Turbo training

First thing to set out is
First thing to set out is what your goal is (I know you’ve said you want to go faster) but it depends on whether you’re racing or not as to how strict a program you think you’ll need.

Best approach is not to complicate it, use the basic periodised training model and work from there. Don’t go balls out over winter since you wont make it past spring before you’re burned out.

Also write down a rough outline of your plan so you have a basic structure to work from, more often than not that’s where most people fall down – they veer off plan and end up making little progress for a lot of random physical effort. Don’t keep caning the intervals and hard-core sessions all the time – do them periodically to steadily build your threshold power (I see enough PT clients who are on their knees after a few months from trainers who have constantly thrashed them with high intensity training since it seems to be the in thing in the fitness industry at the moment).

I’ve adapted a few of the sections out of Chris Carmichael’s (Time crunched cyclist) and Joe Friel’s training programs. I don’t race, I just like to be quick enough to comfortably pedal a fast club run, do a decent 90-100mile sportive here and there and not get dropped on a 20+min climb. There are some longer steady state sessions which you can use for basic tempo/ build work as well. For a week or two every couple of months you can do some max power interval work (40s-20s, 30s-30s on/off etc). Just remember to listen to your body, when it says enough is enough then it’s time to give yourself a rest.

I am in training now for the
I am in training now for the greatest physical challenge of my life. Next June I will be riding 6 Cols in three days (I struggle on normal hills) so a TT programme was key.

I use a combo of Trainer Road and Sufferfest however I decided to employ a coach as the key is building up correctly. It does cost, I make no bones about it but Trainer Road is very cheap if I presume you already have a supported TT and the right sensors.

Sufferfest is very good for those days you want to hurt 🙂 I do one every couple of weeks or so.

Gizmo_ wrote:Does anyone know

Gizmo_ wrote:

Does anyone know a catalogue of GCN videos? When I go on Youtube I can never find their stuff in any sort of order.

Just do the 20 minute studio interval one. Repeat indefinitely.

Does anyone know a catalogue
Does anyone know a catalogue of GCN videos? When I go on Youtube I can never find their stuff in any sort of order.

The place to start is with a
The place to start is with a question: “fitter/faster/better for what specifically?” Unless you know where you want to go, there’s little chance you’ll find the best way to get there.

A plan that focuses on sprint power won’t be effective for endurance, and a plan that focuses on endurance won’t be an effective way to improve your sprint power.

I suggest you think first about the events/situations where you want to be better, work out what intensity/durations those situations demand, then look at what you’re getting from your existing training, and adjust/fill gaps with targeted turbo time accordingly.

Many of the above software/plan/website suggestions can do this (I use TrainerRoad, TrainingPeaks AND a coach), but first you need to know *why*, then progress to *what*, and then lastly *how*.

David Arthur wrote:Plus, you

David Arthur wrote:

Plus, you can easily make up your own interval sessions, you don’t need an app or website. Depending on what you’re trying to achieve, 30secs on/30secs off are a good one, or you could do 1min on/30secs off, or 5mins on and 2mins off.

You can make up your own but, especially when starting out, I believe that using a subscription service like TrainerRoad is a better bet. Once you know what you’re doing a bit more, then maybe that’s the time to roll your own – but using TrainerRoad as an example, there are quite of number of training plans, some of which are targeted at what the OP is looking to do, which have already had the workouts and rest days mapped out and are all free once you have a subscription. At $10 / month that seems worth looking at at the very least (you can discontinue it at any time, your data and progress are saved and available if you decide to re-start it).

One thing to bear in mind with doing your own plan/intervals is that it only costs nothing if you don’t value your time. It is good to do some yourself IMO, i’ve done a few that reflect a very particular requirement, but i’m not convinced it’s necessarily worth it when you’re starting out.

David Arthur wrote:

Of course if you’re taking it seriously you probably want to speak to a coach and get a plan in place, based on the results of a ramp test

That’s nice but I think there’s a useful point between someone repeating a couple of Tabata drills over and over again when they think you should and hiring a coach 🙂 Something like TrainerRoad or one of the other paid/free online resources that use virtual power (or equivalent, assuming no power meter here) could be efficient and cost-effective in terms of time, monetary cost and (quite importantly) performance benefits.