Turbo
training can be very anti-social, as even the best of cycle
trainers available are noisy.
A garage or garden shed away from the house is often the best
place to set up your turbo. Assemble the turbo according to
the manufacturer's instruction and fit the bike with the rear
tyre just touching the turbo roller. You need enough contact
to create resistance, but bear in mind that when you are mounted
on the bike the contact will be greater. Make sure that the
whole unit is level and that you have taken every possible
precaution to reduce vibrations.
Place the clock and electric fan somewhere in front of you.
Give the turbo and bike frame a good waxing/polishing to help
protect them against sweat damage. If sweat does drip on your
bike you should wash the bike at regular intervals. If you
have to use your racing bike, you need to take added precautions
against sweat damage by draping a large towel over the bars,
stem and top tube of the bike.
Clothing
The clothing that you would normally wear for a serious training
session is what you should wear for turbo training. Racing
shorts or tights with racing jersey and/or under vest should
be the basic kit. You will soon warm up and sweat far more
than usual since there is no cooling breeze, hence the suggestion
of the fan. The electric fan will help to cool you off a little,
but as your effort increases, you will notice that sweat is
dripping off your face onto the bike, which in time, if not
prevented, will cause damage.
Using your turbo
In your first session, get the feel of the turbo. If you intend
to use aero bars in racing, then it is worthwhile using them
in your turbo sessions. Conditioning your body for intensive
efforts in the racing position is all part of the attention
to detail that will help you towards improved performances.
Concentrate on good pedalling style and keep your revolutions
smooth. Unless your turbo is fitted with a flywheel your early
efforts will be jerky, but as you concentrate on the smooth
pedalling action you will soon develop a smooth technique.
Change gear (or adjust the resistance) and ride at various
degrees of effort and pedal revolutions. If you have a heart
monitor use it to get an idea of your response to the levels
of exertion. For a wide selection of the best heart rate monitors
from POLAR,
click the name. If not, start learning to always count your
pedal revs. Remember, it is the full revolution that you count.
Keep your early sessions short, ten to fifteen minutes at
the most or you may be disappointed and want to throw your
turbo in the nearest river. Don't do that, with the correct
use it will become a major training ally!
Planning
your turbo training programme
As with all training, turbo efforts should be planned, progressive
efforts. Give some thought to your cycling/racing goals,
and plan a programme of interval sessions on the turbo to
help you to achieve them.
There are many variations to interval training and the best
idea is to experiment with several different sessions to
find a programme that is both progressive and right for
you. Intervals can vary from seconds of effort to several
minutes of effort, and the recovery time equally varied.
We give various examples of turbo sessions elsewhere in
this section but a typical progressive programme can be
as follows:
Week one Warm up, then change to 52 x 16 and pedal
hard for one minute with pedal revs at about 100 rpm and
raising your heart rate to high-level 3/low-level 4. On
completion change down to about 42 x 16 and pedal at about
60 rpm to allow recovery for one minute. Repeat 5 times.
Warm down.
Week two Warm up, and then complete 7 intervals.
Week three Warm up, and then complete 10 intervals.
Week four Warm up, and then carry out the session
you performed during week one but this time only allow your
pulse rate to rise into level 2. This week is effectively
a "recovery", or rest week, that allows your system to recover
fully from the efforts that you have been making on your
turbo.
Week five Warm up, and then complete 10 intervals.
Week six Warm up, and then complete 12 intervals.
Week seven Warm up, and then complete 15 intervals.
Week eight Warm up, and then carry out the session
you performed during week one, again only allowing your
pulse rate to rise into level 2. This week again is a rest
or "active recovery" week allowing your system to recover
fully from the efforts that you have made on your turbo.
The above sessions can easily be altered to suit your own
standard of fitness and racing needs and are designed primarily
to show the progressive nature of effective training programmes.
For
a selection of Turbo
trainers click the link.
