Winter training - what do you combine with time on the bike?

[mihaibu]

Roller, stretching, inline skating and swimming.

 

[veganrob]

Trail running. Especially now that I am back in Mi. Love it.

 

[richwagmn]

Snow here is so unreliable. Most years there aren't a lot of places to XC ski even though it's so friggen cold.

I ride my trainer and diet. That's about it.

 

[cawright1375]

The winter in New England can be finicky at times, and thus there can be long stretches of time where one is stuck indoors on the trainer due to storms or temperatures dipping below the point you'd want to be out; and by that I mean anything lower than 20F. I ease off on riding as the daylight hours during the week begin to dwindle and head into the gym to work my legs (3 days) and core/ upper body (2 days) and run 3x a week getting in around 10 miles total. The distance isn't as important to me as using the running to keep my cardio strong. I just purchased a 2011 Specialized Crux, which as I live on a town maintained dirt road will once again allow me to ride outside in the winter. My sanity will be kept in check and my S5 will stay attached to the trainer for usage on stormy days. I also found that the running keeps me motivated for riding and prevents burn out.

 

[bc_hills]

I used to go cross country skiing, a lot. Actually skied almost as much as cycled some years. I felt I was often fitter after the ski season than cycling it's such a taxing sport.

+1 on this. My experience exactly. Nothing is more demanding the skate skiing uphill. I'm sure that if someone did a study they'd find that xc skiing places the exact kind of loads on the legs and cardio system as cycling. Higher actually, with the upper body involved.

Don't elite xc skiers traditionally have the highest recorded VO2's?

 

[meat puppet]

Don't elite xc skiers traditionally have the highest recorded VO2's?

This is true and I obviously agree that skiing is very good training.

However, from my experience, a 4 minute VO2max interval hurts more on the bike than it does on the skis even though the oxygen consumption is probably higher while skiing. Yet the lactate build up is more intense on the bike, since basically only the legs and lower back muscles do the work and the lactate accumulates there. On the skis it is distributed more evenly.

On the other hand, my heart rates are generally higher while skiing. If I do 1hr (or 3x20min) threshold workouts on the skis, I expect to average 185bpm for the interval. I couldn't hold that for 5 minutes on the bike.

Two more skiing days left, 40 wonderful moderate intensity kms apiece.

 

[Boeing]

+1 on this. My experience exactly. Nothing is more demanding the skate skiing uphill. I'm sure that if someone did a study they'd find that xc skiing places the exact kind of loads on the legs and cardio system as cycling. Higher actually, with the upper body involved.

Don't elite xc skiers traditionally have the highest recorded VO2's?

except skating up hill on a snowboard

 

[bc_hills]

except skating up hill on a snowboard

So true! Skootching should be an Olympic event.