France or a green novice just trying to get into decent riding shape; these are the only aspects of your workout routine that can be changed. I’m sure this is not news to you. It’s training 101. What I’m going to do here is build on this basic starting point so that by the end of this chapter you will be able to use these concepts along with your power meter and software to produce peak performance for an important race on a specific day. But first let’s make sure that we are in agreement on the three components of training.
Frequency
Frequency is nothing more than how often you ride. This is the most basic component of training.
For the novice cyclist, how often he or she rides is the greatest determinant of fitness. Just getting on the bike frequently and riding, regardless of how long or how hard, are the key. This, of course, doesn’t mean riding at high intensities or for long durations. With frequent rides at comfortable intensities and manageable durations, the novice will see steady improvement.
Frequency is also important for experienced athletes, just not as important as for the novice. You can’t regularly miss workouts, however, and expect to become fitter and faster at any level as an athlete. If you becomelackadaisical about working out and the number of rides you do in a week decreases, significant amounts of fitness are eventually lost. At the highest levels, road cyclists and mountain bikers typically ride at least 6 days a week. That saddle-time consistency has a lot to do with their performance. Interestingly, going from 6 to 7 workouts in a week won’t have much of an impact on fitness. But decreasing frequency from 6 to 5 will cause a noticeable loss of fitness for the advanced rider. I know that doesn’t sound fair. It’s just the way fitness seems to work, I’ve found.
Training frequency is a great challenge for triathletes. Experienced triathletes typically ride a bit less than experienced roadies or mountain bikers. They are generally on their bikes only 4 or 5 times a week in order to make time for swim and run sessions. The optimal use of limited training time is the greatest conundrum facing multisporters, especially in bike training since the bike leg accounts for about half of one’s finish time over a standard triathlon race distance. For example, if a triathlete finishes an Olympic-distance race in 2 hours, the bike split is roughly 1 hour. For a 12-hour Ironman triathlon, the bike leg is usually completed in around 6 hours. With this in mind, I highly recommend that triathletes spend roughly half of their weekly training time on the bike.
Frequency is a critical component of effective training whether you use a power meter or not. It accounts for half of what we call “volume”—the total number of hours or miles you train in a week. The other half of volume comes from workout duration.
Duration
How long should you ride? The answer varies according to the kind of events you do. Advanced athletes doing long road races, Ironman triathlons, mountain bike marathons, and centuries typically do one or more of their weeklyrides in excess of 4 hours. This helps to prepare them for the rigors of a long race. If the targeted event is shorter, it’s typical for the length of the longest rides to also decrease. Of course, regardless of race distance, there are likely to be shorter active recovery rides (done in zone 1), which help the athlete bounce back from the previous day’s long or hard ride. Between the longest ride and the recovery rides are workouts that focus generally on higher intensity.
Intensity
For the experienced cyclist, training is mostly about intensity. Sport science research has repeatedly shown this to be true. If all you do as an experienced athlete is ride long sessions at low intensity with an emphasis on weekly volume, you will never achieve anything near your potential in sport. How important is intensity? If I had to put a number on it, I’d say that
Frequency
Frequency is nothing more than how often you ride. This is the most basic component of training.
For the novice cyclist, how often he or she rides is the greatest determinant of fitness. Just getting on the bike frequently and riding, regardless of how long or how hard, are the key. This, of course, doesn’t mean riding at high intensities or for long durations. With frequent rides at comfortable intensities and manageable durations, the novice will see steady improvement.
Frequency is also important for experienced athletes, just not as important as for the novice. You can’t regularly miss workouts, however, and expect to become fitter and faster at any level as an athlete. If you becomelackadaisical about working out and the number of rides you do in a week decreases, significant amounts of fitness are eventually lost. At the highest levels, road cyclists and mountain bikers typically ride at least 6 days a week. That saddle-time consistency has a lot to do with their performance. Interestingly, going from 6 to 7 workouts in a week won’t have much of an impact on fitness. But decreasing frequency from 6 to 5 will cause a noticeable loss of fitness for the advanced rider. I know that doesn’t sound fair. It’s just the way fitness seems to work, I’ve found.
Training frequency is a great challenge for triathletes. Experienced triathletes typically ride a bit less than experienced roadies or mountain bikers. They are generally on their bikes only 4 or 5 times a week in order to make time for swim and run sessions. The optimal use of limited training time is the greatest conundrum facing multisporters, especially in bike training since the bike leg accounts for about half of one’s finish time over a standard triathlon race distance. For example, if a triathlete finishes an Olympic-distance race in 2 hours, the bike split is roughly 1 hour. For a 12-hour Ironman triathlon, the bike leg is usually completed in around 6 hours. With this in mind, I highly recommend that triathletes spend roughly half of their weekly training time on the bike.
Frequency is a critical component of effective training whether you use a power meter or not. It accounts for half of what we call “volume”—the total number of hours or miles you train in a week. The other half of volume comes from workout duration.
Duration
How long should you ride? The answer varies according to the kind of events you do. Advanced athletes doing long road races, Ironman triathlons, mountain bike marathons, and centuries typically do one or more of their weeklyrides in excess of 4 hours. This helps to prepare them for the rigors of a long race. If the targeted event is shorter, it’s typical for the length of the longest rides to also decrease. Of course, regardless of race distance, there are likely to be shorter active recovery rides (done in zone 1), which help the athlete bounce back from the previous day’s long or hard ride. Between the longest ride and the recovery rides are workouts that focus generally on higher intensity.
Intensity
For the experienced cyclist, training is mostly about intensity. Sport science research has repeatedly shown this to be true. If all you do as an experienced athlete is ride long sessions at low intensity with an emphasis on weekly volume, you will never achieve anything near your potential in sport. How important is intensity? If I had to put a number on it, I’d say that
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