Three great ways to make some big bike gains are to work on your handling skills, press the power down uphill and accelerate out of corners.
For the latter – acceleration and being able to get the power back up to speed – a great way to do this is to complete a set of microburst intervals. These efforts can be between 10-30secs but need to be full gas to maximise the effect. Try and do these outside when you can, so you can really maximise the power. On a triangle loop also works well, so you have three sets of corners to work
on your skill set.
‘Why should I do bursts’, you ask, ‘I’m a triathlete?’ Well, they’re a great way to attack different muscle groups, work on your skillset and adapt to better pacing.
What muscles do you use and tone when cycling?
Improve your cycling technique for standing uphill climbs
When you look at the overall effort, you’ll be working at 85-90% of your threshold, but the great thing about this session is that the next day your body won’t feel smashed.
Aim to complete around 8-10 sets over a two-month period, and on a road bike to really maximise power transfer.
THE ACCELERATION TRAINING SESSION
Microbursts – maximal efforts, sprint out of the saddle, power the pedals, no control. Hit it hard!
WARM-UP
15mins easy@90-100rpm
MAIN SET
30mins moderate
Every 4:40mins do microburst intervals out of the saddle for 20secs max effort
COOL-DOWN
15mins easy @90-100rpm
Adapt for beginners
Change the 20secs fully out of the saddle to 10secs out/10secs in. Once the body gets stronger, try and complete the whole duration out of the saddle.
Adapt for Ironman
Increase the 20secs to 30secs and build the blocks every week up to a 1hr maximum duration.
MORE BIKE SESSIONS