Bike Training Sessions Flashcards
Volume of Cycling
IRONMAN
For the novice 24-week IRONMAN training plan, the volume of cycling starts with a total of 3.5 hours in the first week and progresses to a maximum of 7 and three-quarters hours on the peak cycling week.
IRONMAN 70.3
For the novice IRONMAN 70.3 plan, the volume of cycling starts at 2 hours per week and peaks at 5 hours per week.
It is important to note that rather than using distances (in miles or kilometers) the plan is based on hours to account for the variation in athlete’s abilities.
Duration and Frequency of Cycling Sessions
To start the novice 24 week IRONMAN plan the athlete must be able to bike consecutively for 1.5 hours.
To start the novice IRONMAN 70.3 training plan the athlete must be able to bike consecutively for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Athletes who are not currently exercising at the levels prescribed in these plans will need additional weeks of building cycling endurance prior to starting their IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 training.
The frequency of cycling sessions is dependent on the athletes level of experience, time availability, physical capabilities and goals.
At a minimum, athletes should be scheduled with two key cycling sessions per week: a longer low to medium intensity ride and a shorter higher intensity ride.
If time and fitness allows for additional bike rides, athletes may be prescribed additional supporting sessions. These sessions should be kept at a lower intensity and used to improve form and technique. For example the novice IRONMAN plan, suggested a minimum of three rides per week.
You will learn more about scheduling the weekly sessions in the Developing Training Plans module.
Goals Shift Throughout Training Plan
General Preparation
During the general prep phase the focus is to build endurance and improve cycling form and technical skills. This is a good time to work with novice cyclists on bike handling skills and basic bike maintenance.
Specific Preparation
Toward the end of the general prep sub phase into the specific prep sub phase, training sessions should incorporate additional resistance to build muscular strength. During this time it is important to focus on practicing tactical skills such as transitions during the brick sessions, or pacing and nutrition on the longer rides.
Pre-Competition
With a baseline of endurance and strength, in the pre-competition sub phase the bike training sessions will incorporate elements of power and sustained speed while continuing to work on race day tactics.
Competition
The competition phase has a greater emphasis on race-specific intensity, and race day tactics such as pacing, on-bike nutrition and transitions.
Taper
During the taper, reducing the volume of cycling while maintaining a high intensity has proven to be effective in stimulating gains in performance. The amount of time allocated for the taper depends on the distance of the event, the priority of the event and the athlete’s fitness level.
Continuous vs. Interval Training
The majority of sessions within all the training phases will feature a steady state bike ride, where athletes ride at a prescribed intensity for a specified period of time.
However some interval training is recommended to increase cardiovascular fitness.
Interval training involves an alternation of timed, well-defined “work” intervals of high-quality cycling with timed or measured “recovery” intervals of easier cycling. The duration of work and recovery within an interval depends on the training session objectives and intensity level.
Review the definitions related to interval training before continuing.
Technical and Tactical Objectives
Techniques Bike training techniques include: cadence drills, pacing drills, pedal stroke drills, eating and drinking during cycling and bike handling drills.
Tactics
Practice holding pace, cadence and/or power under various conditions (e.g. hills, wind)
Practice T1 and T2 transitions
Practice passing another rider and falling back from the draft zone
Practice race day nutrition and nutrient timing strategies
Endurance Rides
Comprise a long bike ride completed at a steady pace and moderate aerobic intensity
Help to build endurance
“Long” is relative to the athlete: novice athletes will have shorter sessions than more experienced athletes
Threshold Rides
The goal of threshold ride sessions is to increase the length of time the athlete can maintain higher speeds on the bike. These sessions also increase the speed sustained for longer durations and help to develop power and endurance.
A threshold ride consists of one or two blocks of riding at threshold-intensity during a ride of moderate aerobic intensity. If the ride incorporates two of these blocks, athletes should spend ten minutes between the blocks riding at moderate intensity in low gears and higher than normal RPM.
Intervals
Speed interval sessions are used to develop efficiency at high speeds. Athletes should perform speed intervals at the fastest pace they can keep through the end of the prescribed interval without slowing down.
Speed intervals should be performed on indoor trainers or outdoors on flat terrain.
When incorporating speed interval sessions, the rest of the training session should be performed at low- to moderate- intensity.
Steady-State Rides
Steady-state sessions consist of a longer ride performed at a high aerobic intensity.
Steady-state rides are most useful during the end of the base-building phase to help build aerobic capacity and endurance growth during foundation and long rides.
Additionally, they are beneficial to incorporate during the end of the peak phase because the intensity of these rides is close to race intensity at longer distances.
Hill Climbing
Hill climbing sessions temper the body to climb more effectively.
These sessions involve climbing hills of varied grade and length. If no hills are available, athletes can use bigger gears to create more pressure on the pedals or cycle into the wind for more resistance. Short hill climbs consist of short climbing intervals performed at speed intensity and build the ability to climb faster and more efficiently with less recovery.
Long hill climbs help athletes improve their ability to sustain a high effort level on climbs and should be performed at a slightly lower intensity than short hill climbs. These sessions should be included once per week or every two weeks.
Brick Sessions
The goal of brick sessions is to prepare the athlete to make the transition from the bike leg of the event to the run leg. These sessions condition the athlete to switch between disciplines more efficiently while recovering from the previous exercise.
In terms of biking, a brick training session is made up of a bike/run training session. For example, a five-mile bike ride followed by a one-mile run, repeated four times. This basic structure would change based on the needs of the athlete and the phase of training.
Group Sessions
Group-training sessions give athletes the opportunity to practice pack-riding skills in order to become more successful during road races. Not only will athletes hone their own fitness and bike handling skills, but they will also learn how to safely ride in close proximity to others.
Monitoring Intensity in Cycling Sessions
The key to successful steady-state and interval workouts is careful monitoring of training intensity of the workout.
Training intensity can be both a qualitative and quantitative measure of how much effort is utilized during a training session. Intensity measurement varies according to sport and mode of training. For instance, a coach and athlete may define cycling intensity by pace (i.e., miles or kilometers per hour), Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE), percent target threshold heart rate, or percent functional threshold power.
Together, the athlete and coach should identify the specific intensity measures based on the athlete’s preferences and access/comfort with monitoring technology.
Progressing Volume
The progression of cycling volume should allow time for the athlete’s body to adapt to the training stressors. For example, notice the first two weeks in this plan start at a total of 3.5 hours, followed by a lower volume of 2 and one-quarter hours in the third week.
The starting volume and peak cycling volumes are based on the race distance, the number or weeks from the start to the peak cycling week, and the athlete’s fitness level. Typically a novice endurance cyclist will need a longer time to ramp up the cycling volume than a more experienced athlete.
To plan the cycling volumes calculate the number of weeks (or microcycles) the athlete has to reach the peak cycling volume. (In this plan the athlete has 17 weeks to reach the peak cycling volume. If there is more than one week at the highest weekly volume, adjust the progression accordingly so the athlete can bike the expected volume at the appropriate microcycle.
As each mesocycle progresses, the average volume of cycling in the mesocycle increases. As a guideline, a gradual increase in weekly cycling volume, no more than 10-15%, should be followed to prevent injury and overtraining.
Progressing Intensity
The intensity of cycling training sessions also increases along with training volume, but more gradually. For example, in the novice IRONMAN training 70.3 plan, the intensity starts at a Level 2 and reaches a Level 4.
