Outdoor to Indoor Time Conversion

wiredued said:

I've read some where on these forums that 12 hours per week of training is optimum. If all of the training is done indoors is it more like 7 or 8 hours? I start to get the RPE signal to end the ride on the FMRs at about 1 hr 25 minutes. It is the same feeling I get when outdoors after 2 hours.

my experience has been 1 hr on the trainer is less than 1 hour on the road. i do about 12 hrs a week on the trainer :o(

blkhotrod said:

my experience has been 1 hr on the trainer is less than 1 hour on the road. i do about 12 hrs a week on the trainer :o(

Interesting. How do you explain this? I must say that it goes against conventional wisdom. For me, an hour indoors is equivalent to around 1.5 outdoors because of the usual - stoplights, intersections (controlled and uncontrolled), unfocused coasting that doesn't occur on the trainer, unfocused lower intensity that doesn't occur on the trainer, better thermal cooling outdoors, mental focus on effort is less outdoors making time seem to go by faster, etc...

All one has to do is compare TSS scores for a similar PE 1hr rides outdoors vs. indoors. And that will give you the rough approximation of the ratio. It certainly is possible to ride outdoors with the same focus as indoors, but rarely happens.

tonyzackery said:

Interesting. How do you explain this? I must say that it goes against conventional wisdom. For me, an hour indoors is equivalent to around 1.5 outdoors because of the usual - stoplights, intersections (controlled and uncontrolled), unfocused coasting that doesn't occur on the trainer, unfocused lower intensity that doesn't occur on the trainer, better thermal cooling outdoors, mental focus on effort is less outdoors making time seem to go by faster, etc...

I think it depends on the 'trainer' that you're using. If you're sitting on a set of rollers with little resistance then it might be as he states, however if you're on a trainer with a load magnet/disk or a fan providing a wind load then I'd concur with you that training indoors is more effective.

I totally agree. Trainer sessions tend to be 99% focused (even with a movie on) whereas outdoors I'm ususally totally focused in the intervals but definitely less focused inbetween. For me it comes to a ratio of 1h trainer time being equal to 1:20-1:30 outdoors (PE being equal then). FWIW I'm using a magnetic load trainer.

I focus pretty well when riding outside. It's usually only disturbed when riding with others, which now days is not that often, mainly races.

I just got an email from active.com for this timely article

......and thanks again Alex for your timely blog entry concerning indoor and outdoor efforts. 🙂
Colder than normal in the southeast for Saturday morning so it looks like I will have to get my mind right for a long session or two on the trainer.

Thanks for the info I was almost late for work reading some of this stuff. Here's something from the always thought provoking RDO I found on page 108.

"Well, I'll speak for myself. No matter how hard I try, it's a real struggle for me to get more than 50% in L4-L7 on the road, whereas I regularly get 50-80% in L4-L7 on my trainer. Given that I am never actually targeting anything but L4-L7, this is a crucial measure of efficiency to me. IOW, the ratio of time spent doing the high-intensity efforts that are what the ride is all about divided by total ride time pretty well nets out the benefits/cost ratio of the ride. Even L5/L6 rides are in the vicinity of 50%. Sure, it's possible to use training time equally or almost as efficiently on the road, but I'm saying it's highly likely that trainer rides will be a lot more efficient than road rides. With all due respect, I think your rides are the exception and not the norm."