Foldable Bikes Party: Smart weekly training for maximum performance

Monday, 17 October 2016

Smart weekly training for maximum performance

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This is a sponsored post in association with A1 Coaching.

Now you’ve learned about testing your threshold and setting your training zones, what does this mean for your weekly training programme?

If used properly it means that you will no longer be riding like the ‘headless chicken’, with no specific purpose or focus. It also means you won’t have to choose between your job, your partner and cycling, because you can get more performance on less time.

Cycling needn’t mean a lifestyle redesign

It is important for all of us to grasp that amateur cycling shouldn’t be about lifestyle redesign. We cycle for fun but enjoy the challenge of competition or fast sportives or gran fondos. As coaches in daily contact with numerous clients, we’re constantly mindful of our clients’ need to balance their training with family and work commitments, and have constantly found that this is possible with the right training formula.

When this system is highly refined it’s possible to be a top domestic rider while working 40 hours a week and having a family – if you know the system.

Therefore, in this post I want to share with you what a typical one-week training plan looks like for a time-crunched athlete and explain the rationale behind each workout.

Intensity vs duration

Click here for free access to A1 Coaching’s winter training video series

Science has debunked some traditional wisdoms

A sample week

WU – Warm up: designed to get blood flowing and raise one’s core body temperature.
MS – Main set: the core training prescription in the workout which is designed to induce a unique physiological response.
WD – Warm down which gently allows the body to return to a pre-exercise state and facilitates the clearance of metabolic waste products generated during rigorous activity