My first race of the year last Sunday was snowed off, but thankfully the weather has started to turn. It’s always nice to see a bit of snow, but when you want to be training, icey roads can soon get tiresome. Despite my own protestations, I had quite a good experience training on the turbo. Nevertheless, I was really happy to get back out of the roads and get some road miles in.
Now that’s more like it!
Some brief observations of road training v turbo training
- It is easier to keep a constant effort, heart rate and speed on a turbo. On the road, you inevitably have to be aware of corners and obstacles, you can’t keep that smooth effort.
- Turbo training can be boring, but if you have a very specific training goal it definitely helps. If you just get on the turbo and turn the pedals, I want to stop after 20 minutes. Going out on road for a recovery ride, you can at least enjoy the simple pleasure of riding your bike.
- If anything, I would say recovery rides are best on road bike. But, if you have very specific training targets and methods, the turbo becomes much more attractive.
Spring Training Camps
If I was a professional, I would really appreciate going on spring training camps. At the end of last week, after 10 days of freezing temperatures, it was just getting to that point where it was becoming quite easy to give training a miss and stay off the bike. It really is quite hard keeping motivation through prolonged cold.
Now, the temperature has reached a balmy 8 degrees it feels positively warm. Next race Sunday 18 miles TT.
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