Trainer-- How long do you ride?

I'm riding it all the time now thanks to the snow, although it looks a bit better today so maybe tomorrow I can get outside.The most I have done on the trainer is 5 hours. Last week I did 4. It's boring (even with music, the internet and DVD's) but at the moment I don't have a choice.I find that the first few rides are the hardest as you become accustomed to being on the trainer for so long but after that it gets a bit easier.

My lord.. 5 hours...

I just bought a set of rollers a 1.5 months ago. I'm on it for 45 minutes at a time now.  I'm using Hulu and Netflix's on movies on demand to keep me occupied. It works well since it's easy enough to move my laptop to where I need it.

I can't bring myself to go longer than 2 hours.  I generally try to push it hard so that the 2 hours really count.  The worst are "endurance miles" on the trainer.  I much prefer intervals.

5 hours is quite an accomplishment.

I've heard that you can accomplish a lot in an hour on the trainer if your workouts have a specific goal and purpose. The amount of time you ride on the trainer also depends on your racing goals. If your not training for an early season or iron distance race you may find it more beneficial not to kill yourself in the offseason, that way you feel fresher for training during your actual training season. With that said, I usually spend about an hour on the trainer at a time and occasionally up to 1.5 hours during the offseason.

Spinervals DVDs and I've gone 1 hour regularly. This year it's rollers and I'm up to 2 hours with Spinervals. I don't see much of an issue going up to about 4 hours with the right DVDs though.

I'm happy to hear that there are other hour riders out there... 

I'm right at the beginning of a volume build, so I'm only at 45 minutes or so. I expect to be in the 1-1.5 hour mark training for sprints this season. Having a planned workout has really helped me these last few sessions, makes the time go by a lot faster.

Last week's long was 2 hours. I'm hoping biking outside is more fun. Just started biking in November and all my rides have been on trainer since the second week of December. I kinda hate the bike now. Total time on the bike/trainer last week was about 4.5 hours, I think. This week, aiming for more of the same.

I'm trying to cut out the music now too. Won't have music on my race. So, need to focus on being able to hear my huffing and puffing and pain oozing out of my body and overcoming it without good tunes.

90' at the most. I use the trainer to get faster. My WO's are:

Short Warmup
Some work at 85% of FTP

and then hit it....

2 X 15 - 20 @ FTP with some recovery or pVo2max sets depending on the training block I'm in....

CD and call it a day.

Trainer for me means harder not longer.

I don't do early season travel races because I have no interest riding longer than 90' at a time on the trainer.

I avoid the trainer as much as possible. I went out Sunday morning. Temp was mid 20's with gusty winds. Wind chill in the teens. I ride on ice, got buzzed by a BMW, got honked at by an over sized luxury SUV, averaged 13 MPH with the wind and the hills, but did not ride the trainer!

Agree with some above.  Add high intensity structure and the time will fly by.  I've just started doing this recently and my 1-1.5 hr sessions have felt like this:

- Select a set of intervals to do
- Enjoy the 20-30 minute warmup before the pain begins.  Include some light ints here to prepare for what is coming.
- for i=1:num_intervals
    Painful interval #i
    Rest (goes by too fast!)
  end
- Enjoy the cool down

The time in the intervals doesn't go by fast, but it's not exactly boring either.

Longest ride on the trainer to date was last Sunday - 2:55...watched two movies, stood up in the pedals every 15 minutes for 1 minute and surprisingly made it all the way through. It is part of Jorge's Winter Cycling Challenge - which has given me great focus on the trainer. I would HIGHLY recommend it.

over 100 miles last week (estimated) - all on the trainer.

You can do it - it takes a bit of time.

For the person who is doing it without music because there is no music during the race - I applaud your purity, but think I would lose my mind just having the basement to look at. Music/hulu/Netflix makes it so I can make it all the way through the time. I won't ride outside with any media and I sing the songs from my trainer rides in my head to help me get up the hills.

5 hours - wow...don't know if I could do that. 3 hours just about killed me.

Yes.  No.

x2 on the intervals.

I do normally get bored after an hour to an hour and half.  But I have done an 8 hour ride on the trainer.  Did the entire Ironman Louisville computrainer course last summer in my IM Lou prep.  Thanks Shanks!!!  Took so long because you can't coast at all on the computrainer!  Ended up with a 6:45 bike split, so I think it helped!

X2

Nice work!   

What sort of intensity are you riding on the trainer? It's less about how LONG you ride t han about how much WORK you do and how you go about doing it. 2.5 hours of easy riding on the trainer could easily be replaced by half that time with some tempo/sweet spot intervals thrown in...and you'll reap a greater benefit too. Double bonus. Love the bike again.

longest..... i hit 2:01 once.

normally (or rather last year when i actually rode one?) :45-1:15

get on, go HARD< get off. save the long stuff for outside.

I usually do 60-90 min workouts and ride outside for longer sessions.

Check this out for workout ideas and to get faster: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=186131&start=1

This is the winter plan that I'm following, so whatever the plan calls for is what I'm doing. 

BTW, Thanks for putting this together Jorge!

Scout21

I've gone as long as 3 hours when motivated by a HIM but this winter I haven't gotten past 1 hour.  My trainer is in a windowless basement.  I stare at an old cooler and listen to music.  I'm getting bored just thinking about it.