Spending time at a variety of intensities will build your tolerance to lactic acid and also prepare you for surges in effort and the variety in intensity that naturally comes within events whether due to tactics of your competitors or the variation in terrain. This session is great for all cyclists, triathletes and mountain bikers to build strength and climbing ability (especially those with limited time to train).
Each Sunday, I’ll post a Smart-Trainer Session 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 workout comes from Emily’s Short Mix within Zwift. Now I fundamentally disagree with a three-minute Warm Up (WU) and a three-minute Cool Down (CD), they just don’t achieve the desired outcome in that time frame – although I understand that they are trying to cram as much into a sub-30min workout as possible. I’ve extended both the Warm Up (WU) and Cool Down (CD) from the original workout that can be found on Watt’s On Zwift, you can read the full article here.
Emily’s Short Mix Extended
- 10min Level I-III;
- 3min Level III;
- 1min Level IV;
- 1min level V;
- 1:30 Level II;
- 3min Level III;
- 2min Level IV;
- 2min level V;
- 1:30 Level II;
- 3min Level III;
- 3min Level IV;
- 3min level V;
- 10min CD Level I-II;
- 10min Stretching
Start the workout with a Warm Up (WU) of 10 minutes of easy riding building from Level I through to Level III.
The main set involves completing three sets, each set is slightly different but involves stepping up through the intensities from Level III, to Level IV, then to Level V, with a Rest Interval (RI) between sets at Level II.
The first set starts with three minutes at Level III, before increasing to Level IV and then Level V for a minute each. Take a 90-second Rest Interval (RI) at Level II.
The second set also commences with three minutes at Level III, before increasing to Level IV and then Level V for two-minutes each. Take a 90-second Rest Interval (RI) at Level II.
The final set involves riding at Level III, then Level IV and finally Level V for three-minutes each.
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.
Here is my data from doing the workout:
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.
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Download the Garmin (.FIT) and Zwift (.ZWO) files for this workout for FREE
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