The ability to cycle fast is a result of several components: Strength and
core strength, bike fit, specific muscular endurance, general stamina, and fast-twitch/slow-twitch crossover
neuromuscular training. These are listed in this order because these are what
I feel to be the order of importance. Note: The info here may be useful for pure cyclists, but it is
written with time-trialing in mind, not pack riding and furious sprint
finishes. Click here
for a brief explanation of training zones. First, let’s define what ‘cycling fast’ is in a triathlon. For purposes of
this article, cycling fast will be your current top speed for a seated 1
minute sprint minus 5-7 miles an hour for sprint distance triathlons (~85-90%), minus
7-9 miles an hour for Olympic distance triathlons (~80-85%), or minus 10-12 miles an
hour for half-IM and above (~70%). Why do I choose these values? So you’ll have some general guidance on what
sort of speed you should be able to maintain for those particular distances.
These can be considered baseline levels - for shorter races you will race more
in or near your anaerobic zone, and for longer races you will want to stay in
your aerobic zone. These values are also approximately where I find myself at
the races. I can hold about 33-34 mph for a seated 1-minute sprint and can
hold 27-29 mph in a 10-mile sprint, 25-26 mph in an OD, and 23 or so in IM.
Now, you may not be able to hold these speeds. Not yet, anyway. This is
what I’m going to try to help you learn to do. This article will provide you
with some strategies that may help you get there. Strength and power - For this article we are going to talk about
strength as it relates to cycling. So we’re talking about your legs and how
much force you can apply to the pedals. We’re also talking about how strong
your supporting muscles are - your torso, abs, back, and glutes. They all have
an effect on how big a gear you can push. To get strong in cycling, the simplest solution is to ride a lot. Lots of
easy mileage. The more mileage you can put in, the better off you will be.
Granted, don’t go nuts and put in 400 mile weeks if you have a job and want to
keep your sanity. But 200-250 will go a long way. That being said, maybe that’s too much for you because of time constraints.
Other ways to build strength for the ride include weight training. I like to
think that standing squats or seated leg press are the most all encompassing
strength building leg exercises you can do. This winter my plan is to hit the
gym 2 times a week and do several sets of leg press and squats. Calf raises
can also take you a long way. Leg extensions and leg curls will help, but are
not as crucial for cycling. To support those muscles, it’s a good idea to throw in some hip abductor
exercises and lots of core work. Core work is as simple as doing sit-ups and
crunches, but you can use the exercise ball to roll around and put all sorts
of resistance on hard to strengthen places. Hip abductors are harder to work
but leg lifts are one method. Some gyms have specific machines for this. Hill riding is next on my list after sheer mileage. If you can find
a gradual climb that doesn’t force you to shoot through your (2nd) lactate threshold (LT - the point where lactate
has built up so much that you eventually need to stop or slow dramatically - gasping for
air, burning legs) and allows you to stay smooth and in your aerobic zone
(your Z2) or the lower end of your anaerobic zone (Z3), do it. Warm up and
then do repeated climbs on this hill. Will make you strong like Conan. Another, less optimal solution, concerns fixed gear riding or big-gear
push. Essentially, put your chain ring in your 2nd or 3rd largest big gear,
then ride at a moderate, aerobic pace in this gear. This will help you
‘recruit’ more muscles than spinning. However, this is harder on all your
joints and should be done intelligently. One time every two weeks for 30
minutes (after a warm up) is a good starting point. Bike Fit - it’s hard to describe proper fit in an article without
lots of illustrations, and my technical illustrator is on vacation. So go to
your local bike shop or slowtwitch.com
to learn how to fit yourself properly. This will make you more comfortable and
better able to direct all your power to moving forward. Specific endurance - Being strong alone is not going to get you to
the finish line. You need to be able to maintain that power for a certain
duration. Again, the simplest and most effective method to do this is saddle
time. Ride lots of easy miles and some specific quality miles. This is where interval training and build workouts come in. Just
riding will increase your cycling endurance, while intervals will increase
your ability to output higher levels of power for longer durations. They will
help lengthen the amount of time you can maintain a certain power output if
done in a gradual and honest matter. By that I mean that you need to be honest
with the effort you put into an interval. Too much and you’re not increasing
your aerobic capacity - you’re probably well into your anaerobic system approaching or beyond your
lactate threshold, which is a completely different sort of training. Too little
and you’re just getting general aerobic training but nothing that will help
increase your power. Confused? It is a little more complex than just “go hard go home.” Here’s a
sample workout that will, over time, increase your cycling specific endurance
(this is geared more towards short races): If you do this once a week, after a few weeks you should notice that you’re
not as tired at the end of each interval. That’s because your specific
endurance has increased. You can then lengthen the intervals: These are both ‘build’ intervals, in that you progress through effort
levels during the interval itself. Other intervals include only one level of
effort, for example: That sort of short recovery, high intensity workout is designed to 1)
methodically increase your LT (this can be pushed out slowly and slightly over
time), and 2) better equip your body to recover from high intensity
(efficiency of lactate removal, buffering capacity (ability to withstand lactate buildup) and HR recovery). You would want to finish each
of these intervals panting - but not gasping. Gasping means you are in a Z5b-c
area that, in my opinion, most triathletes can ignore 95% of the time. You’re
not training for a 200m swim or 400 meter run. In my book, build workouts are for longer training days and include longer
intervals at certain effort levels. These are useful for sprint triathletes as
they will also aid in increasing the body’s ability to recover from higher
intensity sessions. These are crucial to long distance athletes for half-IM
and IM. A sample is: Touching on your Z5a (somewhat interchangeable with your ‘anaerobic
threshold) in a workout like this will help you to push the limits of your
aerobic zone (your high Z2) outwards - increasing your LT. To refresh your memory, in your aerobic zone you will be producing less
lactic acid than you can remove, thus you will not hit your LT. In the
anaerobic zone you will produce more than you can remove, and will eventually
move beyond your LT if you don’t stop. The longer workouts described above are designed to increase the upper
range of your aerobic zone as well as speed up your lactate removal (recovery)
system, while the shorter workouts are designed to increase the amount of time
you can remain in your anaerobic zone without hitting your LT as well
as increasing your lactate removal (recovery) system. Make sense now? See, given enough time and training, you can train your body to 1. be able
to remain in your anaerobic zone for a long time, and 2. push your lactate
threshold out so you don’t have to enter it. I race all the sprints just under
or just beyond my lactate threshold (Z4/5a or HR of 160-180, sometimes
higher). My goal is to get to the finish line before I move beyond my LT. If you see
me puking on the side of the road with a mile to go, I didn’t quite make it!
You can also train your body to remain in your aerobic zone (Z2) nearly
indefinitely. You’ll get tired and hungry before you have to stop for sleep.
Edit: On a sidebar, there are two LT points. The first you can exercise at and beyond
for a while, depending on your ability to withstand lactic acid buildup and your
ability to remove that lactic acid. This is Helleman's aerobic threshold, VT1, or Byrn's aerobic
endurance threshold (AeT). The 2nd point results in another dramatic increase
in lactate production from which you won't recover very quickly. This is the point
you want to avoid in races! The ideal in all triathlon distances is to be able to increase your aerobic
zone so massively that you race exclusively in that zone and only go anaerobic
for exceptional reasons. But, we’re talking about Mark Allen type ability - a
HR of 155 that is exclusively ‘aerobic.’ Those of you with more slow twitch
than fast twitch muscle are better designed to do this. That doesn’t leave the
fast twitch athletes out, as you too can train your muscles to keep going for
exceptional periods of time. General stamina - all forms of exercise will increase your general
stamina. Walking, swimming, running, picking flowers, and thinking real hard.
Good stuff. It’s called adaptation. What this whole article is about. Fast-twitch - what’s all this about fast twitch? Simply put, fast
twitch muscle fibers are fibers that are capable of rapid fire responses for
shorter amounts of time. You can ‘recruit’ these muscles for longer events by
doing low intensity sprints - like 1-minute intervals on the bike (your Z4 as
opposed to 20 seconds all out or Z5c) followed by short amounts of rest. Doing
so ideally will blur the line between your fast and slow twitch muscles on the
upper end and enable you to:
In other words, training fast and adapting to training fast will help you
to race fast. Marty Gaal Now that you’ve read this check out a discussion of brick
workouts. Additional reading (external links):How to Bike Fast
5 x 3 minutes
5 x 5 minutes
An even longer
build is:
CV training
zones