As cyclists, we’re naturally target-driven, looking to improve our personal bests, drop other riders and maybe win races. Our training and riding all tends to be geared around getting faster and fitter and indoor workouts are usually a key aspect of that, with intervals and ramps designed to improve our FTP and other key metrics, which we track religiously.
But that excessive focus on metrics and performance can be detrimental to our mental health and can lead to burn-out and exhaustion. A diet of intervals over the winter, without much variety and with little else to look forward to until spring is bound to be soul-destroying.
Now that the off-season is here, a different approach to indoor workouts could increase our enjoyment of riding while still maintaining our fitness ready to ramp up once the new riding and racing season begins. A more mindful approach to indoor training could benefit us all.
What do we mean by mindfulness?
In days gone by, off-season training would mean long, steady miles outdoors. Even if they weren’t mindful, they at least made us aware of just how cold it was. Nowadays, we’re much more likely to take to the turbo for a quick interval session or maybe to compete on an indoor training app.
The UK’s NHS describes mindfulness as “paying attention to what is going on inside and outside ourselves, moment by moment” and experiencing the sensations of the present moment. It’s a state of being aware of our bodies and the sensations that we’re experiencing.
Mindfulness isn’t something that the average turbo session is geared towards. It tends to be highly target-driven, with intervals to follow or other riders or bots to try to drop or keep up with. You’re much more focussed on targets than on how your body and surroundings feel as you try to reach them.
It doesn’t have to be like that and you can still ride indoors and enjoy the experience in a more relaxed, contemplative manner. That’s where training apps come in, as they give you something to think about as you ride, rather than trying to hit an interval, maybe while playing music over headphones as you work out, so that your sessions become more mechanical than enjoyable.
Training apps don’t just feed you training schedules and sessions. Wahoo X, for example, includes motivational content and guidance on yoga, relaxing and staying positive, not just the notorious…
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