Can't get much biking in

[Jonny D]

Hi Guys,

I'm currently a student, I really into swimming (been a club swimmer since I was 8) and Ive done a
fair bit of running too. I've been really keen to get into triathlon but there arent the facilities
available at my college to store my bike safely. What are your thoughts on the best cross training
methods for triathlon cycling. I currently just increase my running and swimming but this is
obvoiusly not ideal when I am away for over 8 weeks at a time.

I'm also into rowing a fair bit, what are you're thoughts on the spinning sessions which many gyms
run these days.

Cheers J

 

[Rookie]

[email protected] (Jonny D) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Hi Guys,
>
> I'm currently a student, I really into swimming (been a club swimmer since I was 8) and Ive done a
> fair bit of running too. I've been really keen to get into triathlon but there arent the
> facilities available at my college to store my bike safely. What are your thoughts on the best
> cross training methods for triathlon cycling. I currently just increase my running and swimming
> but this is obvoiusly not ideal when I am away for over 8 weeks at a time.
>
> I'm also into rowing a fair bit, what are you're thoughts on the spinning sessions which many gyms
> run these days.
>
> Cheers J

Not an expert view as I have only done 2 triathlons, but did get reasonable bike times I think (1:09
on Olympic course? seemed ok to
me). I come from a rowing background and still do quite a lot of training on the ergo because I
enjoy it. Of the 3 sports I found that my rowing fitness transferred on to the bike the best, I
guess because it is a very similar leg movement. My main problem with the cycling was the fact
that I am a bit of a masher - tend to cycle in hard gears with low cadence. I think this comes
from the rowing background where the leg drive is powerful but quite slow, so you may find you
have the same problem. In an effort to correct this I have done a few spinning sessions at my
gym, as well as trying to ride at a higher cadence on my bike. I can't normally ride out on the
roads except at weekends, so do the majority of my cycling in the gym and it doesn't seem to have
suffered too much. I would definitely suggest that you need to do some training on a real bike
(particularly the long rides - depends on what race length you are trying to enter but cycling
over an hour in the gym would get pretty dull, plus you can't really train technique or hill
riding indoors), but if you really can't get out then substituting spinning classes and keeping
up your rowing training should help. If you do train on a rowing ergo, make sure you keep the
resistance light (i.e. 2-3 on a Concept) and the rating quite high (at least 25) as this will
simulate the resistance and leg speed of cycling better and help avoid the 'mashing' problem.