Riding at your threshold is important to develop your ability to maintain your maximum steady state. During these Under/Over intervals your body will adapt to the level of lactic acid in your blood system, developing great tolerance. This session is great for triathletes, road cyclists, and mountain bikers.
Each Wednesday I’ll post a Windtrainer Workout that you can do in about 60 minutes to enhance your cycling. See a previous post about training intensity (Levels) to know how hard to work. If you are working directly with Coach Ray he will in most cases prescribe either a Power Zone or Heart Rate Zone to work within if you are training with these tools.
The inspiration for this session comes from Watts On Zwift. I’ve modified it a little bit. You can read the full article here. The session itself was designed by Stephen Gallagher and Dan Fleeman from Dig Deep Coaching.
Check out last week’s workout here:
Zwift Academy 2021 Upper Threshold Blocks
- 10min WU Level II;
- 1min Level III;
- 2min Level I;
- 5min Level IV+, 1:30 Level I RI;
- 5min Level IV, 1:30 Level I RI;
- 5min Level IV-, 5min Level I RI;
- 5min Level IV-, 1:30 Level I RI;
- 5min Level IV, 1:30 Level I RI;
- 5min Level IV+, 1:30 Level I RI;
- 10min CD Level II;
- 10min Stretching
Start the workout with a ten-minute Warm Up (WU) riding at Level II. Keep your cadence above 90Rpm for the warm-up.
Next ramp things up to Level III for one minute.
Next up is a Rest Interval (RI) at Level II for two minutes, keep your cadence up above 90 to keep the legs fresh, because the hurt is going to come.
The main set is made up of six, five-minute reps. The first rep is at Level IV+ (105% of Functional Threshold Power (FTP)), and ride at Level I for 90 seconds for your Rest Interval (RI). The second rep is at Level IV (100% of Functional Threshold Power (FTP)), ride at Level I for 90 seconds again for your Rest Interval (RI). The third rep is at Level IV- 90% of Functional Threshold Power (FTP)), ride at Level I for six minutes this time for your Rest Interval (RI). For the next three reps we build back up from Level IV- (95% of FTP), Level IV (100% FTP), and then the final rep is at Level IV+ (105% FTP). All with a 90-second Rest Interval (RI) at Level I between.
Conclude the intervals with ten minutes of riding at Level II for your Cool Down (CD).
Finish with ten minutes of stretching to assist with your recovery.
I did this workout last week:
If you would like further advice feel free to contact me.
I am the Head Coach & Director of Qwik Kiwi – Endurance Sports Consultant.
I specialise in assisting first-timers and recreational athletes to achieve their sporting goals. I can be contacted at coachray@coachray.nz and 021 348 729. Make sure you sign up for my informative newsletter.
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Download the Garmin (.FIT) and Zwift (.ZWO) files for this workout for FREE
If you enjoyed this workout, here is a similar session I published previously.
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