The Next Best Thing: Indoor Training

By Raymond Britt
Published in Chicago’s Windy City Sports magazine, March 2007

All those who have trained outdoors in snow, in sleet, in sub-zero windchill temperatures, in downpours, and/or other simply terrible weather conditions, raise your hands.

Undoubtedly most of you out there have subjected yourself to some of all of the above conditions. Me, too. The usual reasons: can’t afford to miss a workout, and training indoors can seem just awful. But go ahead, admit it: you hate training indoors. I used to feel that way, too. Not anymore. Here’s why.

So far, nearly all my 2007 training to build this early foundation has been indoors. I have learned to love the treadmill, stationary cycling setup, and even an out-of-water swimming machine. Sound dreadful? Not as much as you think. Here’s one way you can get more out of your indoor training, and even have some fun doing it.

The Real Deal

The best way to illustrate what you can accomplish indoors is by using my actual training data and experience. You can also see all the data described below on the my 2007 training log.

As of early February, here’s my actual training overview:
• Averaging 6+ hours per week training
• The average has been based on a rough 4-week build cycle (periodization) of 4, 6, 7 and 8 hours per week, respectively
• The mix has been 70% running, 17% cycling, and 13% swimming, but cycling and swimming will gain in the mix in coming weeks, per plan
• Average distances per week: 27 miles running, 19 miles cycling, 1.4 mile swimming; again, cycling and swimming will grow

To give you examples of how to mix things up indoors, here’s how I’ve been training.

Run

As recently as last December, running 30 minutes on the treadmill felt exhausting. That’s because I was just putting the time in. And the time never passed fast enough.

I had to change the game. Mix up the treadmill training. And here’s what I came up with — three different workouts in a week:
1. Long run: On your long run, speed is a secondary consideration. Instead, your goal is to adjust speed to complete it comfortably. I started the year with a long run of 60 minutes, and have gradually lengthened it to 2 hours 23 minutes. Inconceivable weeks ago; with the new approach, not bad.
2. Hill run: Most treadmills have hill programs. Find a program you like, and as the weeks go by, vary the distance you cover and/or speed on that same course. I’ve moved from 45 minute hill sessions to as long as 99 minutes on the same ‘course’. That builds a new degree of strength.
3. Interval runs: Standard stuff on the treadmill, shorter runs with fast bursts followed by rest intervals. I’ve been experimenting with base mph at 7.0 to 7.5, and have been increasing the interval speeds to 8.0 to 9.0 mph. The point is not the speed, but the increase in speed, time at that speed, and corresponding heart rate.

Cycling

I’ve been doing indoor cycling for years using my regular bike mounted on a CompuTrainer system. Plugged into my PC, the CompuTrainer allows me to ‘ride’ a variety of programmed triathlon and cycling courses. I’ve made things harder – which should translate to gains later – by adding PowerCranks, which force legs to pedal independently. Hard, but worth it during racing season.

Some cycling examples:
• In the first weeks of 2007, I was ‘riding’ New York’s Central Park loop of 6.1 miles. First time through, two laps in about 39 minutes. I have gradually been adding distance, most recently riding 4 laps in 80 minutes.
• I’ve now added the Ironman Wisconsin course – which I have ridden live several times — into the mix, recently riding the first 25 miles of that course. I’ll be riding longer in coming weeks.

How long can you ride indoors? In 2001 I rode the entire 112-mile Ironman New Zealand course indoors as preparation for the real event. Hard? You bet. Doable? Sure, if necessary. When I got to the actual course, I knew how it would feel.

Swimming

For most people the indoor swimming solution is simple: the pool. Or . . . My newest addition to the indoor training arsenal is not a pool, but the Vasa Ergometer, a land-based swim-trainer that calculates speed, power, distance. My swims on the VE have ranged from 30 minutes to 93, and now I need to focus on more power and distance.

The Indoor Triathlon

To see how it all comes together, feel free to follow my training live on my Training Logs tab for more examples of indoor workouts. Soon, I’ll be at the point where I’ll try an indoor Olympic Distance Triathlon. Anyone want to race indoors?