Alactic indoor cycling trainer tips - Practical sessions

PDF | Print | E-mail

Tuesday, 15 June 2010 09:49

User Rating: / 4
PoorBest 

Practical sessions

Session 1

Let's work the alactic pathway today.

Yes it is winter, but alactic has nothing to do with the Arctic conditions!

I am of the opinion that triathletes could improve their riding by incorporating more of this type of training.

Alactic sessions are shorter bursts of intervals that do not go anaerobic. Repeat: sessions that DO NOT GO anaerobic.

Some people call this session The Russian Step.

It has Strictly Nothing To Do With Dancing.

It goes with the clock:

Ensure your body and muscles are sufficiently warmed up.

Then 15secs sprint, 45secs (easy rec), 30s sprint (30s rec), 45s sprint (15 rec), 60 sprint (60 rec), 60 (60 rec), 45 (15 rec), 30(30), 15 (45 rec). Take 3-5 minutes as a complete recovery before doing another set. Depending on your conditioning you could do a few repeats of this.

What gears are most suitable?

I suggest “race appropriate gears”- gears you usually use in a triathlon.

Some further suggestions:

Sometimes I do one set in one gear, then I drop one gear heavier for the second set and possibly even third gear heavier for a another repeat. For me, the prerequisite is my leg speed must stay the same.

A second session is:

90secs (3min recovery), 2min (4min recovery), 45sec (3min recovery), 3min (5min recovery), 2min30 (5min recovery). You can follow a similar pattern as the first session by repeating the set. While the intervals are long enough for your heart rate to possibly reach 85% of max, you will probably find that oby the end of the session your average HR is below threshold.

 Where it is possible to do three and sometimes four sets of the first session, I would not advise you doing more than two repeats of the second session. It has a tendency to creep up on you later in the day and leave your legs feeling rather like toast!

Happy training!

Glenn Macnamara glennmac66@gmail.com