My frienemy the trainer

A trainer truly is a great tool. Some might say you can get a better workout on a trainer than you can on the road because you can be consistent and not worry about constantly stopping to not get hit by cars. Trainers are awesome because you can train in the comfort of your home when it’s dark or cold or raining or your coach gave you power numbers and you don’t have a power meter yet. Luckily that last one won’t be the case anymore because Christmas came early!

 

However, trainers can really suck! I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I’m always sweating buckets despite being shirtless, having the fan on and having my house in the low 60s (because I’m cheap about stupid things but have no problem buying a power meter). Maybe it’s the fact that as fast as I pedal I’m going nowhere and still stuck looking at my same surroundings and the lack of visual stimuli makes it worse. It’s probably some part that there is zero coasting. Whatever it is, the trainer simply feels harder than riding outdoors.

In the beginning there was nothing but hate towards the trainer. Over time and many, many hours on it I grew to be ok with it. Not loving it, just ok. The feeling that it was still harder than the road continued to stay there. I was convinced that the speed numbers were WAY off because my average speeds were 1-2mph slower than what I’d average on the road. However there was one piece in information I choose to ignore when thinking all this. My heartrate. Despite feeling like I was putting a decent effort in my HR would always seem low.

While on the trainer today (or several days ago because I forgot to post this) I was doing intervals that involved a certain cadence but no power range, just “strong”. The difference between two gears was about 30W which is a decent jump. I spend the first set going back and forth and settling on the easier gear. After that I decided I’d do the harder gear and if in a later interval I had to go easier, I could. But then I started getting pissed off at myself for even thinking that. I don't HAVE to do anything and the harder gear really wasn't THAT hard and the point of all this training isn't to just coast along so that on race day I don’t have the race I want. 

I'm sick of telling myself that the trainer is more difficult than the road and that those speeds can't be accurate because I go faster on the road because it’s all bullshit. Trainer, road, same thing, same effort. I just choose to go easier on the trainer because I’ve convinced myself it’s harder and I can look at my low HR as proof. Yes it sucks putting the effort I should be on trainer compared to the road but it-is-the-same-effort. I repeat THE SAME! It’s only in my head that I think it’s harder and I’m sick of my head getting in the way. I need to force myself to put in the real work otherwise I'll never improve especially being trapped inside on the trainer so much during these months. I'm sick of feeling like I'm holding myself back on the trainer. So in all my annoyance and talking angrily to myself (in my head, not out loud), I choose to stay in the harder gear each time. And because I was still annoyed at myself I even picked it up a tiny bit for the last few sets. That’s the type of energy and intention I need to bring to every single training session on the bike… just maybe in less angry way. No more coasting… or playing with Nikita during recovery.