Triathlon Training: Week 1 Saturday Ride on Trainer

This morning I loaded up my trainer and bike and headed to my school to do a bike workout with Chad. He has the dvd Spinervals Competition 1.0 - No Slackers Allowed. This was my first time on my bike since it has been tuned and fitted. It was also my first time riding my bike with my trainer. I had a lot to learn.

Early on I became very frustrated because my Garmin watch was not working with my cadence sensor. I have to have all my data. Don't ask me why, but I feel like a workout was useless if my Garmin does not collect the data. I could not get things going with my watch so I don't know speed, calories, heart rate, etc.

I was able to push that aside and focus on the workout. It was a good workout. I sweated profusely and I loved this workout. The time flew by and I fell in love with following a program.

Here is a breakdown of the Spinerval workout we completed. Needless to say I had a pool of sweat on the floor when we finished.

Length: 44 minutes
Difficulty Rating: 9.0
Type: Interval

The format is as follows:
~ 8 minute Warm-up including standard Spinervals warm-up of 3x30 sec in BR/15
~ 5 minute Tempo effort: Cadence always around 80, start in BR/18, end in BR/12, going down every minute.
~ 1 minute easy spin
~ 5 minutes Hard/Easy efforts in BR/15 switching every10 seconds
~ 1 minute easy spin
~ 6x30 seconds Super Spin in SR/15 (cadence above 120) with 20 seconds rest
~ 1 minute easy spin
~ 5 minute Race simulation (5 minutes 5K time trial all hard work with no rest, switching gears randomly throughout with some standing)
~ 1 minute easy spin
~ 5 Super Spin/Sprint intervals: 20 seconds (cadence >120, SR/15), 10 seconds to switch to BR/12, 10 seconds sprint seated, 5 seconds standing 15 seconds rest.
~ 6 minute cooldown

I know we pedaled for about 5 minutes or so after the cooldown to finish up with 15 miles on the bike. This was according to Chad who had his Garmin working. I will base my workout on this. 15 miles in about 50 minutes.

We finished up and headed to Starbucks for a coffee. It was a nice workout and perfect way to start the weekend.

I learned a bunch about my bike in terms of shifting gears, knowing my gears and shifting properly. It was a good learning moment for myself as well.

I also learned that I really need pedals and shoes. It was very hard to stay stable when pedaling full octane with running shoes.

My first week of training is pretty much wrapped up and I have to say I am quite happy with everything.

Here is my setup at home for when I do use my trainer at home. I have purchased the Cycleop Mag+

My new trainer CycleOps Mag +

I need a riser for the front tire to balance the bike out. Boy, that seat sure is high!!

This is the office in the basement where I will cycle away this winter.