Cycling for Power development

I have rarely had to go to cross training for injury rehabilitation over the last 8 years but this may be an opportune moment with no racing scheduled until August.

A few months ago I purchased a Lemond Revolution trainer when I broke my ribs. I only had to use it for a few days so didn't get into a program as such. it is a great machine for training as the harder the strokes, the harder the resistance.

This is the program I used when I was a competitive cyclist to good effect, for both myself and Minnie. I know it works.

Sessions:

For neural training: In the saddle a set of 6-10 × 15 seconds at cadence 120rpm in easy gear (39/19-17 for me). 2-5 minutes rolling recovery.

For maximum power: 1km easy, 700m at maximum threshold (53/17), then out of saddle clicking through gears (16, 15, 14) at full gas for 300m. Repeat 4-8 times with 2000m rolling recovery.

For speed / power endurance: 6-8 × 2000m on hotdog circuit at cadence 100+rpm. Out of saddle at start clicking through gears until maximum sustainable (53/16), in saddle driving, at 1km click up gears, out of saddle after hairpin clicking down gears, drive to finish. 2000m recovery between efforts to flush lactate.

For strength endurance: 1 × maximum effort time trial in big ring up climb of over 7% average gradient. Time roughly 10 minutes.

For speed endurance: Time trial at maximum threshold of 20-50 minutes on slightly undulating circuit (not steep enough to rest on downs).53/19-15

Just those sessions alone allowed me to time trial at around 40km and Minnie to give some well performed girls a scare or two.

While the sessions won't make the running much (if any) quicker, they are a good way to keep in shape when running is not happening for some reason. The sessions are very similar to those we do for running.