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As we progress through Fall and head into Winter, training outside becomes more challenging for many athletes.  Daylight continues to decrease and the early mornings are ever colder.  Safety and comfort both become challenges for most athletes.  In large part, we are forced to move our training indoors for the bike and run.  But, by training purposefully we can minimize the boredom factor and make the time spent on the bike trainer and treadmill very effective, and put ourselves in a better position to perform come next Spring.
 
Tips
Put a fan in a position that blows to keep you cool.  The lack of airflow can cause overheating and, thus, inhibit your ability to perform optimally.  Due to a slightly elevated core temperature, drink a little more than you do while exercising outdoors.  Listen to some motivating music to help you stay focused on the task at hand.  Lastly, for indoor running, set the treadmill to 1% gradient to better simulate running outside in terms of a more realistic effort at any given pace.
 
Benefits
The biggest benefit of moving your training indoors is control.  There are no stoplights or stop signs, no icy roads or trails, no traffic, and no other disruptive factors with which to deal.  The ability to control every variable – speed, RPMs, power, HR on the bike, or pace, incline and distance on the run – means you can get an effective workout in less time than if you were outdoors.  Secondly, without the stimulation of the outdoors, training indoors forces you to better focus and makes you mentally tougher.  With the inability to glide along on either the bike or on the treadmill, you are forced to hold pace and can better keep yourself honest.  With the treadmill specifically, if you live in a flatter part of the country or do not have easy access to hills, you can gain some great leg strength by conducting hill workouts on the belt.
 
Some Examples of Effective Indoor Workouts
Each workout should be preceded by an effective warm-up of 10-20 minutes and followed by a relaxed cool down of 10-15 minutes.
Hills and More Hills
Bike
5-10 x 2-5-minute Big Gear reps with half-time recovery.  Big Gear reps are done at L3 and 55-65rpm; recoveries are L1/L2 at 90-100rpm.  These reps simulate hill work and strengthen your hips and glutes by forcing you to better engage your hip flexors and low back.
Run
8-12 x 1-2-minute hard efforts with 90-second recovery.  Hard efforts are done on a 6-8% gradient at 10k effort; flatten out the treadmill for the easy L1 recoveries. It’s important to not jack the gradient up too much and slow your turnover too much.
 
Keeping Tempo
Bike
Start with 30 minutes and build up to a solid hour of alternating 4:45 at L3 with 15 seconds of high RPM spinning (110-120rpm), then immediately settle back in at L3 and normal cadence.  Avoid relaxing into L2 as you allow your cadence to slow.  You may not shift gears or you may shift into one easier gear for the fast cadence intervals.
Run
Perform 2 x 10-15-minute intervals at L3 with 4-6 minutes moderate L1 between. The goal is to settle into a solid pace that is at or slightly faster than half-marathon pace.  Focus on getting into a groove just like you would on a flat trail or stretch of road.
 
The Speed Machine
Bike
Start with 4 x 15-second sprints from a dead stop, quickly accelerating to top speed and 100+rpm before spinning easy for 2:45 after each sprint.  After the final recovery spin, head right into 4 x 30-second intervals at L6 with 1:30 easy spinning.  Finish up with 4 x 1-minute L5 with 1-2 minutes easy spin between.
Run
Start with 4 x 30-second intervals at 10% gradient with 1-minute recovery periods between.  Complete the 30 seconds at an effort similar to running a mile on the track.  Flatten out the gradient for the recoveries.  Take the final minute recovery and then head right into 4 x 1-minute intervals at 6% gradient with 1-minute recoveries.  The hard minutes are run at 5k race effort and the recoveries are again flat.  After the final easy minute, go right into 2 x 2 minutes at 0% with 1 minute easy between.  Run the 2 minutes at slightly faster than 10k effort, really getting the legs turning over when you’re a bit fatigued and your turnover was slowed down as you fought gravity on the previous reps.  If your treadmill can’t get going fast enough here, use the lowest gradient possible to help simulate the proper effort. 
 
Indoors Year Round?
The effectiveness of the bike trainer and treadmill cannot be overstated.  Even during the most perfect Spring and Summer weather, training indoors can continue to be an extremely effective way to conduct your interval work and further spur your fitness forward.
 
I like working out outside as much as anyone.  And, there are plenty of days I do ride outside in the dark and cold as long as it is 30 degrees and the roads are clear of ice.  My lights illuminate the road sufficiently enough so I can even descend canyon roads at full speed.  However, there are some days when I just don’t want to deal with the cold or the dark or putting on layers of clothing, or days when I simply have to ride inside.  These workouts provide examples of a well-rounded mix of durations, intensities and stressors.  Incorporate them into your current training regimen and create variations of your own.  Whatever helps you spice things up and puts you on a more deliberate path to great fitness come next Spring.
 
Happy Training,
Coach Nate

Masters endurance athletes are consistently being warned about training too hard or being advised to focus more on their aerobic systems (i.e., train more conservatively).  Forget for a moment this advice is coming from a good place regardless of how flawed it is.  What goes hand-in-hand with it is the determination of training zones based on Heart Rate.  The premise is that as Masters athletes hit age 40 and then get older, our Maximal beats per minute (BPM) decreases by about 1 beat per year.  We're getting older and slowing down and our bodies are slowly eroding so we can't push ourselves as hard -- or as maximally -- as we used to.  

I completely and wholeheartedly disagree.

Throughout this article, I will be referring to Heart Rate (HR) and appropriate percentages of your Maximum HR (Max HR) at which you should be racing. To ensure that you are racing at the proper HR, you first must know your Max HR. If you do not know this value, then you need to perform a test so you can determine this value.  Using 220 - age is a common way to determine Maximal BPM.  My Max HR is 191, but using 220-age my Max HR would be calculated at 173.  Huge difference.  There are other estimations that require you to know the square root of lightning as well.  But here's the problem -- these formulas are estimations at best, and poor ones at that.  A quick test can be done at the running track.  This is a tough test.  It will be uncomfortable and you have to go all-in if the goal is to register an accurate HR value from which to accurately calculate your training zones.
 
On a day when you're fairly rested, warm up as you would for a track workout. Then run 800m as hard as you can. If you don't have access to a track, then run for 3:00. You should run as hard as you can while maintaining a steady pace. Immediately jog easy for 100-200m or roughly 1:00. Then immediately run another 800m repeat as fast as you can. Really sprint the final 200m so you are running flat out to the end. When you cross the finish line, watch your HR monitor for a maximum HR registration. It will take several seconds to register, so keep an eye on your monitor. If you gave a 100%, honest effort, then you can take this value and add around 5 beats to figure an accurate Max HR from which you can work. 
 
Next, you need to know how to accurately determine your HR zones. The first step is to take your Resting HR and subtract it from your Max HR. Ex: 195 (Max HR) – 35 (Resting HR) = 160. The next step is to calculate the HR zone in which you need to race (or train). Ex: 84-92%, which would be 134-147 (84% and 92% of 160, respectively). The final step is to add your Resting HR back into the equation to come up with your final HR zone values. Ex: 169-182 (Resting HR of 35 added to 134 & 147, respectively). So, in this example, the 84-92% zone for someone with a Max HR of 195 and resting HR of 35 would be 169-182. This is strictly for running. For cycling, you can subtract 4-10 beats from this value so that you are obtaining a HR at a similar level of effort (LOE).  The reason is that due to the pounding of running, that you are standing straight up and using all your limbs to move, your HR will be higher running than it will be in either cycling or swimming.
 
I personally subtract 6 beats from my running values and use this for my cycling values. As for swimming, I use the same values as I do for cycling. The main thing to remember is that your LOE should FEEL similar from sport to sport. If it doesn't, then you need to adjust your HR zone up or down accordingly. So, if racing/training at 70-78% on the run feels a specific way, then you need to adjust your HR on the bike and in the swim so that these specific HR zones reflect a similar LOE as you put forth in running. If running at 70-78% feels comfortable and you can carry on a conversation with your running partner, then you shouldn't be out of breath and gasping for air when you hit the wall while swimming at 70- 78%. 
 
For more comprehensive information on HR, blood lactate levels and overall physiological aspects of training and racing, “Training Lactate/Pulse rate” by Peter Jannsen is a valuable resource. 
 
Take the time to quantify your specific HR zones and learn about how important they are to maximizing your success. Until you do, you won't be reaching your full potential. It is important to understand how HR zones and LOEs affect your performance at any given distance of race.  By calculating HR zones, Masters athletes will have a much clearer picture of their proper training zones and how those relate to racing more effectively.

Happy Training, 
Coach Nate