Sustained Power Build
The build block that follows base: threshold intervals and VO2 max work, holding onto the aerobic volume that made them possible.
← Training plansW1Open sharp
W2Hard starts
W3Peak repeaters
W4Recovery week
W5Race specificity
W6Sharpen
Build · 8 weeks · 4 rides a week Base · 8 weeks · 4 rides a week
Specialty phase · advanced · 6 weeks
6-week criterium training plan
A crit is forty accelerations with a finish line at the end. Nothing about a criterium rewards a steady effort. You accelerate out of every corner, close every gap, and the last two laps are the hardest of the race. The physiology that decides it is repeatability — how well you recover between hard efforts while still riding hard.
Free, with no trial. Pick a start date and your training days; the sessions land on your own calendar. Switch or stop at any point. Every workout in it can be ridden without an account.
Weeks6
Rides a week4
Typical week4:52
Biggest week6:23
Week by week
EnduranceTempoThresholdVO2 max● Key session
W1Open sharp222
Week 1: classic 4×3 VO2 and three sets of 30/30s. Ride the recoveries genuinely easy or the sets fall apart.
W2Hard starts281
Week 2: hard starts and four sets of 30/30s, plus a group ride. Practise the surge out of the corner.
W3Peak repeaters312
Week 3: Rønnestad 30/15s and five sets of 30/30s. The hardest week of the plan.
W4Recovery week116
Week 4: recovery. Three weeks of this intensity has a cost — pay it here rather than on race day.
W5Race specificity253
Week 5: hard starts at five reps, race primers, and a group ride. Everything now looks like a race.
W6Sharpen142
Week 6: one last VO2 session early, then openers and primers. Arrive at the race sharp, not tired.
Every session is a real workout you can open and ride now. Starting the plan schedules all 24 from your chosen date, on the days you pick.
Start Criterium SharpenerRide this plan if
- You race criteriums, road races, or hard fast group rides.
- You have a build block behind you and a solid threshold.
- Your event is six weeks away and you need sharpness rather than base.
What you get out of it
- Repeatability — the ability to go hard again 30 seconds after going hard.
- A raised aerobic ceiling from concentrated VO2 max work.
- Race primers in the legs so the first race feels like the seventh.
How the plan is built
So this plan is built out of the sessions that train exactly that: hard starts, which front-load an interval to drive oxygen uptake up quickly; 30/30 and Rønnestad-style repeaters, which accumulate a lot of time at VO2 max in short bursts; and race primers in the final week to sharpen without adding fatigue.
It is six weeks and it is genuinely advanced. Ride it after a build block, not instead of one.
- Two VO2 or repeater sessions a week, on either side of easy days.
- A tempo group ride to practise racing at someone else’s pace.
- Recovery at week four, primers in week six — nothing new before race day.
Criterium Sharpener: common questions
How do you train for a criterium?
By training repeatability rather than steady power. Short, very hard efforts with short recoveries — 30/30s, hard starts, Rønnestad intervals — reproduce the repeated accelerations that decide a crit, and they raise VO2 max at the same time.
What are Rønnestad 30/15 intervals?
Thirty seconds well above threshold followed by fifteen seconds easy, repeated for around thirteen reps per set. The format accumulates far more time at high oxygen uptake than a continuous effort of the same average power.
Should I do a base block before a criterium plan?
Yes. Six weeks of concentrated VO2 work on top of nothing produces a good three weeks and then a plateau. Ride a base and a build block first, then use this to sharpen.
What to ride after this
Training works in blocks. These plans pick up where this one leaves off.
Sweet Spot Base
Eight weeks of sweet spot work at 88–94% of FTP, progressing 2×15 → 3×20 minutes, wrapped in enough Zone 2 to keep it sustainable.