The Covid-19 confinement does not allow us to cycle outdoors anymore, now that spring has arrived…

It looks like the only way of maintaining/building our bike fitness is taking out the turbo trainer. Some cyclists may have very sophisticated smart trainers giving them the illusion of cycling Alpe d'Huez on their balcony or living room.

If you use a less sophisticated home trainer or are new to it, the challenge is not to get bored and throw it into a corner (or over the balcony) after two sessions.
We'll try helping you not to do this…:)

Here is a home trainer program you can use for the first week (7 to 10 days).

In our other training plan you needed to establish your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) as all further training sessions would be based on this figure. To do this you need a Power Meter. But what if you don't have such a Power Meter?
Well, in this case we'll put together something different. As long as your objective is not to ride as Chris Froom's domestic in next Tour de France, this should do for your spring balcony exercise. 
This program is based on cadence and feeling of the gears.

Before starting the training, get everything ready: the home trainer and your bike on it; have a bottle of water, wear your cycling gloves for comfort, have a towel as you may sweat, have a watch or your garmin or other bike computer. A stop watch is good to have as well. No need for your helmet though :)

Endurance: 40 minutes

• 10 min. warm up. Take an easy gear and turn the legs at a cadence of approx. 80 rpm. Not too easy, you need to feel some pressure under the pedals.
• First effort 5 min: heavier gear but keep the same 80 rpm cadence. Imagine you are on a long drag. Keep the pace steady, feel the legs start working. Pedal with the heal down rather than the toes down as you will use more muscles in your legs.
• Next 5 min. take a lighter gear but increase the cadence to approx. 95-100 rpm. This will increase your heart rate.
• Second effort 5 min: take a heavier gear again and cadence down to 80 rpm
• Next 5 min: take a lighter gear but increase the cadence to approx. 90 rpm. This will increase your heart rate.
• Finish with 10 min cool down, same cadence and rpm as for the warm up

Total time: 40 min
If you find it hard, decrease the efforts by 1 min or reduce slightly the rpm. If you find it a little too easy, increase the efforts by 1 min.

Recovery: 20 minutes.

Take an easy gear and turn the legs at a cadence of approx. 80 rpm. Not too easy, you need to feel some pressure under the pedals.

The Endurance can be done 3-4 times per week.

Workout example for one week or 10 days:

• Day 1: Endurance 40 min (for example, Sunday)
• Day 2: Recovery 20 min (for example, Monday)
• Day 3: Go for a walk
• Day 4: Endurance 40 min (for example, Wednesday)
• Day 5: Recovery 20 min (for example, Thursday)
• Day 6: Endurance 40 min (for example, Friday)
• Day 7: rest day
• etc.

I (Flora) tried the Endurance-40 minutes just before putting it on this page. I could feel the legs working with a certain intensity and it took somme effort to keep the rpm at 95-100. Don't hesitate to adapt to your form of the day by increasing or decreasing either the time, the gears you use or the rpm.
For next week I'll work out another little program...
Take care of yourself, keep the virus at good distance, and keep cycling..., should it be on the balcony...

Spring Home Trainer Program - Week 1

Want to see/use Flora's five weeks home trainer programs? Here are the links:

• week 1-Endurance
• week 2-Strength & Core
• week 3-Anaerobic exercises
• week 4-Endurance
• week 5-Strength & Core

Want to see/use Martin's home trainer programs based on power? Below are the links:

• week 1-Endurance Training
• week 2-Threshold Training
• week 3-Anaerobic VO2 Max
• week 4-Endurance Training
• week 5-High Intensity Intervals

Submitted: 1/4/2020