CP-5 Power Sprints Z5
Workout intended for: racers, strong recreational riders, this is an advanced workout and not intended for beginner riders.
Total Workout Time: 60-70 Minutes
These sprints are for building explosive speed, which is needed in any sprint situation or road attack in road races. This will also help for mountain biking and cyclocross starts. Find a flat stretch of road or trail and after a good warm-up, come to an almost complete stop. In a big gear, accelerate as hard as you can for 10-15 seconds. Allow yourself time to recover and repeat this 6-8 times. If you want to add some resistance do these on a slight uphill or into the wind or use a slightly bigger gear.
Warm-up: Begin with a progressive 15 minute warm-up. You will bring up your HR 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: 35-40 minutes
Main workout Notes:
1. Find a flat stretch of road or trail and after a good warm-up, come to an almost complete stop. In a big gear, accelerate as hard as you can for 10-15 seconds. Allow yourself time to recover and repeat this 6-8 times. If you want to add some resistance do these on a slight uphill or into the wind. You could also use a slightly bigger gear.
2. Total workout time for the intervals and the recovery in-between will be ~35' for the main workout.
3. This workout is not based on HR since the efforts are so short. These intervals are based on shear explosive power efforts lasting 10-15" each. Recover no longer than 3'-4' between efforts.
4. If you are unable to complete all the prescribed intervals, that is OK. 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 #1-8: Explosive sprint for 10-15" followed by a 3'-4' recovery in Z2-Z3
Repeat sprint (6-8 of them) or until you have reached 35-40 minutes or you cannot do any more sprints at quality efforts due to fatigue.
Main workout complete – begin cool-down
Cadence for main workout:
Sprint efforts = 60-100+ rpm
Z2-Z3 efforts = 80-105 rpm
Cool-Down: Z2-Z1 for 15 minutes
Cadence for cool-down: 80-105