CP-2-15 Power Intervals (5) 15”x3’ ZNA
Workout intended for: racers, strong recreational riders, this is an advanced workout and not intended for beginner riders.
Total Workout Time: 42-60 Minutes
This workout will help build power and strength on the bike. The workout consists of (5) 15 second hard efforts followed by 3 minute recovery in-between. If you are feeling strong after the first set feel free to do a second set or until you have had enough. This is a hard workout but the efforts are short so hang in there!
Warm-up: Begin with a progressive 15 minute warm-up. You will bring up your HR to Z3 before you begin the main workout.
Warm-up Example:
Z1 for 5’ – Cadence between 80-95
Z2 for 4’ – Cadence between 90-110
Z3 for 4’ – Cadence between 95-115 (higher cadence preferred)
Z2 for 2’ – Cadence between 90-110
Begin main workout or if needed warm-up a bit longer
Main Workout: ~16-32 minutes
Main workout Notes:
1. Indoors: Find a hard gear (52 x 14 or similar) where the resistance is high yet you are capable of maintaining it for 15 seconds. Try to keep your cadence well above 50 rpms for the 15". Prior to the 15" effort, make sure you spend ~10-15 seconds ramping your speed up prior to starting the hard effort. Recover in an easy gear for 3 minutes prior to starting the next 10" interval. Repeat until you have completed (5) 15" intervals (1 main set). Your HR for those 15" efforts is not applicable (NA), our focus here is a pure 15 second power / strength workout only, not the time spent in the HR zone. However make sure your HR comes down in the 3' recovery portion.
2. Outdoors: Follow the same approach as indoors however complete this on a hill with a 7-10 percent grade. Climb hard for 15" (in the big gear) then turn around and coast back down to recover. Repeat this 5 more times.
3. Pay close attention to your knees and how much stress they are under. Don't over-do-it with too big of a gear. The gear should be hard and stress you but not to the point of feeling pain in the knee joint, only in the muscles.
4. The timed interval begins once you shift up to the harder gear (each interval), not when your HR reaches a certain level. Downshift to an easier recovery gear once you have completed each interval. Note: your HR will still be elevated during the early portion of your recovery time, this is OK. We are measuring the interval times by the increase in workload, not by the amount of time your HR is in the training zones.
5. If you are unable to complete all 5 intervals, that is OK, this is a very hard workout and physically and mentally you need to be ready to complete this. Complete as many as you can with quality efforts. As your fitness improves in the coming weeks / months you will be able to complete all of the intervals.
6. If you had no problem completing all 5 and want to do more, feel free to complete 1 more set after a 15-20 minute recovery spin, but do not complete more than 10 intervals (2 sets) for this workout.
Workout Example:
Interval #1: 15” in Z5+ x 3’ recovery in Z2-Z3
Interval #2: 15” in Z5+ x 3’ recovery in Z2-Z3
Interval #3: 15” in Z5+ x 3’ recovery in Z2-Z3
Interval #4: 15” in Z5+ x 3’ recovery in Z2-Z3
Interval #5: 15” in Z5+ x 3’ recovery in Z2-Z3
Main workout complete – begin cool-down
Cadence for main workout:
Z5+ efforts = Above 50 rpm (be careful of your knees)
Z2-Z3 efforts = 80-110 rpm
Cool-Down: Z1 for 10 minutes
Cadence for cool-down: 80-100