Take Three with Tracy: Cold Weather Cycling Tips

The winter of 2010 may go down in history as the coldest, snowiest one in 50 years.  Whether you live in the northeast or in the panhandle of Texas, many cyclists have found themselves frustrated by low mileage in the saddle over the past few months. So, what is a cyclist to do when there is a foot of snow outside or the normal winter temperatures have taken a nosedive and the great outdoors are no longer conducive for a 25 mile ride?  Instead of focusing on what we can not do, let’s choose to focus on what we can.

Here are three CAN do tips to maintain cycling fitness:

1. For those with a gym membership, this is the obvious choice:   spin classes.  To shake things up a bit, why not try a different instructor or day of the week to challenge your mind and muscles?  You can also use a stationary bike and use a manual program, adding resistance for hill work, taking one foot out of the pedal in order to work on your stroke.  For more drills and sequencing ideas, click here to access some tips from Trifuel.  Print off the tips on this site and implement them the next time you want to change up your wintertime work out on the bike. Try cross-training and get yourself into “that class” that you’ve always secretly wanted to take.

2. If you do not have a gym membership there are plenty of other indoor exercises that can help you.  Focus on your core strength through yoga or pilates, for example. Instead of sitting there and mimicking a couch potato (because I know you are NOT one) put out a towel or yoga mat and use commercial time for stretching and strengthening your middle. Don’t just focus on your abs – your core is your entire middle – front, back and sides of your torso.  Implement the following exercises and you will have your middle all tuned up by the time the roads clear outside.

• The plank is great for lower your rectus abdominus (working the six-pack).
• The side plank is one sure fire way to tone up those love handles that have taken up residence around your middle.
• The most over-looked muscles to work in  the core area are those along the length of your spine. Have you ever wondered why the cute little group fitness instructor always says,” If you have back problems, DO MORE ABS!”  Instead, this should be said:  “If you have back problems, strengthen your BACK!!!”   One day that hit me like a mack truck.  DUH.  So let’s add to the mix of your core workout: erector spinae strengthening.
• Here are some great core strengthening exercises. Click here

Punxsutawney Phil tech4kids.wordpress.com

3. Track your conditioning – whether at home, at the gym or somewhere in between.  Trainster is a free Web site that I have used for a number of years to help keep me plugged in to my training program.  It operates on the premise that in order to live a healthy lifestyle we need to walk 10,000 steps a day (that equals about five miles).  Since most of us do not get out and walk that much, there is a conversion chart built in to the site and once you log your exercise (be it cycling, running, walking, yoga-ing or whatnot) those minutes are converted into “steps” equaled  by caloric expenditure.  Each “step” will be added to your daily total and the goal is to hit 10,000 a day.   You will be surprised how easily that can be done simply by wearing a pedometer ($6 at Wal-Mart) and keeping up with the number of minutes you spend in doing other activities.  Give it a try click here and see how you like it.  You may be surprised. Look for me on Trainster – Isaiah61Girl.

While Mr. Phil the groundhog says there are still a few more weeks of winter, we aren’t going to let that slow down our training program, are we? There are some things you can begin to implement now so that you won’t have to start all over when the weather warms up. So get up, get moving and begin tracking your progress!  See you in the saddle again soon!