THE 10HR PER WEEK TRAINING PROGRAM.
10hrs per week training program!
THE FASTEST WAY TO USE THE AIRHUB TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE.
Time is the eternal killer. "If only i had more time!" you shout "The things i could achieve!"
Here at Terrain Dynamics we understand that time is the final thing that limits your performance. If you had all day to go training then you would not be hanging around in Div.3 with these other old guys.
The biggest thing that separates amateurs and professionals is the amount of hours they do each week.
The performance pyramid looks something like this
1) Putting your shoes on and riding your bike.
2) Riding your bike hard
3) Riding your bike longer than everyone else.
Everyone who races their bike or turns a pedal in anger on the morning bunch ride have the first 2 covered. Yet the guys who consistently win races, or tear apart the local bunch ride are the ones who work on their number 3. Duration.
As we have seen in earlier blog posts, 10% increase in average riding power can double our effective weekly training time. 30w of AIRhub resistance can double your effective weekly training hours and take you to the top of your grade very rapidly.
3 DIFFERENT TYPES OF CORE SESSIONS.
For someone working a busy week i like to prescribe 3 basic sessions. Its good to keep the sessions similar each week. This way the sessions can be effectively implemented on a morning commute and improvements can be monitored from session to session.
2hrs hard endurance - these will build the long term fitness and are the most important set of the week. This is the ride that will ultimately double your fitness. Try sit at a “Hard pace” for the whole 2hrs. Maybe around the 140 to 150bpm mark (75%-85%). This will change with comfort and fatigue. This is not a time trial but you want to feel a strong consistent load in your legs. The AIRhub is perfect for this. These efforts build a strong base of fitness and are what makes the biggest difference to your long term fitness. Anaerobic changes come and go, but these big sessions will keep you fit long term. As you get fitter each week your power output on these rides will continue to increase. Sometimes up to 10 watts per week.
1hr session with 40s hill sprints. 40s on - 30s to 1 min off, 4x reps, 3 sets 10 – 15 min between sets. This session builds muscle power. These are all out efforts – vo2 max style. Try to do them on a steep hill. 40s up, turn around and roll back to your start point, then bang, go again. The aim is to achieve the highest average power for the 4 reps of 40s. These are going to cause the most muscle damage each week but will help drive top end power and allow you to power over the small climbs in the group rides.
2hr Group ride. If you have time, add in a 2hr group ride in there on the weekend for a social, skills and intermittent power aspect.
RACE PREPARATION PHASE;
2hr session with 3x 8min efforts. This session converts the power efforts into longer duration. Try to execute the best set of 3x8 min reps as possible. Use your power meter to gauge your effort and weekly progress. If you want to miss a session, miss this one. Use the AIRhub for this session if you don’t have any consistent climbs.
The most important session of the week are the 2hr hard endurance.
Normally riders focus on the High intensity session and forgo the endurance rides. This is fine for a general training program as endurance rides are normally completed at a pace that is so slow it doesn't generate significant adaptations. The above training program pushes the endurance rides into the light as one of the most important sessions on the program. In all physiology literature, exercise competed below 70% max heart rate is considered recovery pace, yet cyclists spend most of their endurance training in this zone. Training with the AIRhub puts you right back into the aerobic zone and every single time you step on the bike you will improve. This This is why we see such massive performance gains as soon as endurance AIRhub riding is included in a training program.
This is an example training week.
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 1hrs with hill sprints
Wednesday: 2hrs hard endurance, (or 2hrs with 3x8 minute efforts)
Thursday: 2hrs hard endurance
Friday: rest day.
Saturday: Bunch ride or 2hrs endurance
Sunday: 2hr Bunch ride
Feel free to customize the above to how you feel. Each person will respond differently to load and how much rest they need.
Goodluck! If you use this program and have any success stories please be sure to let me know.
Cheers,
Michael Freiberg ,
