The way to set up the last month of an athlete’s cycling training


is highly individual and particular to the goal event. The total number of rides an athlete might do will vary depending on the training load, but I typically have two key bike sessions per week in the period before a taper starts. one session is a longer ride and one is harder ride. Depending on the nature of the race, one of these sessions basically targets race-specific fitness while the other develops a broader cycling fitness.


Race Distance Key Ride 1 Sprint


olympic


race-specific intervals race-specific intervals


half Ironman Threshold Intervals Ironman


Tempo intervals


Key Ride 2 Long ride Long ride Long ride Long ride


race-specific intervals are based around the intensity the


athlete will likely ride during an upcoming sprint and/or olympic- distance triathlon. for faster athletes, the bike leg of these races will be done near threshold. Sprints are done most often right at or just under threshold while olympic-distance races typically fall in the range of 90-95 percent of threshold based on power averages. Typical main sets that I use for sprint triathlon workouts, after


an appropriate warm-up, include 3x8 minutes at threshold with 2 minutes easy riding between, 2x10 minutes at threshold with 2-5 minutes easy between or 3x6 minutes at about 5 percent over threshold with 4 minutes easy between. for olympic-distance races, I typically include similar threshold type sessions but swap longer intervals slightly below threshold for those of the sprint that were over threshold, such as 3x12 minutes near threshold effort with 3 minutes easy riding between. Long rides for sprint and olympic-distance racers vary depending on their goals — i.e. complete versus compete — but


I set out to have the athlete ride the longest rides at or a bit over the expected time the entire race will take to complete. for the half-Ironman athlete, threshold intervals are much like


those used for shorter distances. Increase duration for some of these sessions and lower interval intensity slightly so that they might include 2x20 at high tempo/low threshold effort with 5 minutes easy between. Long rides for the half Ironman athlete are a huge range, from 3-5 hours depending on their speed, fitness and available training time. Typically I like rides to equal planned race duration but am comfortable down to about 75 percent. At the Ironman level, the most race-specific and important


session is the long ride. Intensity work has a place in the Ironman training program as maintaining threshold can have a significant influence on Ironman performance. I often include the tempo intervals noted above within longer rides and include other short-term intervals, with larger recovery intervals, in the speed session, a kind of two pronged assault on Ironman bike fitness. During taper periods, I maintain much of the patterns


established with regular training but drop the total amount of training time while maintaining some intensity within the program. Those last weeks into your athletes’ goal races are a critical time, but with planning, dialogue and attention to detail, you can take their cycling to new levels of excellence.


Jason Digman, Ph.D. is a USA Triathlon Level I Certified Coach and a USA Cycling Level II Certified Coach. He is the head coach and founder of Dig It Triathlon and Multisport (found online at www.digittri.com). A leading expert on the application of power and pace to multisport training and racing, Jason is also a proud member of the PhysFarm Coaching Consortium, a round table group dedicated to bringing the latest in exercise to the lives of endurance athletes. For questions or comments, feel free to email him at Jason@digittri.com.


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