Written by The one hour training routine can be thought of as the basic building block of your efforts to increase your strength and fitness for the purpose you have in mind. However pleasant it is to head out on a two hour ride into the countryside on a Sunday morning, not everyone has that time available, especially on a weekday. The one hour routine is something you can fit in early morning, when you get home from work, or even (if you’re good at preparation) as part of your daily commute.
You’re already familiar with a warm up routine so we’ll dive straight into the decisions available to make sure you’re one hour on the road is not wasted.
Routine One – Hill Training – Power and Climbing Ability
This is a personal favourite, for some reason some of us just seem to enjoy hill climbing, no
Loving it...
matter the pain involved. The routine will involve you having a moderately sized hill not too far away. Warm up with ten minutes or so of easy revolutions then just attack the hill. When you’ve done it once, use the descent to recover and then attack it again. The time will fly by during this routine so make sure you give yourself another ten minutes or so cool down time as you finish.
Routine Two – Interval Training – Speed and Aerobic Capacity
We all know what interval training is but how many of us actually do it? Again, spin you legs for ten minutes at the start of your ride before starting the first high intensity section. In the beginning, limit yourself to three or four periods of high intensity riding. These should least for around three minutes and be at a race pace. Allow yourself two minutes cool down before the next one.
Build up to six or so high intensity periods during your rides- it’s even possible to extend the length of the period but don’t forget, you only have one hour.
Routine Three – Threshold Training – Power and Speed
Similar to interval training, except the periods of high intensity riding are longer. Start with two, ten minute blocks. This means the pace is not as high as the shorter, interval periods so judge your speed accordingly. Over time, increase the length of the periods.