François Parisien / PowerWatts Master Coach and Former World Tour Pro Cyclist
François Parisien
The leaves are changing colors, it's getting darker earlier, the temperature is getting colder and colder and the outdoor cycling season is coming to an end.
This change of seasons is disrupting our training habits and some of us may have a difficult time getting used to it. Here are five tips to help you through this transition:
ONE - Change your mental state (mental toughness).
During the summer months, we enjoy longer outdoor rides with friends. These are mostly endurance rides with little structure, which is the opposite of indoor training. Indoor training is interval based and is usually less than 2 hours in duration. These structured high intensity intervals can be a shock to our bodies so we need to be mentally prepared to face them and condition ourselves to resist the burn.
TWO - Lower your CP20 threshold on your first few indoor workouts to give yourself a little chance to adapt.
At PowerWatts, after 20 years of indoor training experience, we have found that nearly 80% of our clients have to lower their CP20 when they return to indoor training, even after a full summer of accumulating miles outdoors.
The lack of structured intensity lowers your fitness level and you will need to adapt your threshold power during the first few intensity sessions. Fortunately, our bodies adapt quickly and with a little perseverance, a return to your last winter's numbers will occur after a few weeks of training.
** Tip: During the upcoming summer season, continue with at least one PowerWatts workout per week to help you maintain your fitness level.
THREE - Adjust your diet!
While it's possible to eat 1 hour before an endurance ride, you'll need much more time to digest before doing an intensity workout. Give yourself two to three hours between your meal and your PowerWatts session to reduce competition in blood flow between digestion and working muscles.
Since time in the saddle is reduced when training indoors, you will have to pay attention to caloric intake in order to avoid gaining weight. Although the intensity is increased, you burn fewer calories over 1 hour than you would during your 3-4 hour endurance rides.
You may sweat more riding indoors so you need to pay special attention to your hydration. Try to drink at least one full bottle for 1 hour of indoor cycling and start drinking from the beginning of the workout. Use the recovery time between intervals, drink and rehydrate.
FOUR - The indoor season is the best time to work on your pedaling technique.
To improve efficiency on the bike, anchor the pelvis and shoulders to reduce bouncing and increase efficiency especially at higher cadences. Also, one can focus on improving force production across a wider spectrum of the pedal stroke and the balance between left and right sides with drills to optimize this. Without the hills, turns, cars, wind and potholes on the road, it is much easier to work on these gaps indoors.
PowerWatts workouts include a variety of high intensity intervals with specific games to help you improve technique and efficiency and, therefore, become a better cyclist.
FIVE - Increase your motivation by setting goals for the upcoming outdoor season.
Whether it's to perform in a Gran Fondo, prepare for a bike trip, defend your world sprint title or just lose some weight, it's important to have goals to stay motivated and get through the indoor season.
Talk to your coaches and track your progress with our MyPowerWatts performance report to adjust your training load.
Keep in mind that most of the gains will be made in the off-season if you are consistent with your indoor training. Once the warm weather returns, PowerWatts training will make sure you are fit and ready to hit the road outside with your friends.
Until then, there is work to be done!
Have a great indoor season.
François Parisien / PowerWatts Master Coach and Former World Tour Pro Cyclist