With your winter miles now in the bank, start sculpting race-ready speed, fitness and power with our high-intensity guide to stepping up your spring training
WORDS MARK BAILEY
Spring is here and it’s time to take your training up a gear. When the lambs start gambolling on fresh grass, and the birds are building nests, road cyclists should get ready to blossom and bloom. Those long, slow winter rides have given you a solid endurance base, but now you need some fresh spring growth. By ramping up your training intensity, and building your speed, power, VO2 max and lactate tolerance, you can transition from slow winter miles to sizzling spring speeds, so you hit the summer race season in red-hot form. Here we reveal the best spring sharpening workouts, and how to fortify your body as you pick up the pace. It’s time to leave winter behind, take a spring leap and enjoy your best summer yet.
01 RAMP UP YOUR REPEATABILITY
A 30:30 workout is an interval workout which specifically trains your ability to repeat hard efforts during races. “It would suit most riders sharpening up for the spring,” insists coach Matt Rowe (roweandking.com). “30:30 just means 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off.”
How will it help?
This interval workout develops your anaerobic, high-intensity capabilities ready for race season, but the main benefit lies in enhancing your ability to repeat those hard efforts. “You need that repeatability in any group ride, any road or circuit race, or any event with changes of pace,” explains Rowe. “It will also mean you can recover more quickly over the tops of climbs. And it’s good for riding in a group: when we ride on our own, we regulate our effort at a steady intensity, but in a group, the power surges. This will get you ready for racing in a peloton.”
Duration
30 mins in a 1 hour session
How to do it
Main session
This follows a 30-second on, 30-second off structure. “The ‘on’ should be about 130% FTP (functional threshold power - the average power that you can sustain for an hour) or max heart rate (100% HRM), and the off should be complete rest, at around just 80-100 watts,” says Rowe. Aim for 3 x 10 efforts as part of a longer one-hour workout.
The key is finding a pace you can sustain for the full 30-second effort. “Don’t stamp on the pedals or get out of the saddle,” suggests Rowe. “The power is high but not crazy high, so don’t overstep the mark, as too m
