COVID19. . . Global Pandemic. . . Quarantine. . .Stay-At-Home Orders. . .Stay-Healthy. . . Keep Moving. . .Toilet Paper. . . it’s no secret that the world is a strange place right now. With gyms being closed and Stay-at-Home orders being put in place nationwide, many of us are being forced to make significant changes to our workout routines, including adapting to spending so much time inside. While I can list handful of people I know who will willingly spend countless hours on their trainers, most of us are not that person. We chose this sport, triathlon, because we like being outside and we like the freedom of breaking up the single-sport monotony by mixing in a variety of workout types. With so much uncertainty and race calendars blank, it may be difficult to stay motivated and focused. I wanted to share a few tips that will help you reset and get your head back in the game.

1. Find Your Why

Having purpose can help you tap into your energy reserves, like a big goal that keeps you motivated. Often-times falling into a routine training can cause us to lose sight of that purpose. When things go haywire, and you don’t know your why, you can feel like you lack purpose and it’s difficult to tap into that reserve that keeps you going. So ask yourself, why do you work out? Why do you eat healthy? Why is this lifestyle important to you?

2. Set Short-Term Training Goals

If I asked you what your goals are, would you be able to tell me something that isn’t competition-related? This is important when thinking about long term motivation and staying with it when you don’t have any races on the calendar. Set weekly training goals to help you stay motivated each week. This will make it easier to get yourself on the trainer when all you want to do is be outside.

3. Split Long Sessions into Two

As warmer weather nears, our long rides are starting to ramp up. Personally, I am not one who is able to do ridiculous long rides on the trainer; my limit is usually about 2 hours. If you still have long weekend rides on your schedule, try splitting them into two session to make them seem less daunting.

4. Use Intervals to Break Up the Time

Adding intervals to your trainer rides can help break up the time. However, I wouldn’t recommend doing hard intervals more than 1/3 of the time (if you are riding 6x a week, no more than 2 of your rides should have hard intervals). The trainer is a great time to work on low cadence work and drills (like single leg drills).

SAMPLE WORKOUTS

Sample 1 – Sprints
15 minute warm up
5 x 1 minute build to hard on 1 minute easy
2 sets of 4×40 seconds all out (20 second recoveries) with 5 minutes between each set. Keep a high rpm.
Finish the ride zone 2 effort

Sample 2 – Low Cadence
15′ warm up
4 x 1′ build to hard on 1′ easy

3x through:
4′ at Z3 60 RPM
2′ at Z4 80 RPM
2′ easy

easy Z1/2 for the remainder

5. Find a Good Youtube Channel

Find a few athletes who post regularly on youtube and follow them. Watching their videos while riding the trainer is a great distraction and way to pass the time. This is also a great way to keep you motivated by seeing other athletes and also a great opportunity to maybe learn a few new things. In addition, you are supporting other athletes! It’s a win for both of you.