I’ve done quite a few 3,4 and 5 hour endurance rides on the trainer. My trick is to give myself little checkpoints to look forward to. Here is my recipe:
-Every 20 minutes, I will stand for about 15 pedal strokes. This gives my rear end a bit of a break and gives me a mini-checkpoint to look forward to
-Every 20 minutes, alternating from the standing breaks, I will do some simple arm stretches. These help fight off numbness and upper body fatigue, and it means my checkpoints are now every ten minutes (10 minutes, stand; 10 minutes, stretch; repeat)
-Every 10 minutes take a drink
-Every 30 minutes, eat something solid. This is a big one for me, I lvoe solid food so I just tell myself “get to the next 30 min, then you get a snack break”
-Cooling is very important and can help you go long
-Entertainment is also important- for these long rides, I really like full length movies that can hold my attention for awhile. I have found that I get bored with shorter stuff and don’t want to pick a new YOutube video every 15 min, so long movies work great
I’m not saying is the case but a lot of aches and pains can manifest from boredom and overthinking them as a result. The majority of times as said I’ll remove that boredom by doing the ride outdoors but thats not always possible with the weather and time constraints etc. Then I’ll often do them on a virtual road (RGT in my case Zwift would be similar) which at least has slight variance in resistance and a scenery. My other tact if a sport is on watch/listen to that or listen to a podcast (usually the TR one). I sometimes combine the RGT with the listening to sport/podcasts too.
This is a key point…not that you can’t do movies or TV shows, but that different strategies work for different people. You have to experiment to find out which works best for you.
For example, I can’t do timed events such as 'stand every 15 minutes" or “eat every 30 minutes” because then I am just focusing on “How long until I stand / eat / change cadence again” and it makes the ride interminable. For others, it is the key to getting through it.
There have been a ton of great suggestions in the thread…the OP now needs to experiment and find what will work for them.
Physical discomfort - good bibs and chamois cream, lots of fans, fresh towel on the bars and at least one fresh towel in easy reach.
Mental discomfort for me is mainly movies, sport and TV shows. Always been a bit of a TV addict, busy life and family means that trainer time is about the only time I get to just watch the things that nobody else in the family wants to watch and do so without being interrupted (much…). So if it’s 1-2 longer indoor endurance rides each week I’ll quite look forward to just sticking the trainer in erg mode and watching something.
Snacks also help motivate me, one advantage of being indoors is not being limited to what fits in a jersey pocket and isn’t going to be ruined by body heat/sweat, especially for z2 rides where you’re working at a low enough intensity to be able to digest most things. I try not to go total junk, but if there’s been a recent birthday, Christmas, Halloween, etc and there’s a bunch of sugary snacks in the house then all bets are off!
During covid last year we were in total lockdown and 100% indoor riding for a while and watching TV started to get pretty stale. Signed up to Zwift and started mixing in Zwift rides. Found erg mode on Zwift got pretty tedious fast, but free riding and trying to hold steady power was engaging enough to be fun. Ticking off different Zwift routes each time and chasing various challenges added to the motivation (can adjust trainer difficulty setting to smooth out the gradients and enable you to ride steady z2 power even on the hillier routes). Meeting up with friends (most of my regular riding mates were in the same situation) and having some social interaction also helped time fly by, just as long as the group resisted the temptation to start smashing it, or the ride settings kept you together even if somebody did smash it. Also found that Zwift provided enough visual stimulation to let me enjoy listening to podcasts or music, which I’ve always struggled with on TR - audio only isn’t enough, I need something more interesting to look at that isn’t a yellow line sloooooowly tracing a blue block…
Z1/Z2 long rides allow conversation so I use to catch up with family and friends. Podcasts work for me so I’ll use to catch up on global news, listen to an entire issue of the Economist (audio edition) or use the captive time to explore some subject I’m interested in and want to do a deep dive on.
TV/Movies don’t work for me, Zwift didn’t engage me at all, music works for hard stuff but not long easy… so comments about experimenting to see what works for u seem spot on.
You can run TR and zwift at the same time, you just need to give power control to TR and either connect one app with Ant+ and the other with Bluetooth or both with Ant+ (requires 2 Ant+ USB dongles.)
I wouldn’t do a race. I’d either free-ride in zwift and give power control to TR or join a group ride that is well behaved and would keep you in your z2 power zone and do that instead of the TR workout. Personally I like the Dirt, KISS, and BMTR group rides (not fundos) as they are generally well controlled. I’ve done the BMTR Century rides on Saturdays to get in 4hr z2 rides throughout last winter.
Might also be worth looking at Road Grand Tours and other apps to see what clicks with you.
Try getting off the bike for 30-60 seconds, every 15-30 minutes. In addition to standing up every 5 minutes or so. Last year I did a 3 hour ride and got off the bike every 30 minutes or so. It wasn’t easy. In the end I took majority of my training outside, which is not an option for everyone but works well for me.
Outside - I have a really good cafe 2hrs Z2 ride away, that helps to get a 4hr ride in.
On Zwift I enter the longer ZZRC, ZHR etc events/group rides which indicate roughly my desired w/KG and ride those without worrying about places. I find the group dynamic you get into and occasional banter helps.
As others have said, I think it gets a bit easier with time as you get used to it and figure out what strategies work best for you.
I kind of frame long trainer rides as an excuse to do some things I can’t often justify doing during the day- namely eating candy and watching too many movies I go out of my way to pick “fun” snacks that wouldn’t be practical during an interval session or outdoor ride, movies that my partner wouldn’t like…so there are at least elements I feel like I ‘get to’ do rather than having to do, if that makes sense.
You can also look outside the typical entertainment options like zwift, TV shows etc- things like learning a language or listening to an audiobook typically require more mental input than just taking in what’s happening on a screen which can pass the time faster. Also worth picking a couple of things in case you’re not in the mood for the first one.
I usually get off the bike briefly every 60-75 min and stand as needed for saddle comfort, and for whatever reason I’ve found that turning the rest of the lights off helps. If you’re a social person there’s loads of indoor options there too!
I do a fair bit of z2, 1.5 to 2.5 hr rides indoors. Got quite used to them over lockdown!
I know everyone is different, but here’s my two cents worth and what I do to overcome the “boredom”.
On a split screen, I watch a Bike The World video. There are heaps of them. I pick one that is the same length as the workout. Not interactive, but nice scenery to watch.
Every minute, on the minute, I change my cadence, up or down. I use a dumb trainer, so just shift gears to keep within the proscribed power range. This keeps me occupied and adds a little challenge to break the tedium.
I listen to the radio. Usually 1960s hits!
I remember the words of a coach from loooong ago……
“ Don’t think about how far you have to go. Think about how far you’ve already come.”
Good chat, and heaps of good tips in here. My limit is about 2hrs on a trainer. I have 2 bikes (one for the trainer) and even considered making it more ‘comfortable’ with raised bars etc - but that just defeats the purpose, and does not prepare me well for racing etc. One other thing I have discovered lately is fulgaz. Nate and the team may hate me mentioning this - but it is almost the perfect foil and partner for Trainerroad. They have a workouts section - but it is pretty basic. Therefore, they are not a direct competitor for TR, and are not trying to be something else. However, the ability to do 2,3,4 hour rides in France and Switzerland, with real 4k imagery etc is just brilliant. At the mo, I am on the medium load TR program for racing in Oct/Nov this year (States, Nationals etc), and I follow TR for my program. I do Tues and every second Thurs on TR, I do the alternate Thurs on Fulgaz (I am doing Col de Telegraphe tomorrow). I do the weekend rides outside, and sync to my wahoo…so workouts are replicated. Sorry for the long post - but interesting topic.
Apols if already suggested but a Rocker Plate was a game changer for me. 90 mins was enough before but have done a few 8hr shifts since.
Boredom wise the really long one are never structured TR workouts but group rides with “race radio” using Discord on Zwift or similar. Some good chat and banter works for me.
Here’s my easy ride from yesterday.
1064m of elevation gain over 91Km, so relatively flat by alpine stage standards.
80% (of time in zone) was in Z1/2 power and 85% below 80% of maxHR.
This was in a very busy part of town, on a public holiday, so lots of “weekend” traffic to consider.
I go out of my way to pick “fun” snacks that wouldn’t be practical during an interval session or outdoor ride, movies that my partner wouldn’t like…so there are at least elements I feel like I ‘get to’ do rather than having to do, if that makes sense.
