I needed to develop a short, intense session for an athlete due to the position they have found themselves in due to changes in COVID-19 restrictions where they live. This session targets a range of intensities in a limited time frame. This session is great to build your top-end intensity but also your ability to turn on the intensity with limited recovery and is great for both road cyclists and triathletes, as well as mountain biking.
Each Wednesday I’ll post a Windtrainer Workout 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.
With the recent change to the COVID-19 Lockdown levels in New Zealand, I received a number of messages from my athletes, particularly around access to swimming pools. Gareth who is based in Auckland, all of a sudden found himself having to juggle training, family commitments, and working from home. He no longer had the freedom to fit his training in as he liked and asked me if I could limit his training to about 30 minutes. This is the session I put together for him today. Hopefully, the COVID outbreak in Auckland has been caught by going hard early and this lockdown gets lifted later this afternoon.
Gareth’s 30min Lockdown Power Workout II
- 10min WU Level II;
- 4x 1min Level IV, 1min Level V, 45sec Level II RI;
- 10min CD Level II;
- 10min Stretching
Start the workout with a ten-minute Warm Up (WU) riding at Level II. Keep your cadence above 90Rpm for the warm-up.
The main set is made up of four reps, two minutes long with the first minute at Level IV and the second minute at Level V. Between reps you only get 45 seconds of Rest Interval (RI) riding at Level II. This is less than is normally recommended physiologically, but there are only four reps to get through.
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 having done the session:
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. Make sure you sign up for my informative newsletter.
Share this post so your friends can benefit as well.
Download the Garmin (.FIT) and Zwift (.ZWO) files for this workout for FREE
Get my Faster Cyclist 4 Week Challenge Training Plan with 25% off
4 weeks of training is all you need to do to destroy your current FTP significantly. On the average following, in this programme cyclists improve by 8% in the first month.
Some people have improved by more than 40 Watts following this programme!!!
Designed for Cyclists of ALL abilities who want to improve their FTP, the primary goal of this training plan is to make you FASTER. Choose the programme based on your ability. This programme is for cyclists that are comfortable riding between 1:20 and 2 hours in duration and want four sessions per week.
Lasting 4 weeks long this programme can start anytime. Each week includes 4 rides and a stretching session. Although not essential, I recommend using a heart rate monitor in conjunction with your power meter.
When purchasing, use the discount code “web25” to claim your 25% discount.
Prior to using this plan, you should be able to ride for up to one hour, and 20 minutes comfortably.
Purchase of this plan gives you access to my fortnightly coaching calls where you can ask me any training or racing-related questions.
When purchasing, use the discount code “web25” to claim your 25% discount.