If You Only Had 30-40 Minutes...

[lechatnoir]

You aren't going to want to hear this but. IMO if you are working on fitness less than 3 times a week you aren't working on fitness. You might be holding station but you aren't getting better.

 

You can EASILY **** yourself up in 30 minutes. Get a Heart Rate monitor and work intervals. There's loads of info and workouts on the internets if you want them. A wahoo Tickr syncs with a phone so no need for an expensive head unit.

 

My HRM has opened my eyes. I've been doing NOTHING for 20 years thinking I'm working hard coz I'm sweating. This morning I was in a spinning class and the instructor didn't show. So I did my own intervals using my HRM. Standing hard efforts and 110+ cadence efforts for an hour. If you know your HR zones you will know exactly how long and how hard you can go.

 

I'm going with Duane on this one... I've been doing the Elevate/Stravastix thing for a while now, and last year, I had scope to do a fair bit of longer endurance rides mixed in with shorter, harder efforts indoors and outdoors, and fitness was up there and the numbers show that. This year, I've been in personal transition and have had less time to do the same amount of work and now 2 45-60min indoor efforts and a 3hr weekend ride leave my numbers flat week after week.

 

Sometimes I look at it and feel like I've let myself down, but then the personal transition has had numerous upsides so not all terrible...

 

That said, a 45min session with say 12x hard sprints will get my numbers rising, but won't do much for endurance, but will make a 45min beast in the gym - not so great for this longer coffee rides.

[Vetplant]

Were you towing said chariot 2 weekends ago in the Cradle?

 

Nope, Cradle is quite a mission to get to from the Moot in Pretoria. Just do some suburb cruising when the little one is towed. Even the flats feel like hills when pulling her chariot.

[Stretch]

Fitness... Running hill repeats for 30 min (10 x 90s) with 5 min warm up and 5 min cool down

[shaper]

Tabata training/workouts?

[eccc whippet]

Wake up an hour earlier...everyday.

[RobertWhitehead]

Wait wait wait. If you say that you only have 30 min a day to train then just about nothing outside will add any value unless you stay at base camp on Everest  . By the time you get out the house and to the destination you'll be out of time and just have to turn around  .

 

Go with the indoor trainer as per Swift and set it up in a Zen spot, like an out building and or garage. We waste a hell of a lot of time travelling and if you can create some sort of pain cave you'll get way more bang for your buck  .

There's a whole world of indoor training apps out there for if you get yourself a smart trainer. Your wife can even use the same solution without either of you leaving the yard (if the pain cave is outside the house) 

 

Then last side note: The Sufferfest app does have more than just spinning videos, they have yoga, strength training for cyclists & some tri videos. 

 

 

My setup:

2 daughters, 4years old and 8 months old. 

 

I got an indoor trainer.

 

I play with the kids as soon as I get home and we eat and do bath time up until about 19h30. This means I can be on the trainer by 20h00 and get a proper session of work in 60min before I hit the shower and go to bed. Alternatively, my normal wake-time is 6h00, so I would get up at 5h00 and get the work in while the little-ones are fast asleep. 

 

I easily get 4 or more sessions a week in this way. Weekends I usually negotiate that I go out for one extended session on the bike, which might mean taking the oldest one along in the trailer.

 

Like Daune said, less than 3 sessions a week might only be good enough to maintain the fitness levels, which might be fine for now until the little one's are bigger and you can spend a little bit more time on the bike.

 

Doing nothing will surely mean allot of lost fitness. So try various forms of Interval exercises as most people have suggested.

[Christie]

Fitness... Running hill repeats for 30 min (10 x 90s) with 5 min warm up and 5 min cool down

This.

Get running shoes, do a weekly hill session and perhaps a track session or other speed session.

 

Riding and indoor trainer kills the joy of mtb for me - no fresh air, no wildlife, no singletrack, no drops, no berms.

[babse]

cut out hub time... you see how much more time you will have 

[Stretch]

cut out hub time... you see how much more time you will have

That's being stolen from work time [emoji38]

[AlanD]

This.

Get running shoes, do a weekly hill session and perhaps a track session or other speed session.

 

Riding and indoor trainer kills the joy of mtb for me - no fresh air, no wildlife, no singletrack, no drops, no berms.

Thats it. IDT is something that doesn't agree with me and it's no good to practice some skills on the bike, no getting out the house and no fresh air. I can cycle to my local woods in less than 5 minutes.

[The Guy in Pink]

With only 40 minutes available indoor HIIT is the answer. 5min warm up, then 30 minutes if intervals (8 to 10) and 5 minute cool down

[Chris_]

Thats it. IDT is something that doesn't agree with me and it's no good to practice some skills on the bike, no getting out the house and no fresh air. I can cycle to my local woods in less than 5 minutes.

 

Trail running sprints then - even better!

[Dicky DQ]

0.5: Body positioning and cornering. Always useful, everywhere. BP gets carried through to all the rest. 

1 - manual. That carries across to jumping, bunny hopping, drops, negotiating water bars etc etc

B - Bunny hop. Again, carries across to jumping and clearing trail obstacles

iii - drops & jumps

 

wheelies are cool, but kinda useless in the grand scheme of things apart from getting you used to being in the "balance zone" on your bike. 

 

That's skills. Opinions vary, but that's what I've gathered is the heirarchy (skills clinics almost always start with proper positioning and cornering. It's the staple...)

 

Fitness... if I only had 30 min twice a week, intervals for sure. This can be hill repeats (find a vicious hill and repeat) or other intervals, but I think they have the best bang for buck in terms of restricted time exercises. 

 

Weights would also be good, but fitting in a good session to 30 min is a bit difficult. Have a look at Nino Schurter's training plan for a bit of an idea on alternative workouts. And yyes, gym DEFINITELY carries over to fitness on the bike.

 

 

Oh and yes, agree with Hairy. A combination of both would be best. 

Bah Humbug............. Says he riding an Ebike and taking coms. I saw you on Strava. ;-)

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Bah Humbug............. Says he riding an Ebike and taking coms. I saw you on Strava. ;-)

Loool. I've only once ridden an ebike and it was at hoogies, after a group ride with Patrick and crew. Once around the lower "dam" area under the skills park.

 

So no, try again. ????

[cat-i]

Could you go for a run over lunchtime at the office?

[Vetplant]

My setup:

2 daughters, 4years old and 8 months old. 

 

I got an indoor trainer.

 

I play with the kids as soon as I get home and we eat and do bath time up until about 19h30. This means I can be on the trainer by 20h00 and get a proper session of work in 60min before I hit the shower and go to bed. Alternatively, my normal wake-time is 6h00, so I would get up at 5h00 and get the work in while the little-ones are fast asleep. 

 

I easily get 4 or more sessions a week in this way. Weekends I usually negotiate that I go out for one extended session on the bike, which might mean taking the oldest one along in the trailer.

 

Like Daune said, less than 3 sessions a week might only be good enough to maintain the fitness levels, which might be fine for now until the little one's are bigger and you can spend a little bit more time on the bike.

 

Doing nothing will surely mean allot of lost fitness. So try various forms of Interval exercises as most people have suggested.

Side note: Make peace with the realities of life and look after yourself.

 

I was up 5 times last night between the two girls, so in such a case I rather take two nights off to semi-recover on the sleep deprivation before doing another session. No use in getting up an hour early if you only slept 5 hours.

 

I see it as an enforced rest period to absorb the training.