TRAINING
We offer our 11 surefire training tips guaranteed to get you finishing faster in 2018.
MEASURED PERFORMANCE
Objectively monitoring riding intensity, using heart rate, power or a combination of both, should be high on your list of priorities. “Without this feedback, you’ll ride too hard when you should be going easy and not push hard enough when you need to,” says coach Nikalas Cook. “Set accurate and personalised training zones based on a Threshold Test – you can find the protocol and a zone calculator on the British Cycling website ( britishcycling.org. uk) – and use these zones to ensure you’re always riding at the optimal intensity for performance and training gains.”
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Power meters are becoming more affordable but heart rate monitors are cheaper and the easiest way to measure training intensity.
INTERVAL INCENTIVE
Steady rides, while important, aren’t the most efficient use of time if you’re pushed for training hours. Cue sprint intervals. “You can boost leg strength and speed by using different gearing,” explains Dr Pete Giddings of Honed Coaching ( honedcoaching. com), “but it’s important to give it full gas.”
For the first 10 to 15 seconds after a change in pace you’ll engage sprint muscles to keep up, so you need to train them. There’s also evidence that short duration, high-intensity efforts help to redistribute your glycogen stores more efficiently. The efforts act as a trigger to ensure that working muscles have a supply of energy. “If you’re riding alone, introduce a 10-second sprint every 10 minutes and make it an all-out effort,” adds Giddings. “Look to complete eight to 10 sprints during the ride, so always ensure you leave enough time to recover properly so you can hit the right level every time.
“If you’re with friends, the ‘sign sprint’ is a fun way of introducing these efforts to your ride. You must have an agreement to only start the sprint with something like 200m to go, though, and you don’t need to sprint for every sign! You still need to build in recovery time between efforts.” TRY THIS Changes in pace can happen at any time, so try to space your 10-second full gas efforts evenly throughout your longer rides.
SKILLS TO PAY THE BILLS
“It’s no use being able to deliver a set wattage for a set time on the turbo trainer if you then can’t replicate that on the road, in a group with your hand in your back pocket searching for a gel,” says Giddings. “For racers the ability to ride smartly and safely in a bunch is crucial, but it’s hugely beneficial to sportive riders as well because a good group working together can mean more mph for less effort.
“If you feel that holding a wheel in a bunch is a weakness, don’t try to correct it by jumping straight into a fast moving group and hoping for the best. Instead, get together with a couple of friends of similar ability who you trust and, taking turns on the front, practise riding at close proximity until you’re comfortable with it. Once happy with that, head out with a bigger group and increase competence – and confidence – when surrounded by numerous riders.”
Giddings also suggests practising techniques such as pulling out and putting back your drinks bottle, eating, clipping in and moving from sitting to standing and back again. “Use your training rides to work on core skills as well as your strength and fitness and your performances will undoubtedly improve.”
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On steady sections of your rides, practise taking your bottle, drinking then returning it to its cage without looking down.
HAVE A PLAN
“If you’ve established training zones and are following a structured training plan, every ride or session should have a clear purpose,” says Cook.
Wattbike’s Eddie Fletcher refers to the 2x20-minute training session that’s been at the heart of many training plans. This session involves riding 20 minutes at threshold (the maximum effort you can sustain for an hour), spinning an easy gear for 5 minutes and then doing another 20 minutes at threshold.
“I would build up to threshold over a four-week block,” says Fletcher. “Ride week one at a moderate effort (zone 2-3), week two at zone 3 (the upper end of what’s comfortable) and week three at threshold, before returning to zone 2-3 in week four.”
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Tailor the majority of sessions to a particular purpose and understand why you’re doing them. Motivation comes from knowing that what you’re doing is working.