I put these ideas together for a friend who has only joined the sport a year or so ago and wants some ideas to improve overall bike power for triathlon. They have a heart rate monitor and know how to use it in training to a certain extent. If you have a power meter you can convert the zones to use power instead. If you need help doing that leave a comment below or shoot me a message.
They also swim and run, so these workouts aren’t really for a pure biker as they would have different fitness requirements for bike racing! For most entry level athletes (i.e. someone new to the sport within 3 years) I would expect most athletes to respond well to this kind of general training. At a certain point everyone will plateau if they follow the same plan week-in-week out so there is some variation by switching up odd and even weeks. If you’ve plateau’ed feel free to give me a shout for more ideas.
Preparation
20 minute heart rate test. Warm-up for 10-15 minutes. Then start the 20 minute test. You’re basically going as hard as you can for 20 minutes. Best to do this on the trainer at home. Take the average heart rate over the last 10 minutes of the test. The average heart rate over that period of time is your functional threshold heart rate (FTHR). Let’s say it is 165 for this example weekly workout below.
(Obviously you’d need to program in your recovery weeks so that you have the occasional week to chill out and let your legs get stronger after a few weeks of these workouts)
Workout #1: ‘Long’ intervals. Alternate each week.
Odd Weeks) 2×20 minutes: For each 20 minute interval ride at about 93-99% of FTHR. So 153bpm or higher. Spin easy for 10 minutes then repeat. The key is to be able to repeat the second interval. If your heart rate in the second is lower than the first then you went to hard. If the reverse is true then you held back too much in the first.
Even Weeks) 4×10 minutes: Same zones as above, but 5 minutes easy spinning between each interval.
You can incorporate these into longer workouts. E.g. You can do a 120 minute ride on 9W or in the park and do these in the middle of the ride. Just remember to be safe if in the park. You can’t really do these in the park unless it’s early 5-7:30am.
Workout #2: ‘Short’ intervals. Alternate each week.
Not based on heart rate.
Odd Weeks) Hill repeats. Find a hill and ride the hill over and over. Time each effort. Aim to do 5+ intervals at the same pace. Keeping adding intervals until the pace drops off a couple in a row. So let’s say you pick Harlem Hill and the first one takes you 2 minutes, you keep riding it aiming to get the same or below. If you miss the time target twice in a row then you do some easy spinning and call it a day. The time target is always the fastest time you’ve done during that session. So let’s say you do 4 repeats: 2min, 1m45, 1m30, 1m45. The target for the next repeat is 1m30. After a couple weeks you’ll get a feel for what a good starting target is. This is also a nice test: if you can’t hit anywhere near previous weeks’ numbers then you know you’re fatigued and it’s best to rest. If you start doing more intervals at a given time target then you know you’re improving.
The length of the hill is unimportant. You can do ranger station if you want. Let’s say you go up the first time hard in 6 minutes, you’ll probably find that you are not going to do 2 more.
Even Weeks) Multiple sets of: (10 x 30s hard, 15s easy spin). Between each set easy spin for 3 minutes. You’ll find the first 2-3 repeats you generate a lot of power, but as the set continues it becomes more of an aneorobic threshold exercise.
Workout #3: Long ride (2-4 hours)
Odd Weeks) ~75-85% of FTHR. In this case that would be ~125-140bpm. Undulating hilly ride, try to control heart rate on the hills. Twice throughout the session do 20 minutes at ~85-90% of FTHR which would be ~140-150bpm. During those intervals alternate the riding position on the hills, switching between: stay seated and try to spin up; and; getting out of the saddle and powering up in a larger gear. If you’re feeling good don’t feel the need to limit yourself to 90% on the high side. Just make sure you don’t go so hard that the session becomes difficult to finish.
Even Weeks) ~75-85% of FTHR. Ideally a flat location, or on the trainer. Do 2 x 20 minutes at 85-90%. Stay seated riding the aerobars (for TT bike) or drops (for road bike). Don’t be tempted to get out of the saddle if you struggle to maintain the heart rate. Here the focus is generating power through the legs in the ‘everyday’ position on your bike. Keep the shoulders relaxed, don’t rock from side to side. Maintain form above all else.
If you have to ride the hills during this session then try to ride up the hills in the neutral position as much as possible. If you have a good range of gearing on your bike you should be able to ride the drops on most of the hills.
Tired Legs Empty Mind 