Roller training

[aka0019]

Hi everyone, I know this has been posted before but the information I found wasn't very helpful if i'm honest so wondered if anyone has any more.

I got some Taxc Antares rollers for xmas and am a bit stuck as to what sort of training I could/should be doing on them. This is all in preperation for racing (first time) in the coming season. Please note I also do other cycling through the week, not just use the rollers.

At present I have been doing 45 mins working at no less then 85% of my maximum heart rate and then the last 15 mins at 90% and just below. I understand that this may help for endurance? but I want to do some interval work as well to build up strength etc.

Basically I want to know what I could do. Also, is it best to go by heart rate rather than speed etc? For example do 5 mins at 90% MHR then 5 at 95% etc. And I assume hard interval sessions should be done twice weekly?

Or should I just get a turbo lol? I know some people don't think you get a good enough work out on rollers.

Any help is appreciated.

Andrew

 

[ttcycle]

Hi aka

Rollers or my understanding of them are to be used for static training but unlike turbos you still have the element of balancing the bike whilst on the roller which is different to a turbo which is held up. I'm sure someone will be along to correct if this is incorrect.

My concerns re your training mentioned above- esp if this is your first season is you're working at too high a max of your heart rate.

Rollers/turbos etc are great for intervals but and the most important thingis to build up a strong base of endurance. working at 85%+ of your HR will not achieve this..in fact what that does is probably race pace/lactate threshold train - which is about teaching your body to cope with high intensity such as when racing. To work at those kinda levels without the base of endurance is going to mean that you don't reach your optimum and most likely you will burn yourself out.

In a nutshell- figure out what races you want to race in get those dates put down and tailor your training so that you peak for those races and do some races as practice before your main races.

This time of year- don't worry too much about intervals but some long, long steady paced ie not lung busting rides with high number of miles or a couple of hours out on the bike- 45mins is not enough for endurance. This is the way to up your endurance and get your training started. As you get closer to your races you then do more specific work ie intervals at higher rates of intensity and technique specific work ie cadence drills to get your legs spinning faster so you have higher rotation per min-rpm...but work on your basics first - get out on the bike and if the weather's really bad- have an indoor roller session.


Forgot to say allow plenty of time to rest -your training should be designed in blocks of four weeks - with the fourth week as highest intensity and the fifth week a rest week- this allows you to adapt your training load gradually and remember part of fitness and training is eating and resting properly.
Good luck!

 

[amaferanga]

An hour above 85% max HR is quite a tough session. How did you work out your max HR? If you used the 220-age formula then ignore that and do a ramp test to find out your actual max HR.

 

[Bill Gates]

An hour above 85% max HR is quite a tough session. How did you work out your max HR? If you used the 220-age formula then ignore that and do a ramp test to find out your actual max HR.

My thinking too.

At present I have been doing 45 mins working at no less then 85% of my maximum heart rate and then the last 15 mins at 90% and just below. I understand that this may help for endurance? but I want to do some interval work as well to build up strength etc.

Andrew

If you have accurately ascertained your MHR then this is the equivalent of exactly re-creating race conditions. Bearing in mind your lack of experience, current fitness level, the mental demands re the concentration required to ride the rollers and the lack of actual race conditions to motivate you then it's no less than a bloody miracle.

As part of a training programme it is not necessary or sensible to do this level of training for this length of time.

* Endurance work is undertaken at moderate intensity. 65/70/75% MHR

* Tempo training max 1.5/2 hours. 75/85% MHR

* Threshold training 2 x 20 minutes (LT - Lactate Threshold) 85/90% MHR

* VO2Max training short intervals (E.g.6 x 5 minutes) 90/95% MHR

As I posted on the racing forum personally I wouldn't bother with VO2max intervals yet but as TT advised concentrate on endurance miles on the road. LT training on the rollers or the road 1 x weekly or 2 x weekly if you can't ride re adverse weather.

IMO as a rule of thumb if it's hard then keep it short; if its very hard then keep it very short. Combining long and hard will affect the fitness building process and require extra recovery so in the early stages of training will be counter productive.

When you want to do the VO2max stuff then a turbo might be safer. I used to sprint intervals on the rollers (no turbos in those days) and it can get a bit hairy.

P.S. Re HR during LT training. If not already aware the you should allow for cardiac drift. In order to maintain the level you should have some means of measuring your effort. Either with power or cadence (same gear all the time) or speed. By keeping the HR at the same level it will mean that during the LT sessions you are losing power.

 

[Will1985]

With no resistance, those rollers won't be helping increase your strength - mostly improving leg speed and your ability to hold a high HR. Get a turbo as well and ride against resistance.

 

[montage]

With no resistance, those rollers won't be helping increase your strength - mostly improving leg speed and your ability to hold a high HR. Get a turbo as well and ride against resistance.

This is the ideal solution, but then we don't always have the ideal wallet. You could work on leg strength other ways, gym machines, circuits at home involving squat jumps or by hitting the hills more. Try that steep hill sitting down in the big ring a few times and watch those thighs grow

 

[Will1985]

Definitely, or like my ride home yesterday, riding into a hellish headwind without respite Given the present weather conditions, I think many riders will be consigned to the garage for training sessions.

You could probably get a turbo in lieu of several months of gym membership though montage

 

[montage]

Definitely, or like my ride home yesterday, riding into a hellish headwind without respite Given the present weather conditions, I think many riders will be consigned to the garage for training sessions.

You could probably get a turbo in lieu of several months of gym membership though montage

Good point, I didn't think about the stupidly priced gym memberships. Luckily I get to go to a free (but naff) one at college . You could pick up a turbo around £60ish off ebay later on in the summer. Waiting till the summer will also offend whoever got your the rollers less

Great thing about rollers, stick 'em in the boot and use them for pre race warm ups, something which could be invaluable if you are one of those who needs to warm up a fair amount.

 

[aka0019]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I should have said in the first post that I already cycle roughly 200 miles per week, sometimes 250. This is made up of 12 miles to and from work Mon - Fri, then training with my club on a Wednesday which is about 50 miles in total. I have also just started going on the Sunday club run which is about 90 miles. Haven't been doing so much though recently due to xmas.

My max heart rate is 186 which wasn't done up a hill but at training and I was going all out. Saying that though it was a while back now and before that I could only get it to 176 or something so I might get it higher again. Hence maybe why doing 85% of my max over that length of time was ok.

I was told my dads friend who cycles that I should wait until March time before doing intervals. He said for now i'm doing enough, if not too much. I was thinking that when I do start doing intervals I could either do them as part of my commute as there is a couple of hills or I could use the turbo (i'm going to get one next month I think). Good thing is my dads friend owns a bike shop so I get stuff cost price

 

[Bill Gates]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I should have said in the first post that I already cycle roughly 200 miles per week, sometimes 250. This is made up of 12 miles to and from work Mon - Fri, then training with my club on a Wednesday which is about 50 miles in total. I have also just started going on the Sunday club run which is about 90 miles. Haven't been doing so much though recently due to xmas.

My max heart rate is 186 which wasn't done up a hill but at training and I was going all out. Saying that though it was a while back now and before that I could only get it to 176 or something so I might get it higher again. Hence maybe why doing 85% of my max over that length of time was ok.

I was told my dads friend who cycles that I should wait until March time before doing intervals. He said for now i'm doing enough, if not too much. I was thinking that when I do start doing intervals I could either do them as part of my commute as there is a couple of hills or I could use the turbo (i'm going to get one next month I think). Good thing is my dads friend owns a bike shop so I get stuff cost price

I must try it some time.

 

[Big John]

We've obviously got some decent coaches in here with sound advice. My only comment would be that rollers aren't as cushy as everyone seems to make out. OK, I'm 53, and race at a very modest level but find the rollers hard work despite the alleged lack of resistance. At times they get a bad press. Ramp it up into top gear and they're hard going - well I find that's the case anyway. I've got a turbo too and find them both hard work! lol

 

[ttcycle]

Hi aka

Don't take on too much too early. Keep your intensity low - March is probably a good time to ramp it up but not beforehand.

One question I have to ask...when are you rest days and what does it comprise of? You may be pushing yourself too hard already..as someone has already said who you spoke to- give yourself time to recover otherwise the training is all meaningless.

 

[lukesdad]

Couple fo points to add. I think we need to know what sort of racing he will be doing and when. Montage everybody should warm up thoroughly before racing and rollers are ideal for this its the only thing I use them for.

 

[Bill Gates]

We've obviously got some decent coaches in here with sound advice. My only comment would be that rollers aren't as cushy as everyone seems to make out. OK, I'm 53, and race at a very modest level but find the rollers hard work despite the alleged lack of resistance. At times they get a bad press. Ramp it up into top gear and they're hard going - well I find that's the case anyway. I've got a turbo too and find them both hard work! lol

Anyone who uses rollers will agree, although by how much depends on the rollers. The more expensive ones with heavier and larger drums are easier to ride than the cheaper versions and are more stable and therefore more suitable for <65% MHR recovery rides. But like you say stick it in a bigger gear and hey presto you have greater resistance.

Hi everyone, I know this has been posted before but the information I found wasn't very helpful if i'm honest so wondered if anyone has any more.

Andrew

Why not? You've raised this thing about intervals and training on another thread in the racing section re "racing advice" and presumably found it not to your satisfaction.

I was told my dads friend who cycles that I should wait until March time before doing intervals. He said for now i'm doing enough, if not too much.

Then you receive the same advice from your Dad's mate(who BTW rides a bike), and suddenly it becomes acceptable.

.

My max heart rate is 186 which wasn't done up a hill but at training and I was going all out. Saying that though it was a while back now and before that I could only get it to 176 or something so I might get it higher again. Hence maybe why doing 85% of my max over that length of time was ok.

You could do a lot worse than read some of the threads in this section because the question of max HR is covered many times. My MHR is approx 176 and I'm 60. My guess is that you're either late teens or early 20's and your MHR should be more than 200 at least, so you're well off your estimation on LT training. I'm not going to bother telling how to get your MHR. Ask your Dad's mate and stop wasting our time.

 

[aka0019]

Bill,

I'm sorry if i've came across as rude or anything. When I said I didn't find the information useful I simply meant it wasn't what I was looking for. I have found loads of useful information on this forum but the info I wanted this time was specifically for using rollers and what sort of training programmes people used with them.

All I did was say what my dads friend said, I never said that he was right and people on here weren't. I just thought I would mention what he said as he was a professional racer so I value his opinion and wondered what people views were on what he said.

I am aware of how to find my max heart rate, I just thought that because of the intensity of the training I was doing and how much I pushed myself I thought that would be my max. I will try again using one of the methods and see if I can get it higher.

ttcycle,

the only recovery day I have at the moment is on a Saturday when I don't do anything, not even an easy ride.


lukesdad,

because it's the first time I will have raced I plan on trying a few different things to see what I prefer so no specific targets really. Although I do like the sound of crits.

Oh and I didn't mention that i'm 26.

Thanks again for the replies, I know i've asked some similar things in various posts but I like to get as much info as i can and value different peoples opinions. It's just my nature to ask questions, I feel like I must annoy people on the club runs!