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The
new winter turbo training sessions have got off to a great start. Now
that the evenings are getting darker this is a fantastic opportunity for
members to maintain (and improve) their fitness over the winter months.
These mid-week sessions are available to all members, with or without
their own turbo trainers, as spare turbo trainers and rollers are
available.
The
club coaches are there providing advice for those who want it. You can
join in with the session of the evening or do your own thing. Either way
it is a great way to learn how to ride turbos or rollers, some come
along and join in, all abilities and ages are welcome.
If
you don’t fancy riding then come along for a tea or coffee and a chat
and watch the sessions.
Click here for some photos of the Turbo Training Sessions
Turbo-training sessions on
Wednesday evenings are becoming very successful with many
members coming along for the first time each week. Although
Graham is kindly lending several turbo-trainers we have
now reached the stage whereby we will soon have more riders
than available turbos. If you are unable to come along
yourself but have a turbo that we can borrow for a while
please let me or Graham (gr.pearl@sky.com)
know. Many thanks
Peter Swanwick (peterswanwick@lycos.com).
For those wanting to buy
a new turbo, members have
been offered a deal on a
reputable brand. To get
more details come along
to one of the training
nights.
Programme of events
Wednesday 7th March
Wednesday 14th March
Wednesday 21st March
Wednesday 28th March
Wednesday 4th April
Wednesday 11th April
Venue
The Todman Centre, Castle Road, Rayleigh. SS6 7QF
Sessions start from 18:30 and conclude around 20:30
Cost is £3.00 per rider (Free to U18s and those in full-time
education).
Please note due to limited availability, these sessions are available to
members only.
What
do I need?
All you need is your bike (spare turbos are available), enough drink to
hydrate you during and after your session, a towel and maybe an energy
or recovery bar or drink .A set of warm, dry clothes to
change in to afterwards is also recommended and remember its winter, so
a warm hat to put on when you leave should also be in you kit bag.
You will be expected to clean the floor around your bike, mop and paper
towels are available.
Don’t
have a turbo?
There are spare turbos and rollers available - if you are wondering
whether to invest in one (or put it on your Christmas list), then why
not come along and try?
Doubts about your fitness?
We want you to enjoy these sessions, how hard you try is up to you. If
you have any medical issues let one of the coaches know upon your
arrival. Like any other exercise regime, you should train within the
limits of your health and ability.
Session Structure
The list of pdfs below give
guidelines for specific turbo sessions
Endurance Sessions
Pyramid
Sessions
Ramped Race Pace Sessions
Strength
Sessions
Turbo FAQs
What
is Turbo training?
A
Turbo trainer or is a piece of equipment that makes it possible to ride
a bicycle indoors without moving forward. They are used by cyclists and
triathletes to improve cycling and fitness performance and a great piece
of equipment during the winter months when riding conditions outside are
not favourable.
They allow you to training in doors where you can listen to music or
watch the tv whilst focusing on specific session goals e.g Sprint
sessions.
Turbo training let’s you maintain high intensity without the start-stop
of road riding and negates any loss of quality training by coasting
along. As with all training a good warm-up through the gears is
essential as is a period of cool down. The cool down will help flush the
lactate from the muscles and promote recovery and boost the endurance
effect.
What
do you need to turbo train?
In order to turbo train you will need a few pieces of equipment.
Firstly, you will need a turbo trainer or a set of rollers and a bike to
attach to the turbo trainer. A bike and a turbo trainer with
front-wheel riser are the basics.
If you want to measure speed, heart rate or power then you will need to
buy the relevant devices.
A fan is not essential, but recommended. It will help you keep you cool,
which should hopefully help your performance.
A turbo training tyre is also not essential but recommended. It will
help keep the noise levels down, and it will not wear down as quickly as
a regular tyre.
Turbo
training tips
Ensure that you have enough to drink during your session along with a
recovery drink afterwards.
Make sure you have used chamois cream on your shorts.
If you are training somewhere where there are no windows then a fan is a
good idea to help keep you cool.
Place
a towel over the handlebars to stop sweat corroding you headset, frame
and damaging the floor.
Finally, if you are going to listen to music, make sure your play list
has a range of tracks that are correct for you to power away to.
Session goals
Without an objective or goal turbo training can
(and probably will) be the most boring activity imaginable. The key is
to have a specific aim for your session – as you should for all your
training rides.
If you sit on a turbo trainer in a dark garage for 4 hrs of level 1,
then you will need to disconnect your brain in order to complete the
session. It’s altogether more sensible to set a time limit (45m – 1hr)
for you to work towards. Next break your session into warm up – session
proper - cool down. A 10 minute warm up and down should be an essential
part of every turbo training session.
So, what is your aim for the session? Is it a gentle recovery ride
spinning low gears? Or is a substitute for a 3 hr Sunday ride? Are you
going to be doing intervals or not? Try to work out a vague session plan
before you start. By doing 5 x 2min threshold intervals with 8 mins
recovery in between you already have a 1hr session. The time will fly by
much quicker if you break your session up into manageable, focused
chunks.
We all have different goals... mountain biker, road racer... we have
different goals in our sport. The best part of a trainer is that you can
do what you like. If you want to improve sprinting ability then you can,
if you want to build base fitness through the early season you can – you
control the pace; there are no hills, no headwinds. It is worthwhile
forming a plan of some sort so you can plan, monitor and adjust training
intensity to suit your long-term plan. |
