Indoor Training

I LOVE INDOOR TRAINING! This may sound foreign to many triathletes, cyclists, or runners, but there are some inherent benefits to training inside. The first benefit is that it gets you out of bad weather. More importantly, indoor training allows you to control your intensity precisely, which is not always possible outdoors. On mornings like this morning when I woke to the sound of pouring rain, I actually got excited about logging 14 miles on the treadmill in our neighborhood workout center. One nice side effect, was that I was able to watch CNN for close to 2 hours and catch up on world events. The other effect was that I was able to set my pace on the treadmill and adjust it accordingly as the miles went by. While, I normally look to average between 7:30 and 8 minute pace for my long runs, you can set a treadmill to almost any pace you want and then you can get in a rhythm and get used to what that pace feels like. It is a great way to train your legs on how a certain pace feels so you can recreate it on the road. I suggest interval workouts on the treadmill as well for the same reason. I also relish every opportunity I have to hop on my bike on my Kinetic trainer and hammer out sprints, intervals, TT sessions, or just long aerobic rides. Once again, you can control your effort so precisely that I find myself benefiting from these indoor workouts when I do get back on the road in the early spring. The key to indoor workouts is focus. You have to pick something to focus on and maintain that focus so your mind and intensity does not wander. There are some great indoor programs out there. My favorites are the Downward Spiral and Fight Club from thesufferfest.com and any Spinerval workout from Coach Troy Jacobson. The bottom line is that indoor training is a great way to improve your fitness level and can also be fun at the same time!!!