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For those days when you are stuck training indoors, we share with you 4 popular workouts we use with our athletes. All you need is an indoor trainer (or you can even a stationary or spin bike), some water/sports drinks to hydrate and preferably if you have a fan to cool you down and a tower for all the sweat you’ll generate!

If you have training zones defined by power or heart rate, it will help you follow the workouts, though if you don’t have either, you can use respiratory perceived exertion (RPE) and get a good workout. See the tables at the end of this page to get an idea what the zones in the workouts mean and how they relate to power and  RPE.

Still, if you want to do a test to determine your zones, at the bottom you can see the tests to determine your training zones based on heart rate or using power. Just get your results and use our calculator that can be found here

Workouts

No. 1 -The Power Builder – This 1 hour workout will help you increase your critical power and make 60 minutes on the trainer pass by very fast!

WU: 15 min @ 65-75% CP (z1), 5 min as 15 sec @ 120%CP (z5) / 45 sec @ 60-65%CP (z1), 5′ @ 70-75%CP (z2)
MS: 3 x (5 min @ 95-100% (low z4) + 2 min @ 105% (high z4) + 1 min @ 120% CP (z5)) with 2 min @ 55-65% CP (z1) as recovery between sets
CD: 5 min @ 60-65% CP (z1)
Total – 1 hr

No. 2 – The 6×4 minutes of Hell – This 1 hour workout will help you increase your power in a very intense way (hence the name my athletes affectionately refer to it as the 4 minutes of hell)

WU: 15 min @ 65-70% CP (z1-z2) + 5 min as 30 sec @95-100% CP (z4)/ 30 sec @ 70-75% CP (z2) + 5 min @ 70-80% CP (z2)
MS: 6×4 min @ 105% CP (high z4)  with 45 sec rest in between intervals @ 55-65% CP (z1)  — read notes —
CD: 6:30 min 55-65% of CP (z1)
Total – 1:05 hrs

Details – Do sets 1-5 @ 105%CP (high z4) and the last set (6th) go as hard as you can!

No. 3 – The Tempo Special – This 90 minute workout will help you develop both endurance and increase your power.

WU: 10 min @ 65-75% CP (z1-z2)
MS: 5 x (5 min @ 75% CP (z2) + 5 min @ 80-85% CP (low z3) + 5 min @ 85-90%CP (high z3)),
CD: 5 min 70%CP
Total – 1:30 hrs

No. 4 – The Endurance Builder – This 2 hour workout will help you develop your specific endurance while having some bouts of intensity. The constant changes of pace will make the workout go by quicker and provide a more real feel for outdoor riding.

WU: 20 min @ 65-75% CP (z1-z2)
MS: 90 min as 5 min @ 70%CP (low z2), 5 min’ @ 75% (high z2), CP, 3 min’ @ 80% CP (low z3), 2 min @ 90% CP (low zone 4)
CD: 10 min @ 55-65% CP (z1)
Total – 2 hrs

Training Levels and Borg Scale for Perceived Exertion

A. Coggan Power Levels

Perceived Exertion Borg Scale

Tests

To determine your Critical Power:

Test #1 – 5 min maximal effort

WU: 10 min @ 55-65% CP (z1), 5 min as 30 sec @ 90-100% CP (z4)/ 30 sec @ 55-65% CP (z1), 5 min @ 70-75% CP (z2)
MS: VO2 test 5 min all out,
5min  @ 55-65%CP (z1), 15 min @ 80% CP (z3)
CD: 10 min @ 55-65% CP (z1)
Total – 55 minutes

Details: The 5 minute Time Trail Field Test — Remember that the goal of the test is for you to ride as fast as possible but at a pace which allows you to complete the entire test. make sure your power meter is calibrated. Start the test and start recording your heart rate. The average power for the test is what we’ll use to calculate your critical power. It is very important that you should finish knowing you gave it everything you had. It will be a good idea to be in a nice ventilated area, to have a fan to cool you down during the test, a towel and have fluids handy.

Test #2 – 20 min test

WU: 15 min @ 55-65% CP (z1), 5 min as 30 sec @ 90-100%  CP (z4)/ 30 sec @ 55-65% CP (z1), 5 min @ 70-75%CP (z2)
MS: 20min test all out
CD: 10 min @  70-75% CP (z1)
Total – 55 minutes

Details: The 20 minute Time Trail Field Test — Remember that the goal of the test is for you to ride as fast as possible but at a pace which allows you to complete the entire test. Make sure your power meter is calibrated. Start the test and start recording your power for the 20 minutes. The average power for the test is what we’ll use to calculate your critical power. It is very important that you should finish knowing you gave it everything you had. It will be a good idea to be in a nice ventilated area, to have a fan to cool you down during the test, a towel and have fluids handy.

To determine your heart rate threshold:

WU: 15 min @ z1, 5 min as 30 sec @ z4/ 30 sec @ z2, 5′ @ z2
MS: 20 min all out test (read details below)
CD: 10 min @ z1
Total – 55 minutes

Details – The 20 minute Bike Time Trail Test — Remember that the goal of the test is for you to ride as fast as possible but at a pace which allows you to complete the entire 20 min test. Start the test and start recording your heart rate for the entire test. The average for test is what you’ll use to calculate your Heart Rate threshold. It is very important that you should finish knowing you gave it everything you had. It will be a good idea to be in a nice ventilated area, to have a fan to cool you down during the test, a towel and have fluids handy.

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