…what can I do to make the most of it? Hard intervals? Sprints? Hill repeats? Just bag it and run instead?
I’m not substituting this time for my “real” training, just trying to make good use of an available hour in the saddle.
Suggestions?
That’s easy: 10 min warmup, 20 minutes at 95% threshold power, 2 minute break, another 20 at 95%, go home.
My exact workout tonight!
I read this some place. It seems to work for me, and tear me up pretty good.
10 minute warm up
8 minute hard effort 90% max HR
5 minute rest - light spinning
3 minute high speed cadence (above 100 rpm)
8 minute hard effort - again
5 minute rest
3 minute high speed - again
10 minute cool down
It’s close to an hour. I’ve adjusted it as follows. It seems to take a minute or so to get the HR up, so i take the time out of the rest.
10 minute warm up
10 minute hard effort 90% max HR
3 minute rest - light spinning
3 minute high speed cadence (above 100 rpm)
10 minute hard effort - again
3 minute rest
3 minute high speed - again
10 minute cool down
Scott
This should probably depend upon what stage of training you’re in. In prep for a couple of sprints this year I tried:
15 min wu
6x4 min HARD/2 min rest (don’t be tempted to cut rest, shorter rests won’t allow you to work hard enough)
5-6 min w/d
this worked wonders for short races, though I only did it once a week for ~4-5 wks right before my races. BTW, I would never consider 1hr of riding, “only”. You can get a really good workout done in 1 hr if you cut out the chaff. 2/3 of my biking all year is 1 hr workouts or less, gets me to >24 mph range for 20-40k races.
I’d say about 1/2 the time I spend riding in any given month is done on rides of about an hour. You can do alot in an hour.
Do intervals as noted above. One of my favorites is to warm up for bit then do a 3 minute effort at a specific speed, rest about 8-10 minutes then go 3 minutes at 1 mph faster, rest - repeat. You can get 5 sets in. don’t be whimpy and start out at 17 mph. You should shoot for topping out at several mph faster than you’d go in a 1 hour time trial. If you do it right, you’ll be longing for a 4 hour ride by the 3rd repeat and the 5th one will have you crying for your mommy.
I think the very best thing a triathlete can do on a bike is cut out some long rides and do some ball busting one hour workouts. They build power and speed.
30 30’s
20 Min Warm-up - throw in some single leg drills if using the trainer
Intervals of 30" All out 30" Rest - Repeat 10-12 times
20 Min Cool down
Seems real easy but this is one of the hardest and most intense workouts I’ve done. Nice thing is you recover from it quickly and it doesn’t trash your legs for days.
Go for a run you will benefit more from a 1 hour run with a mile or two tempo than a 1 hour bike (unless you are doing sprint races)
check out some race results…notice how the top 5 overall in the age groups usually also
have the fastest run splits in the age group…I don’t even bother with my bike unless I have at least 2 full hours to ride (which is usually 4 times a week)
.