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Winter IM training, will I go crazy doing my training indoors?

triNick's picture
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1619 days
started by triNick on November 5, 2008

I'm looking at IMSA 2009. I live in MN and I probably won't have any chance to do any rides outside this winter, especially the long ones. If I'm lucky I might get one ride in at the end of March, probably during taper time. Swimming should be ok but it will be boring inside the whole time. Running should be ok if we don't have a cold and snowy winter. I hate freezing my toes and other parts and running on slick patches of ice, so treadmill running will have to do when those conditions exist. I just can't imagine doing a 2, or 3, or even 4 hour run on one.

Anyone have any experience doing something like this? Are there any winter / indoor training plans? If not, how does one translate and outdoor training plan to an indoor experience. I know that X hours on a bike trainer translates to more time on the bike if I was out on the road, so is that what I would have to do? What about treadmill, it that similar?

Anyone else looking at IMSA 2009?

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deepbluex's picture
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deepbluex posted 1 year ago.

I've done a good bit of training indoors at the gym. Mostly treadmill and stationary bike stuff. Like swimming in a pool, it is a visiually unchanging landscape to stare at. I've arrived at some justifications and rationalizations to make the indoor training palatable.

What you need to do is reject the notion that monotonous visual cues alone will result in a boring workout. It sounds a bit zen-ish but you need to look inside yourself and use your imagination, memories, ideas, logic, emotions to fill your mind or empty it and enjoy the quiet of a calm mind for the duration of your workout. The indoor environment is not something to approach with a sense of claustrophobia. Just as wearing clothing around you to protect you from the cold or the sun's rays is not an imprisonment of your body, a gym is not a prison either, but simply a temple where the body can be hammered into shape without the biting cold of winter. Your legs and your lungs and your heart do not get bored. Only one organ in your body gets bored, and even that can be turned into a choice and that is a choice you can control.

Toothless's picture
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Toothless posted 1 year ago.

I use the Spinervals "Tough Love" 3 hr DVD when I need to do focused long indoor rides on cold winter days. But I usually have some days each month for long outdoor rides and runs, so I don't go crazy. Good luck!

gfd's picture
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gfd posted 1 year ago.

I get used to the trainer after a few weeks. I have a friend that has a massive collection of pro cycling videos. It can become something to look forward to when you have no idea about the result of the race.

What deepbluex said so well is absolutely true for me in the pool. It is all mental.

I have nothing for you with the treadmill. I would rather freeze outside than run for more than an hour on one of them.

Good luck with the training.

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