Training
Today
Training
Today
Base made you durable. This makes you fast.
A base block raises how long you can go. A build block raises how hard. This one runs threshold intervals as the backbone, adds VO2 max work to lift the ceiling above threshold, and keeps enough Zone 2 in the week that you can absorb both.
It is designed to be ridden after sweet spot base or a winter base block. Coming into it without that foundation is the most common way riders blow up in week five: the intervals are not harder than base intervals by a little, they are harder by a lot.
Eight weeks, four rides, one recovery week at the midpoint, and a retest at the end that also serves as the entry point to a specialty plan.
Every session below is a real workout you can open and ride right now, with or without the plan. Applying the plan puts them on your calendar on the days you choose.
| Week | Focus and sessions | Load |
|---|---|---|
1 week | Threshold returns Week 1: 2×15 at threshold. Harder than sweet spot and it should feel it. Keep the endurance rides honest-easy. | 5.3 hours |
It is the phase between base and your event. Base builds aerobic capacity with high volume at low intensity; build converts that into power at and above threshold, with lower volume and much higher intensity.
Effectively yes. Threshold and VO2 sessions are only productive if you can recover from them, and recovery capacity is what base builds. Riders who skip base usually stall somewhere in week five.
Two for most riders training six to eight hours, three at the very top end. This plan uses two, separated by easy days, because the adaptation happens in the recovery rather than during the interval.
Training works in blocks. These plans pick up where this one leaves off.
Twelve weeks to a 100-mile ride. The weekend ride ramps from two hours to four and a half, with sweet spot and tempo work midweek to make those hours cheaper.
Twelve weeks and five rides a week for a long, hilly event: endurance volume, sweet spot and threshold power, and dedicated low-cadence climbing work.
Six weeks of race sharpening: hard starts, 30/30 repeaters, Rønnestad intervals, and primers, for riders whose events are decided by repeated surges.
2 week | VO2 enters Week 2: 4×8 at VO2. These are pacing exercises — go out too hard on interval one and the set is over. | 5.6 hours |
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3 week | First peak Week 3: the full threshold builder and 5×5 VO2 in the same week. The hardest week of block one. | 6.6 hours |
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4 recovery | Recovery week Week 4: recovery. Take it fully — the second block is where the fitness actually appears. | 3.6 hours |
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5 week | Classic VO2 Week 5: threshold plus 4×4, the most studied VO2 session there is. Five minutes easy between efforts. | 5.3 hours |
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6 week | Volume and intensity Week 6: 3×20 sweet spot, 4×8 VO2, and a three-hour ride. Sleep and eat like it matters, because this week it does. | 7.7 hours |
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7 week | Peak week Week 7: threshold builder and 4×5 VO2. The last genuinely hard week of the block. | 6.4 hours |
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8 recovery | Sharpen and test Week 8: openers and a test. You should arrive at the test feeling springy rather than fresh. | 3.6 hours |
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Applying the plan schedules all 32 sessions from your chosen start date. You pick which days of the week you ride.
Start Sustained Power Build