Todays Turbo Training Workout
Don’t worry, I don’t intend to post these everyday as I’m sure you’ll get bored of them soon – if not already. However, I’m enjpying doing them and I like the heart rate graphs I produce in a strange, ‘heart-rate artwork’ kind of way. Of course, if you enjoy these posts or are trying to do the same workouts yourself then post a comment and let me know and I’ll keep them coming.
Todays workout was a little longer at an hour with some hard intervals in the middle. I did an extended warm up:
- 5 mins @ 120 Watts
- 5 mins @ 180 Watts
- 5 mins @ 240 Watts
- 5 mins @ 120 Watts
Then started the intervals where I did:
- 7 x 45 secs @ 400 Watts followed by 3:15 @ 100 Watts
I had intended to do 1 minute at the high power output and 4 mins easy, but couldn’t quite last for a minute at 400 Watts. My legs just died at around 45 seconds each time so I adjusted both the length of the hard effort and the rest effort. As you can image, it was pretty tough, but I have something to aim for with these.
I then extended the workout to an hour with:
- 8 mins @ 200 Watts
- 4 mins @ 120 Watts
Here’s the heart rate output which shows that I was at least trying!
Looks good Al. What do you use to get the Heart rate graphs? Does your turbo trainer record this? Is it connected to a PC?
Keep them coming, I like seeing what training you’ve been up to and I might even be motivated to do some myself one day.
Mark
Hi Mark,
My Turbo Trainer doesn’t connect to a PC. The Tacx iMagic Turbo Trainer which is the next one up from mine can, and it offers ‘Virtual Reality’ training too.
I can get an upgrade for mine which will convert it into this.
However it only connects to a PC, not a Mac so if I was to get this I would have to buy a laptop to connect it to as well! It does look pretty good though and allows you to simulate stages of the Tour de France etc. Info here: http://www.tacx.com/producten/ergotrainers/cosmos/Upgrade%20pc.dot
I simply use my Garmin Forerunner which I wear whilst on the turbo trainer. It records my heart rate and I then use a Mac application called Ascent to record graph the data for me. A full review of the software I use can be seen here: https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2008/mac-training-software-review/
Uh oh… You’ve got me looking now. The VR software even lets you race against friends over the internet or “copy rides you have done outside in the comfort of your home thanks to Google Earth”.
Alternatively you could just go outside into the real world and do a ride, but it is pretty clever and it would be good to race against friends!
http://www.tacxvr.com/en/products/software
Al.
Here’s my review of the Turbo Trainer that I have: https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2009/tacx-flow-turbo-trainer-review/
Gave it another go today for the full minute at 400 Watts and managed all 7 reps:
https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2009/burning-off-the-excess/
Al.
Interesting workout. It looks like you might be lacking power so I recommend you have a look at Turbo Trainer Indoor Cycling Workouts To Generate More Power which should hopefully help you improve your performance on the bike