TD Training Entry #3: The Rainy Day Workout

Houston weather has been horrible lately, with non stop rain and flash floods ruining my already sparse riding opportunities.   The trails are mud soup, and with the sun only occasionally peeking coyly through the clouds before vanishing again for days, they will most likely remain that way for a while. 

The wife and I snuck in a 10 mile ride through the slush yesterday, but mainly all I’ve really been able to do this week is to train in the gym.  I’ve found that nothing beats real time in the saddle, but being a gym rat most of my life, I have been able to easily evolve my indoor routine so that it directly advances my progress on the bike. 

I expect to have to use an indoor training routine quite a bit.  Not only because of inclement weather, but also because of real life responsibilities tying up my time.   Putting tons of miles behind you eats up real life hours that I just don’t always have to spare.  Oh how I envy you young whipper snappers with no wives and no kids, with your part time jobs at the bike shop and all the time in the world to race your bike all over the joint on your brand new legs!    Back in my day, there weren’t no such thing as your blasted 29 inch wheels!  If we wanted to ride the trails, we all had to take turns being the horse!  Hippies!

So as I was saying, for these types of weeks, I’ve currently settled into the following “Can’t Get On The Bike” routine for the endurance racer-wannabe on the go:

Sunday
Quads, hamstrings, calves – heavy weights, low reps
Rationale – see my previous post about quads; these leg workouts have vastly increased my saddle performance

Monday
Obliques, lower back, abs  – hardcore!
Rationale – I’ve ignored my core too long, and it is vital for endurance riding

Tuesday
Spinning – alternate low-high-max resistance one full hour
Rationale – jamming  this sucker up to full resistance and pedaling through it is a quad burning, lung searing exercise that just may be a flatlander’s best bet for simulating wicked climbs on the GDMBR route.  My appetite is voracious after this one!

Wednesday
Chest, triceps, biceps – moderate weight, high reps
Rationale – I’m not looking to build mass here, just to stay strong; If anything I hope to lose upper body mass, though I just seem to be hard-wired to retain it.

Thursday
Spinning – alternate low-high-max resistance one full hour
Rationale – see Tuesday

Friday
Back, shoulders, traps – moderate weight, high reps
Rationale – see Wednesday

Saturday
Party

I have no idea what a cycling coach would say about this workout, and I’m not going to claim definitively that the same routine would work for you.  I just know that when I can’t actually get on my bike, this gets the job done for me. 

And now I’m off…tomorrow, weather permitting, I’m headed down to West End Cycles to rent a Gary Fisher 29er for the weekend.  This will be my first time to ride one of these babies…time to find out if a 29er will be my bike of choice for the TD!

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