15 Key Sessions From Cyclists Who Succeeded in Road Racing

Become “brilliant at the basics,” said NFL coach Vince Lombardi.

Tempo, sweet spot, FTP, HIT or sprint intervals – when designing key sessions for athletes I have practically unlimited combinations to choose from. Therefore, the quote above describes best what I think about training in cycling: It should be simple and easy to follow to be sustainable.

That’s right. You don’t need overly complex workouts to make progress. Instead, complex workouts that have to be printed on your stem for you to remember lack scientific evidence. So by embracing simplicity I can derive the adaptations I’m looking for by manipulating the combination of interval sets, duration, and recovery period.

Contrary to conventional belief, and just like in every other domain in life, mastering the basics is where you’ll find the most impressive results.

Take Alejandro Valverde’s story for example. I analyzed his training from the last 5 years and the same pattern repeats itself over and over again. Simple training compounded for weeks, months, and years. With that in mind here’s my story of the 15 key sessions I prescribed to get athletes on the podium in road racing.

Tempo Efforts

Tempo efforts push you beyond your first lactate threshold or LT1. This is important because beyond LT1 you force your fast-twitch type 2a fibers to do aerobic work for an extended period of time. As a result, through adaptation your type 2a fibers will become more aerobically efficient and fatigue resistant, which will make your aerobic engine even bigger.

Tempo efforts are done at 85-90% of your FTP. Surprisingly, most cyclists find that effort to be their sportive climbing pace. The RPE will fall in the range of 5-6 of 10, if 10 is an all-out effort. Intervals should be done as steady as possible. Individual intervals typically range from 10-45 minutes. So total time at intensity per workout can vary from 20 to 90 minutes.

A typical tempo workout might feature 3×20 minute efforts separated by 10 minutes of recovery to descent down the climb. However, cyclists can complete tempo efforts on flat or slightly rolling terrain also. Depending on your level and training phase stick to 1 to 2 or occasionally 3 weekly tempo sessions.

The key of tempo efforts is intensity control. Don’t let your intensity climb up to threshold pace even if you feel very good that day.

Threshold Intervals

It’s impossible to get around threshold intervals, if your goal is to become a stronger and faster cyclist. The pace of these intervals is tough. I mean obviously you are riding at or slightly below your second lactate threshold (LT2) or FTP, so things start to hurt differently.

However, these intervals help to drive the process of increasing the size and density of mitochondria in your muscles as well as the capillary content that supports your muscles. This in turn, will increase your fat- and carbohydrate oxidation and your body’s ability to process and utilize lactate as a fuel.

In fact, studies of cross-country skiers have shown that intervals done at or slightly below one’s LT2 have increased the participants exercise economy and fractional utilization of VO2max at LT2. This is linked to increased plasma volume, giving you greater ability to manage your core temperature as well as increase mitochondrial enzyme activity to produce energy faster.

However, to reap the benefits of threshold intervals there’s a crucial factor you need to focus on.

Training at Your Threshold

The critical factor for threshold intervals is the time spent at that particular intensity. Actually, you’re looking for 30-90 minutes of total work, depending on your level, split into 6-20 minute intervals. Only exception would be a rider limited by the training environment. For example, if you only have 5 minute climbs you might do 5 minute threshold repeats.

Anyway, the time-in-zone range is based on lab and field time-to-exhaustion data that has shown cyclists to be able to maintain power at LT2 for 30-90 minutes depending on fitness level. In the beginning you might only tolerate 30 minutes of total work. However, as you get fitter you can increase the total time at intensity. In studies of elite athletes we see total time to be in the range of 60-75 minutes. Or in other words, threshold intervals increase your threshold power and the time you can tolerate riding at that higher power.

In terms of RPE threshold intervals should feel like a clean 7 out of 10. Recovery time between intervals should be half the interval length. Due to fatigue, however, you might experience RPE to be higher. For best practice perform these intervals on slightly rolling terrain, uphill, or on flats. Depending on your level and training phase stick to 1 to 2 or occasionally 3 weekly threshold sessions.

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HIT Intervals

If you ask a group of cyclists which intervals they hate the most, I can assure you that ⅔ will mention HIT intervals. The lung-searing intensity paired with the heavy burning in the legs make them feel like pure torture.

The main issue here is, however, that most cyclists don’t know why they’re doing them. So it instantly causes thoughts like “Nah… HIT repeats today can mean only one thing: I will suffer like hell,” leaving them in pain before the session has even started. And most often, they also choose the wrong workout design they saw in a random post, leaving them even more clueless about HIT.

And yet, if done right, HIT intervals offer numerous benefits to cyclists of all levels.

For example, HIT intervals improve your stroke volume and maximum cardiac output, and as a result your VO2max. But that’s not all. You will also see an increase in plasma volume, helping you to better tolerate heat, as well as increased muscle capillarization, improving blood and oxygen delivery to muscles. Lastly, you will see improved lactate removal and muscle buffer capacity, which for me are important adaptations in anaerobic capacity by handling high acidosis.

Now, while HIT intervals target your maximum oxygen uptake, the critical component that drives most of the adaptations is riding at an effort that elicits 90% of your VO2max for more than 10 minutes. Research around this critical number goes back to the work done by French sport scientist Véronique Billat.

Here’s how to get there.

HIT IT

While you might have heard that 4×8 minutes have been shown to be the most effective HIT workout, I target 2-4 minute intervals with a total time between 12-24 minutes. Why? Because these shorter intervals have been proven to be long enough to drive the body toward VO2max, easier for most cyclists to pace due to shorter absolute time, and also applied by the best Kenyan long-distance runners in the real world.

Due to the intensity, recovery time should be equal to interval time. RPE will be between 8-9 of 10 and intervals should not completely feel all out. There is no need to stay-in-zone though. Instead, try to hit the highest average power for the day across all sets aligned to your RPE. So power range is just a suggestion.

For example, if you aim to do 5×3 minutes HIT and can hold 400 watts for 3 minutes at an RPE of 9, try to complete all intervals around 400 watts or slightly increase power from set to set, so that the last interval is 10-25 watts higher than the first. What you want to avoid is decreasing your power from set to set. This indicates poor pacing and means you started too fast.

Due to the severity of the effort, stick to 1 or occasionally 2 weekly HIT sessions.

Ultimately, I suggest doing them uphill because the incline will increase the workload and help you achieve a higher power output, helping you hit 90% of your VO2max more consistently – and research is backing this up.

Intermittent Intervals

The purpose of intermittent intervals is the same as the one for HIT intervals, except for a twist. In this interval style you break up the intervals in small chunks with brief recoveries like 30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy repeated for a certain amount that make up a set.

While studies suggest that if total time at intensity is matched there’s no difference in training response, intermittent intervals might recruit a higher percentage of your fast-twitch muscle fibers due to higher absolute power. Besides, some cyclists find it easier to focus on these short bouts only and jumping from surge to surge, instead of focusing on 3 minute intervals.

RPE again should be between 8-9 with total time being between 16-32 minutes. It’s important to choose at least 8 minute long sets to allow your body to ramp up toward VO2max and choose between a 1:1 or 2:1 work-to-rest ratio set depending on your fitness level. For example, a beginner should choose 30/30s while an advanced rider should go for 40/20s. I suggest you choose 130-140% to 55-60% of FTP for the 30/30s and 120-130% to 55-60% for the 40/20s and align that with your RPE.

Sprint Repeats

Lastly, we have sprint training. No matter if it’s a bunch sprint, a reduced bunch sprint, or simply your training group sprint, a strong finishing kick is important for every rider type.

Since a strong finishing sprint is attributed to your LT2 and type 1 muscle fibers, your absolute sprint power is dependent on your max power. So I’ll focus on the latter. Now, there’s two ways to improve your absolute sprint. On the one hand, strength training, on the other, sprint training. I’ll leave strength training out for another article.

When it comes to high power sprinting you want to improve the neuro-muscular connection and the muscle fiber recruitment. In other words, you want as many muscle fibers fire at the same time as possible.

To achieve that I prescribe sprints in the typical length of race sprints, which is 10-20 seconds. Effort level doesn’t matter as you go all-out or 10 out of 10 during the sprint. There’s no holding back and only all-out pacing counts. I other go for sprint only sessions or include sprints at the end of a hard ride to mimic race demands.

A Question of Recovery

One last thing many athletes overcomplicate is the intensity of the recovery periods. Quite frankly, it doesn’t matter. Just go easy. Something like 40-50% will get the job done. Hell, you could also do passive recoveries. There is little scientific evidence to suggest that active recovery promotes better lactate clearance than passive rest.

And now, go and do the damn intervals, they will be good for your cycling performance.

Become an Even Faster Cyclist With my Plans

If you enjoyed this and want to step up your training, my training plans are available on TrainingPeaks: