Bike Question for 70.3

Normally if I do a longish ride on the trainer (and I do quite a few, due to things like heat, traffic, time committments, and sometimes just being too lazy to get up super-early before it gets super-hot), I generally do some kind of structured workout. If not, it tends to get deathly dull and, once you've developed the endurance to pedal for a few hours, of questionable training benefit. If you have a heart rate monitor, you can do the long rides from Jorge's winter bike program on this site--they range from 90 minutes to 3:30, and you can always extend them if needed with longer warmups/ cool downs. I've done them outdoors as well as on the trainer and can attest that they provide a really vigorous workout that will have you well-prepared for a HIM ride. The only caveat would be that you'd be riding at HIM race effort and sometimes harder for quite a high % of the ride, so doing a brick run after can be very taxing and you'll need to make sure you get sufficient recovery after, especially if you do it as a bike-run brick (you might want to run first on some weeks). I normally do only swimming the next day in order to recover.

Edited by Hot Runner 2015-01-24 7:15 AM

I don't know that there is necessarily a magic workout for what you are trying to achieve. If you train with a hear rate monitor, you can use that and find a workout that mixes up the zones you work in. I don't think I would mindlessly just "spin" on the trainer for a couple of hours, as you probably wont push yourself, and will probably get bored out of your mind. Even when going for a longer "easy" ride on the weekend, just as a matter of course, you will run into some hills that would inevitably require more effort than just spinning. There are countless options to choose from on the interwebs, so just experiment and find a couple workouts that keep you interested and push you a little.
Also, if you want to really push yourself, grab a couple of The Sufferfest trainer workouts. Pounding through those will get you in pretty good shape when the weather warms up and allows you to get outside.
You have time if you are racing Raleigh 70.3, and there are plenty of groups that meet out at Jordan Lake closer to race time, and ride the course, or at least portions of it. With it being point to point, the logistics of riding the whole course takes some effort to set up.

Sufferfest if looking for a hard session.

Yep. I'm in the same boat. Spending a lot of time on the spin bike at the gym because it's just too cold for me!