Supplement your outside training with once a week TR workout for building my hill climbing ability

Training
1

I am currently riding outside at least 3 times a week, but want to use the trainer once a week for improving my hill climbing - best one off workouts for once a week?

I will do a training plan in the winter when the weather is not so good but right now want to be outside on the bike as much as possible so just want something once a week to help build my endurance and power on hills.

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2

What’s the length and grade of the hills you’re targeting?

3

All sorts really just wanting to be better at hills generally, be Tha long and steady or steep and shorter but I struggle generally with keeping power going towards top of hills and to keep going once I have got over the brow of hills.

4

Climbing highlights different energy systems depending on the characteristics of the hill. A thirty-minute climb at 5% needs different preparation than three minutes at 15%. Your goals also make a difference: Are you trying to go up one hill as fast as you can, or go up lots of hills without fading?

Some things that will help climbing, generally:

  • Anything that pushes your aerobic capacity is going to help you climb. If you’re not doing high intensity intervals during your outside rides already, you could add those inside.
  • Pacing is critical. The easiest and most common way to kill yourself on a climb is to go out too hard at the beginning. Start slow, slower than seems reasonable, and you’ll have a better chance of preserving your energy for the end when you’re tired.
  • Get comfortable riding at a lower cadence than normal. There are a few workouts in the catalog that focus on low-cadence work (Carson comes to mind), so if that’s not something you’ve worked on before, it could be worth investigating with your inside rides.
  • If you’ve got the budget, consider lower gearing. If you’re doing a lot a climbing it might not make sense to run 54/39 and 11-28.
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Thanks I am just wanting to improve my hill climbing generally not just one hill. I will try your suggestions.

G

6

Sounds like you are basically wanting to improve general fitness if not looking at a specific duration.

I would look for something to complement your outside training. If you are already doing a bunch of Sweet spot or threshold work and have a decent base, adding a vo2 max session should give you a nice bump. If you are just riding around without any structure, adding threshold or sweet spot sessions should give you a lot of bang for the buck.

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