This plan is designed for the road racing cyclist training approximately 10-12 hours per week. Welcome to Build 1 - This month marks the start of your structured High Intensity Training (HIT). HIT training includes efforts at, and above, VO2max, as well as continued threshold development and race preparation. Total training time is, ideally, a little below Base 3 and additional recovery time should be allowed each week.
High VO2 Power is fundamental to racing success. Warm up for 45 minutes in Zone 2. Do 2 x 1:00 "blow out" efforts at about 90% max effort. Then do 4 x 3:00 minutes ALL OUT (pace for the full three minutes, but go hard!). Recover for 3:00minutes and repeat. Add 1 each week to a total of 8 x 3:00. Track your time as soon as you "GO" - HR should rise above threshold by the end. Try to replicate effort/speed on each one...
ME Intervals (muscle endurance): 2 – 3 hours with power zones 2 – 3 mostly. For the last hour or so please do 4 x 15 minute intervals with your power at the top of Zone 3 (+/- 5w) with 3 minutes rest between each interval. They can be done on either small rolling hills or flats. The goal is to ride a big gear at 90-100+ rpm on and really work the leg muscles during the interval (Leg/Muscle RPE: ~8).
This is a modified power workout - adapted for HR. Warm up for 45 minutes in Zone 2. Do 2 x 1:00 "blow out" efforts at about 90% max effort. Then do 3x10:00 minute sets of 0:30s "ON" and 0:30seconds "Off" ALL OUT (that means full gas for 30s "on" and about 50% effort on recovery). Recover for 10:00minutes between sets and repeat. Heart Rate will rise to/above threshold during the course of the interval. The goal is to accumulate total time at VO2max. Total VO2 Time This Interval: 15min
2.5+ Hours. Ride Zones 2 and 3 mostly. For the last hour or so please do 2 x 20 minute intervals with your HR at the top of Zone 4 (within 5 beats, but not over) with 8 minutes rest between each interval. They should be done on either hills or flats. The goal is to ride a big gear at 90+ rpm on the flats (70 on hills) and really work the leg muscles during the interval (RPE: 8 .5 – 9). If you are unable to maintain the HR zones for the full 20 minutes, do as long as you can handle and recover for as long as the interval (ie 10 minute interval w/10 minutes recovery between intervals or 8/8, etc.). You should feel like you’re working fairly hard on these.
This should be a "B" level event - ideally a road race with some climbing. If it's a criterium - try to ride an additional hour after the race with 2x15min Zone 3 tempo efforts...
This is a modified power workout - adapted for HR. Warm up for 45 minutes in Zone 2. Do 2 x 1:00 "blow out" efforts at about 90% max effort. Then do 3x10:00 minute sets of 0:30s "ON" and 0:30seconds "Off" ALL OUT (that means full gas for 30s "on" and about 50% effort on recovery). Recover for 10:00minutes between sets and repeat. Heart Rate will rise to/above threshold during the course of the interval. The goal is to accumulate total time at VO2max. Total VO2 Time This Interval: 15min
Try to find a fast group ride to do this week. Your goal is to continually position in the first 15% of the field, but not be overly agressive or work too hard. It should be a good workout, but not leave you cookd - remember VO2's tomorrow!