Should you train indoors or out in the winter?

One question that comes up quite often, writes Coach Ryan, at this time of the year in the northern hemisphere is whether you should train indoors or outdoors during the winter. The answer to this question depends on several factors, but for the sake of this article, I am going to assume you live somewhere cold and potentially wet where it isn’t easy to ride outside year-round.

The first and potentially biggest reason to train inside during winter is safety. If you live somewhere with the potential for black ice or slippery conditions, crashing is a real risk you run by riding outside in winter. According to Rooney, Sarriegiu, and Heron (1), one of the most common injuries in a bike crash involves a fracture in the clavicle (broken collarbone). On average this can take 3-6 weeks post-surgery until you can resume training with the arm supported, and 6-12 weeks until you can ride with weight on the arm (2). This is a significant chunk of training to miss, especially at such an important time for setting up the rest of your season.

Another major reason for training inside, which is important during winter but also applies year-round, is the ease of performing structured training. How many of us have a consistent, straight road that is easy to get to without too much traffic to perform intervals on? I’m assuming not many. On online platforms like Rouvy, you can select a route that fits your session for the day or run your trainer in erg mode where the trainer matches the power for your workout irrespective of the terrain so you are always at the correct power. As an added bonus, most training platforms (Rouvy, Zwift, MyWoosh, etc.) can be set up to automatically sync with your training program, so the workouts magically appear and are ready to go as soon as you log on (If you need help setting this up, feel free to contact me using the details at the end of this article).

While there are positives to training inside during winter, there are also a few negatives to be aware of. The first one is boredom. Anyone who has spent much time training indoors, especially in the dark times before smart trainers, knows how boring and demotivating it can get. There are some things you can do to help with this, such as using interactive apps like Rouvy and Zwift and working with your coach to plan more interesting and varied rides for days when you have to ride on the trainer. One example is making longer intervals more varied. For instance, if you have a long Z2 (endurance) or Z3 (tempo) interval planned, rather than setting the trainer in erg mode at a consistent power for the length of the interval, vary the power by 5-10 watts every minute or two so the workout can be broken down into more manageable chunks while still staying in zone. Another example is to use features like the Robopacers in Zwift so you are riding in a peloton of other riders at the right power for you (more information on how to use Robopacers and other ideas on how to use them for training can be found here https://zwiftinsider.com/robopacers/).