Bike Training, going from Sprint - Olympic Tri

What type of training rides are you doing ?

• Intervals
• Hills
• Power
• Heart-rate
• Turbo / Indoor
• Road/TT Races
• Club/group rides
• Solo long rides
• 1hr – 6hr rides

There is a lot of different types of variations that will improve your overall race time.  On top of this you need to know what race distance you are planning to target to improve you time on Sprint, Olympic, Middle or Long.  For example let’s take your classic beginner triathlete that has done their first sprint tri and wanting to go into a couple of Olympic distance events next season.

First of all you need to find out how much time you have to train in general, not just for the bike but also swim and run.

Divide your workouts into different intensities, NOT all session same level.  You will need to figure out your intensity levels with the use of either heart-rate or power on the bike, to learn your effort levels.

Recommend that you look at doing.......

1. One long ride per week of 3hrs
2. One high intensity built into a workout (10-15min w-up,6 x 5min hard effort (95%) 2min easy spin Rest, 10min c-down)
3. Every 2 weeks - Hill training, this build strength, if you have a lack of hills, Ride a “BRO” session,  Big Ring Only,  staying in your front big chain ring for the whole of the ride with low cadence
4. During long ride do at least 1hr of race intensity (75-80%) during the ride of 3hr, and then include a brick run of 30min straight off the bike (15min race pace 15min easy)
5. 3-4 bike sessions a week is adequate amount for Olympic distance racing 

You can use these examples for all levels as no matter what level you are at you always will return back to basics at some time in your training programme.  Not only will your elements of fitness improve through the implementation of these sessions, but your technical ability of handling you bike and also pedal action will improve.  Making you more efficient, but you may also wish to look at your bike, bike set-up, wheels, bike shoes and also your transition T1/T2 plan and action.