Duration on a bike trainer

Last year I hurt my hip and did almost no biking from November thru April while preparing for IMKY (my first IM).  I made up for it by putting in lots of hard hours riding during the summer and ended up with a good ride on race day in August.

This year I'm putting in about 3-4 hours/wk on the drainer, some weeks more, some less.  Longest ride is going to stay around 2 hrs until I get outside.  I'm following the advice of a lot of BT's resident coaches and trying to make those 3-4 hrs count by doing a lot of harder efforts.

That depends on your goals for the race!
If you live somewhere which makes trainer riding the only option right now then it can be hard but if you are just racing for completion you don't need to put a ton of time on the trainer right now as there is plenty of time for that come Spring onwards.
I'd suggest 2-3x a week for an hour at a time as a general, but again, consider your goals, consider your strengths and weaknesses and consider your motivation!

5 hours! That sounds brutal. Good job.

Kind of a tough question, do you mean per week or in one shot? I am training for an HIM, and while the temps are still cold all cycling time is indoors on trainers, rollers, or stationary. That time is dictated by my training plan.

Edited by merlin2375 2010-02-23 2:00 PM

I think the answer for you really depends on how much time you can tolerate on the trainer.  I really don't mind being on the trainer (I just watch a DVD or two...or three), but long trainer rides definitely aren't for everyone.  I live in Massachusetts and I'm not hitting the road with my new bike until the roads are cleared which probably won't be until early April.  I did my longest trainer ride last weekend, 3:15 and will mostly get up to 4 hours before I hit the road.  However, like I said, I don't mind the trainer.  If you have a hard time doing long rides on the trainer, don't do them because it will probably lead to a burn out.  Depending on when your event is, you may be fine without having to spend a bunch of time on the trainer.

As mentioned by others, when is your event and what are your goals?

Only time I have on the roads is weekends, during weekdays I am on the trainer - I have found if my trainer workout is over 1.5 hours best bet is to watch Jason Statham movies (or other action movies - i always have one on hand from netflix). Under 1.5 hours spinervals or carmichael dvds.  I have heard that the duration on the trainer can be about 75% to get the same benefit if you are hitting your hr zone targets (i don't know how valid that is, but after 4 or 5 hours on the trainer I will take it).

My full is in November but I'm doing a HIM in May. A couple weeks ago I did a 3.5 hour ride and I've done a number of 2 - 2.5 hour rides already. This weekend is a 4.5 hour ride and I'm hoping to get outside FINALLY!

I'm considering moving my sunday ride to saturday to take advantage of the nice(r) weather here in KS forecasted for Sat. That way, I won't have to do another 2 hr session on the trainer. Certainly not the 3-5 hr rides that were noted above, but still a drain on the ole body.

BTW, if anyone is interested in a 1.5 hr ride, Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgandy will get you almost all the way there. It's pretty good until the wife yells from upstairs to "stop quoting that f'ing movie"!!!

Kevin

To add to this question if I may...What do you find is comparable to your bike trainer time? ie: How realistic is the trainer for you, and what kind of set back do you expect on the road? If you can ride 25 mph for 1 hour on your trainer, what does that tell you that you'll be ready for on the road?

I'm sure you can correlate something but the two are different items and it's really difficult to mate one with the other. No wind, no red lights, no freewheeling, no traffic, no hills all make trainer/rollers not a direct comparison.

Just use it as a way to gain strength and speed without trying to compare the two. Just see what happens for you. Some people can compare the two, some cannot.

I'm training for HIM in June and have 25 hours so far this year .... I've been doing 1 or 2 rides during the week and then also building my long ride from about 90 minutes in January to over 3 hours now ... this week was 2X1 hours plus 3h:30 minutes this morning ... I am going to build my long ride up to 4h30 and would like a 5h30 finish at Eagleman.

I give myself 50 miles for 3 hours on the trainer ... that's about 16.7 MPH ... I know i go faster than that on the road but I'm mainly counting hours not miles right now....

Edited by jsselle 2010-02-27 2:55 PM

Trainer pace is not accurate often. It depends on a number of factors including tension and tire pressure.

I train with power so power is power so for me it doesn't matter. I do some intervals that I know on road probably I'd be going 21-22 mph and my power meter says I go 14 mph. I don't really care as I ride by watts not mph.

I see folks in reading blogs that their speed on trainer is way to high compared to the road and others that it is the opposite. 

So true Kathy. My trainer speed tends to be slower than my actual road/race pace but often with similar /HR/cardio/watt output. It's the nature of the beast.

As for the OP. I think the longest I spent on a trainer getting ready for IM was 3 hours. For IMAZ my training schedule had a weekly trainer ride with transition run. I probably spent 1-3 hours per week on a trainer depending on what was scheduled. Keep in mind that I live in Southern California and we can ride year round here so I probably put in less trainer time than those in the colder parts of the county.