I am new to training indoors and it feels 1.5x harder in every way than outside. I just feel the need to take breaks. Maybe more mental than anything because my setup is pretty comfy.
So in a 2 hour session I hop off 3 times for like 3 minutes (I time it every ~40 min). Just quick stretch and pace a little then right back on and resume.
What adaptation am I missing out on? It makes the workout so much more bearable…but I can work towards grinding through if it’s a big deal.
Tyty
You’re not. Just avoid doing it during a ‘work interval’ as much of the benefit is that sustained work. But for endurance rides or rest intervals you’re not missing out on anything. And if it lets you ride an extra 30-60 minutes or more then that’s some real gains you’re getting.
Depends on the workout.
If it’s an endurance ride it doesn’t much matter. If you’re like me you’ll add extra time on the end of the workout to account for the breaks.
If it’s, say, threshold or sweetspot take your off-bike breaks during the recovery intervals, rather than breaking up the work intervals.
It depends in the rest interval, >5 mins, it’s okay for longer toilet breaks, refilling bottles etc >1 < 3 mins it depends but better not, except for picking up something that fell or small fan adjustment, =<1 mins no breaks
Some TR workouts come (came) with instructions during the workout which said you could take breaks
I agree with the others that you are not missing out on adaptations by taking breaks but I just want to add that it will get easier. I’d be willing to bet that your average power (not normalized) is now way higher than it was on your outdoor rides and this is one of the factors that makes indoor training feel harder at first. Also if you are sweating significantly you need more fans
I do add extra time for my OCD more than anything 
so like today my 2 hour ride was more like 2:11
yeah totally the average is higher…I just looked and I am within 1-3% of normalized power…where outdoors i’m ~10-12% different. never looked at that…makes sense.
If you think about most outdoor rides, you’ll realize breaks are pretty common. For everyone. Pro’s do this all the time. Get off to use the restroom, cafe stops etc. Especially endurance rides. If you’re riding a TT then yeah probably need to power through, but otherwise do whatever allows you to complete the work.
HOWEVER, If you’re jumping off in the middle of a threshold interval, it’s no longer an interval, it’s two shorter intervals (depending on how long the break is). Jumping off in the middle of a VO2 interval defeats the purpose of the interval.
I usually take a mid-ride break on 3+ hour trainer sessions. Because it’s mentally draining riding inside for so long and it’s convenient to break for lunch. I don’t believe there’s any literature to suggest this is detrimental, however if there is, I’ll take the motivation boost of taking a break over any marginal stimulus. Just my .02
Maybe during those short breaks do some planks, pushups or burpees. Breaks up the monotony of the trainer, and provides a different kind of work
A useful trick that works for me is to take standing “breaks” every 10 minutes. I switch to resistance mode and stand in the pedals. I set the resistance to allow me to pedal slowly (like 30 rpm) and get in a good back stretch. This really breaks up my ride and I look forward to these “breaks” and it also keeps things “down there” comfy. I stand alot when riding outdoors also so it don’t think it is impairing anything and I asked the super friendly TR staff and they looked at my workout history and agreed it was fine. I used to do these every 5 minutes for 30 sec but now I do them ever 10 minutes for 30-60 sec.
As other athletes here have said, taking breaks while training indoors is totally fine – especially if it makes your workouts better overall!
We’d recommend timing your breaks appropriately, though – ideally, during recovery valleys between your harder intervals.
During endurance rides where there aren’t those valleys, feel free to take a quick rest anyway. Stretching and feeling better during your workout is far more important than suffering through it if it causes you too much pain/discomfort.
If you are timing the breaks, then that feels like they are bordering on mental need, not physical. Try not timing the breaks, and take a wuick one if you need to. Ideally you would build up to to being able to do a 3 hour endurance ride without an off the bike break.
For breaks on the bike I stand or sit up. Or if I need to stretch I will do 5 seconds per side on the bike, and then get back to work.
I just did a 3 hour endurance ride this past Sunday- have food / drinks / kleenex (if you have allergies like me) at the ready
Two hours on the trainer? God lord.
Even longer is possible with the right setup, motivation (distraction at times) and progression to build up to it.
I still remember the dread of my first 3-hour ride in TR (2016). Now I do one nearly every Sunday and look forward to it. Funny what we can get used to doing.
Contrary to what it may seem, the rest period between interval sets doesn’t have to be set in stone. If your rest is timed for 5 minutes on the app, but you take 10, you aren’t losing anything. Just as noted, don’t take a break DURING your workout intervals.
I get where people are coming from, and 90% of the time I agree that it doesn’t matter, but there are definitely times when I feel it DOES matter depending on your goals. As an example, let’s say you’re working to build time at VO2, and you have a workout that’s 5x5 minutes at VO2 with 3 minute rests. If you take a 5 minute off the bike break after the first 3 intervals, aren’t you impacting your ability to properly complete the last 2 intervals?
Another example, you have a workout that’s 3x15 minutes at Threshold, with the goal being to increase time you can sit at threshold, and the intended break is 5 minutes between intervals. Aren’t you somewhat defeating the purpose of the workout if you take a 10 minute break instead of 5?
As many have pointed out, it depends. If you are doing a workout that is clearly structured for incomplete rest between efforts, 30/30s, 2 min on, 1 min rest, etc. - then I would wait until after the set for a break.
By the time you get to 5 minute rest periods - the difference in adding to your rest period is going to be very small. And lets say you are doing 5x5 minutes and you were really struggling, but an extra 5 minutes means you can get that last set versus failing, I would argue that it may be better to add in extra rest time.
I agree, but I also think you’ve then changed the intent of the workout. I’m not saying I’ve never done it, just that I think the “it doesn’t really matter” advice is off in this specific instance.
In the grand scheme I think it doesn’t matter. Did you do the work or not?
Is an extra 4 minutes of rest going to make the difference? My guess is no. Empirical cycling even talked about workouts where they just prescribed time at threshold. Didn’t really matter how you broke it up, or how much rest between.
There are so many variables - even from the prescribed workout - should you do 95% of threshold or 96%? - that worrying too much about the rest interval feels to me like it is leading down the path of a belief in the magical or perfect workout.
It may be fun to banter about on the internet, but it really isn’t something to worry about.
Don’t agree when it comes to workouts that have a specific intent, but will leave it at what I’ve already said. 
I think there’s two schools of thought for rest intervals. Some coaches I’ve heard saying that they like to decrease the rest intervals on certain workouts as progression.
Then I hear from other coaches that it doesn’t really matter. For example, if you’re doing vo2, intent of the work out is max effort. So if you need a little extra rest to go max then it’s okay. Honestly that’s what I do outside and indoors I won’t because I’m usually time crunched.
I personally take breaks on indoor rides or stand and pedal up to get some different movement.
For hard workouts it depends if I take extra breaks or not. I could be more fatigued because I had 15,000 steps the day before or didn’t sleep well but I always try to get the work done. So far it’s been working for me.