Free Workouts

Here is a collection of free cycling workouts. They range from very basic active recovery spins to hard tempo intervals.

These workouts can be used by everyone ranging from the recreational cyclist to the hardened racer. The key to utilizing these workouts are to place them strategically into your specific training program during the various training phases throughout the year.

Feel free to incorporate them into your individual program if you are self-coached. If you have any questions regarding any workout please fee free to contact me.  

Coach Chris

Prior to starting any workout program you should always consult your licensed medical doctor and get their approval to begin such activities. By using any of these workouts you agree to the website terms of use.

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CME-3 ME Intervals (5) 7'x3' Z4

Workout intended for: racers, strong recreational riders

Total Workout Time: 75 Minutes

This workout will target your muscular endurance and teach your body to adapt to various "mini endurance" durations with minimal recovery times before the next acceleration. These will help when you're trying to bridge short gaps to other riders, help with maintaining your pace for those shorter climbing efforts encountered on rolling terrain, and those mini-accelerations needed to keep up with the various dynamics when riding or racing with a group. If doing this ride outside complete this workout on flat terrain.

Warm-up: Begin with a progressive 15 minute warm-up. You will bring up your HR / power to Z3 before you begin the main workout.

Warm-up Example:
Z1 for 5' – Cadence between 80-95
Z2 for 4' – Cadence between 90-110
Z3 for 4' – Cadence between 95-115 (higher cadence preferred)
Z2 for 2' – Cadence between 90-110

Begin main workout or if needed warm-up a bit longer

Main Workout: 40 minutes

Main workout Notes:

1. Find a gear hard enough where you can maintain a heart rate / power in Z4 for each of the 7 minute intervals. After 7 minutes in Z4, shift to an easier gear and bring your heart rate / power back down to Z2-Z3. Maintain this lower heart rate for 3 minutes and then repeat another 7 minutes in Z4 for a total of 35 minutes in Z4 for the main workout.

2. Concentrate on staying on top of the gear and try to maintain smooth pedaling.

3. Depending on your bio-mechanics some of you may do the intervals higher that 100 RPMs while others may be around 80-90 RPMs. At a minimum, the intervals should be maintained above 90 RPM's.

4. The timed interval begins once you shift up to the harder gear (each interval), not when your HR reaches Z4. Downshift to an easier recovery gear once you have completed each interval. Note: your HR will still be elevated during the early portion of your recovery time, this is OK. We are measuring the interval times by the increase in workload, not by the amount of time your HR is in the training zones.

5. If you are unable to complete all 5 intervals, that is OK, this is a hard workout. Complete as many as you can with quality efforts. As your fitness improves in the coming weeks / months you will be able to complete all of the intervals.

Workout Example:
Interval #1: 7' in Z4 x 3' recovery in Z2-Z3
Interval #2: 7' in Z4 x 3' recovery in Z2-Z3
Interval #3: 7' in Z4 x 3' recovery in Z2-Z3
Interval #4: 7' in Z4 x 3' recovery in Z2-Z3
Interval #5: 7' in Z4 x 3' recovery in Z2-Z3

Main workout complete – begin cool-down

Cadence for main workout:
Z4 efforts = 90-115 rpm (higher the better)
Z2-Z3 efforts = 80-105 rpm

Cool-Down: Z1 for 10 minutes
Cadence for cool-down: 80-100