waterrockets 

This is a copy of bdcheung's Google doc on the subject. The linked document is a living document, and I will update this first post every so often as workouts are added. If the last edit date for this post looks old, click the link above to make sure you're getting the latest copy.

Tempo Workouts:
Basic
90-240 mins at 75-78% FTP


SST Workouts:
Basic
90-180 mins at 85-88% FTP


Descending Pyramid
Warm up easy.
Do a descending pyramid of intervals, starting with 20:00 and working your way down, by cutting the time in half: This is 20:00; 10:00, 5:00, 2:30; 1:15; :45 Incorporate 3-5:00 of recovery in between each. Decide the effort you will repeat, having it be as near your 20:00 peak power value as possible, with a goal to bump it up a bit each time. Thereafter, cool down. If you have time constraints, stop after the 5:00 effort.


1x5 2x10 Workout
After warm up, do 1 x 5:00 effort in Zone 3-4, progressively increasing effort for the duration. Then ride easy at least 5:00 and do 2 x 10:00 in Zone 3, progressively increasing effort for the duration. Take 5-10min easy in between. Use various ways to work the effort. In this case, Jeff focused on keeping his cadence above 85 rpm, as this is his weakness. You can change it up, preferably focusing on your weakness.


Progressive Sweet Spot Challenge
The goal is to begin at 101-105% of threshold power and hold as long as possible, dropping back a few watts as fatigue sets in. She continues to hold the efforts as long as possible over the course of 45-60 minutes. At the end of the duration, she finishes with 3 x 4min Zone 1 & 4min Zone 4, then cooling down.


3-Minute Repeatable Power Efforts
Warm Up Easy Zone 1.
3 x (3x3:00X1:00) efforts with 1 min rest in between, and 2:00 complete rest between each full set.
Ride your first 3x3:00 efforts at a high cadence of 85+ in Zone 3 in a gear that doesn’t cause fatigue. Do not change gears during the effort. Perform your second 3x3:00 efforts in a bigger gear, still trying to work at 85+ rpm. The intensity will feel harder. Do the third 3x3 efforts in a bigger gear yet, still trying to keep cadence at 85+ rpm. This will feel very hard. It is likely that the cadence will drop as you near the end of the 3min, but battle to keep it up. Ride remaining time easy.

Threshold Workouts:
STUCI / Friel Pacing Intervals
After warm-up do a 10-minute work interval at just below functional threshold power (FTP). This is roughly the equivalent of your lactate or anaerobic threshold power. If you have done my CP30 self-test or know your actual CP60 from a race then that is what you would use for a power level on this first interval. So if your FTP (or self-test CP30 or CP60 or AT/LT power) is 250 watts try to make this first one 245-249w. You may find it very difficult to do this if you are not good at pacing. Watch your power meter very closely.
Recover for 2 minutes by spinning easily. Check your average power for the first interval.
Do an 8-minute work interval at a slightly higher power than the first. So let's say you averaged 248w on #1. For#2 try to average 250w.
Recover for 2 minutes and again check your average power for interval #2.
If the average power on #2 was higher than for #1 then repeat the 8-minute interval. If the power for #2 was lower than for #1 subtract 2 minutes and make this a 6-minute interval. Again, try to beat the power of the previous interval, but only slightly.
Recover 2 minutes and check power for the third interval the same as before.
If the power for #3 was higher than for #2 repeat the same duration as #3. If it was less subtract 2 minutes.
Recover. Check previous interval power.
Continue with this same process until your interval becomes 4 minutes. This is the last one regardless of what happens.
That's a good session so your ME should be nicely challenged. But you also know you need to focus on pacing. The fact that you are fading as the workout progresses gives you a good idea of what also happens in a race. Learn to hold back at the start and you will maintain a much higher average power and produce a faster race.

If you are good at pacing (and have your FTP correct) then the work intervals may have totaled 36 or more minutes. That's excellent.


Hour of Power
10min. warm-up;
60min. @ 80-95% FTP
every 90 sec or so, shift down, stand up, SURGE for ~30”.
10min. cool-down


Terrible 20's
10min. warm-up;
One rep =
20min. @90% of FTP with last 2min. thereof being @110% of FTP
Do 2-3 reps with 5-10min. @ L2 between the reps;
10min. cool-down.


ZeCanon Intervals
Good warmup (that's a given)
5 or 6 x 5' @ 103-108% FTP
60" rest between intervals
Cool down

The goal, as I've said before, is optimal (maximal) fiber recruitment. The first two feel easy - your anaerobic system is providing a good portion of the power. 3-end, you have exhausted anaerobic power and are relying entirely on the aerobic system.

Basically the first two are simply prepping your system, and are not providing any threshold gains in and of themselves. Gains in studies have been on the order of 2-3x standard 20min intervals. My favorite intervals by far.


Drive for the Line
10min. warm-up;
20min. @85% of FTP;
5min. @70% of FTP;
5min. @100% of FTP with last 30sec. thereof @140%+ of FTP;
5min. @70% of FTP;
5min. @100% of FTP with last 30sec. thereof @140%+ of FTP;
10min. cool-down.


20/5 Threshold Session
This session is based off of Threshold Power.
Warm up Zone 1 Easy.
20:00 @ 80% (as fitness increases, increase to 85%, 90%, 95%)
4 x 5:00 easy and 5:00 @ 85%, repeating without hesitation. (as fitness increases, increase to 90%, 95%, 100%) Ride remaining time easy and cool down.


15-5-15-1 Threshold Booster
Warm Up in Zone 1 (easy).
Based on a 10 min Power Test or your 10 Peak Power Value, do 4 intervals at a percentage of your test/value results. Take 5min rest in between.
Interval #1: 15:00 @ 80%
Interval #2: 5:00 @ 90%
Interval #3: 15:00 @ 80%
Interval #4: 3-6 x 1:00 @ 101%+ with 1:00 rest in between. Attempt to build each effort, by increasing watts just a tad more than the last.
Cool Down in Zone 1 (easy)


Criss Cross Threshold
Warm up at least 10 minutes and then ramp yourself up gradually to 75% of your threshold power over the course of 10 minutes. Now do a 7 minute Criss Cross Threshold interval as: 2:00 above threshold; 1:00 at 80-85% threshold; 2:00 above threshold; 1:00 80-85% threshold and 1:00 above threshold. Then ride easy 5min and repeat for a total of 3-5x, based on time available.


4.5 and Drive
10min. warm-up;
Ride at 70% of FTP (189)
Every 4.5min. go @140% of FTP (378) for 90sec. (so total of 6min.) and that is one rep and you continue that for 10 reps (total of 60min) never letting things go below the 70% of FTP base level;
10min. cool-down.


Drive for 5
10min. warm-up;
One rep =
5min. @110% of FTP then 2min. @60% of FTP
Do 3 reps per set and 2 sets with 10min. @ L2 between the sets.
10min. cool-down.

Shovelhd Intervals:
80-90% for an hour, with all-out 20" sprints every 5' with no recovery (at the end of the sprint, fall back to your previous target).

Variation: 1' all-out every 5' instead of the 20".

VO2max Workouts:
5x5x5 Hill Workouts
Good Warmup
5 sets of:
5 minutes hard
5 minutes rest
Shoot for negative splits on the intervals - i.e., each progressive interval should be done at a higher power than the last. Last interval should be all-out. Last interval should be 20w higher than first.


Plus-30
Good warmup
3' @ 113%, 2-4' rest
Add 30" each additional interval. Maintain 113% power. See how long you can last.
Cool down.

Fat Boy Intervals
Tried something new today. I made up a workout based on a running workout I read about. The idea was hi-intensity and reduced recovery time between intervals. The study showed an increase in the release of growth hormone when doing the workout this way as opposed to doing it the other way.

Anyway, my workout went like this:

5' @ 110% ftp
5' rest
4' @ 115% ftp
4' rest
3' @ 120% ftp
3' rest
2' @ 125% ftp
2' rest
1' @ 150% ftp (max)
1' rest
30" @ 150+% ftp (max)

Total work time was 15 1/2 minutes. Not a huge time commitment. I wasn't really feeling super today, but I'm on the road tomorrow mid-day, so today was my last chance to do it this week. I hit the 5 and 4 minute bogies. Missed the 3 and 2 power bogies by a little. The hit the 1 and 30 sec. bogies. I think if you did this right, that hitting all the bogies wouldn't be _that_ tough. I just wasn't 100%. Maybe the workout isn't tough enough, I don't know. I can tell you my legs feel like it was, that's for damn sure.

Anaerobic Capacity Workouts:
Waterrockets Intervals (WRIs)
Solid warmup
6 sets of:
1' interval:
Solid sprint to start off the interval, and hold max intensity until the end
5 minutes rest
Limp home


Pyramid Intervals
Good Warmup
"On" Intervals of 1-1-2-5-2-1-1 minutes
5 minutes rest in between
Cool down


Tabata Intervals
Set:
20" sprint
10" rest
Do 8 sets (4 minutes total) for a block.
Rest 4 minutes between block
Do as many blocks as possible.


Halvsies
Take a nice long warm up. Then do:
2 x 30s; 2 x 20s; 3 x 10s; 3 x 5s . Your effort is at your hardest effort. You can use your peak power values for the same duration, as your carrot to chase if you want Ride the rest of the workout easy.


30 Second Efforts
This session is based on work intervals with only 30 sec of rest in between. You begin by doing 30 sec efforts, but over time (weeks/months) you progress to 45 seconds and then 1:00. Warm up at least 10 minutes.

Do as many repetitions as possible of 30 sec of all out work (not so hard that you can’t finish the 30 sec) and 30 sec rest, without hesitation, shooting for 10 total. No worries if you cannot do 10 in a row at first. This is merely your goal to shoot for. The first few are going to feel much better than the rest, as the fatigue of repetition will set in. Afterwards, ride easy. You can then throw in a few more efforts if you really want, but it’s not necessary. Repeat every 10 days. When you can do 10 in a row, change the timing to 45 seconds. When you can do 10 of those in a row, then change it up to 1:00.


Strength Workouts:
Ascending Pyramid
Warm up on the bike in Zone 1. Then do an Ascending Pyramid of work for 2:00; 3:00; 4:00 and 5:00, with 2:00 recovery in between each. The work effort is done at the highest load/biggest gear that you can hold at 60 rpm. Noodle the legs in Zone 1 for a few minutes and then hop off the bike, making your way to the treadmill. Repeat the same ascending pyramid focus. The work effort on the treadmill is done at the highest grade you can sustain for the duration. Finish on the bike, repeating the ascending pyramid. You can also repeat the treadmill work if time permits; otherwise cool down.

Stomps & WindUps
Warm Up for 10 minutes and then do 4 x 5 minute efforts as follows: 10 seconds of stomping hard on the pedals and 20 second of easy pedaling, repeating without hesitation for the whole 5 minutes. You’ll need to add active recovery in between each 5minute effort, for 3- 5 minutes. With each set, shoot for a bit higher power output than the previous. Then for the rest of the ride, incorporate 10 wind-ups with at least 5 minutes in between each. To initiate, shift to a bigger gear and unleash an acceleration out of the saddle for 10 seconds. Again, try to shoot for a bit higher power output with each. Be sure to cool down a while before ending your session, as they’ll be a lot of toxins to flush out!


Bike-Specific Strength Circuit
Warm up on the bike easy Zone 1.
Then do an 8:00 force intervals interval as:
2:00 gradually building to highest load you can sustain at 70rpm
1:00 standing in that same gear (change cadence as needed)
2:00 back to the saddle in biggest load you can sustain 70 rpm
1:00 standing in that same gear
1:00 back in the saddle in that same gear
1:00 spin legs out easy, easy, easy. That is a total of 8:00.
Then, hop off bike & do as many walking lunges as possible for 1:00. If you do not have space to walk the lunge, just do them in place, but make sure you are always switching lead legs. Then hop back on the bike and spin the legs out easy for 3:00. Now REPEAT the 8:00 force interval and lunges for a total of 4-6x, or as time as time allows. Finish with an easy cool down on the bike.

Zones, Training Stress, and Adaptations

Read the Training Levels article here.

Great chart: