My coach Jenny is unfortunately a big fan of turbo sessions. Turbo sessions take away everything I love about cycling - the open air, the countryside, discovering new routes, riding with a group, the thrill of descents, cake at a cafe...the list is endless. When I first started working with Jenny my heart would sink as she spelt out my next phase of training - I searched for the 1 hour pootle on your bike - 14mph, HR ~ 130bpm. It was never there! Instead, blocks of 10 minutes hard on the turbo. She'd give me this look, as if to say, "Training isn't meant to be fun!" I would try and cleverly substitute sessions. Surely 3 laps on Olbury Hill on my mountain bike will produce the same training effect? I kidded myself for a while...
Jenny invited me up to do a couple of 10 mile time trials on her ergotrainer, which also measured power. I hated every moment. I overheated, sweat everywhere, wanting to scream. Surely something was wrong, the distance was hardly moving? But I'd been following her training programme (well sort of - tweaking it here and there to make it more enjoyable). Afterwards I was really disappointed, something needed to change. I needed to get my head around turbo training. At the same time my husband was reading Chris Boardman's book and it was interesting that Chris admitted to not really enjoying training - it was the winning that drove him. I decided that if I wanted to be good, then I needed to learn to love this sessions. To take satisfaction from the fact that very few other people would be doing the same.
I think I'm finally there. I've come to learn that there are positive to turbo sessions. The effect on performance is undeniable, no rubbish car drivers to contend with, so what if it's cold - I won't be getting chilblains. These sessions can also be done at night when the little one(s) are tucked up in bed. Although, once I did a turbo with Jamie sat in his high chair with his table loaded up with milk bottles, dummies and toys!
Several things help:
Enjoy!
Author: Claire Hitchings