize that a decent amount of this is within at least somewhat of your control. To the extent that you find yourself in and/or can create a situation where the "as possible" widens, don't be scared to take advantage of it by getting aggressive in your training. That said, have the courage to do the reverse if required too.

And the best part about all of this: next time someone asks you about the secrets to your training program, you can simply respond, "I train as much as possible."