- 21 hours ago
How to ride faster for longer: We demonstrate three different cycling sessions to best prepare you for your longest ride.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:03Spring and summer is the perfect time for cyclists to do rides or events that are that
00:08bit more challenging. So as that's a hundred mile ride, a multi-day epic, or even just a
00:13long training ride, today we're looking at endurance sessions and how best to train for
00:19them. So I'm joined by coach Watteau and I understand that you've put together some
00:22sessions for me today. I certainly have, yeah, we've got three good sessions for you to try
00:26today, Reaper. We've got the time strap cyclists in mind that most of us are, you know, we're
00:31training for longer events, we don't always have three, four hours a day to train, so we've got
00:36that rate down. So three sessions, one is going to be, I'll call it a pyramid session, so that's going
00:41to build up our ability to do longer, longer sustained efforts. There's a hill session,
00:47because we're very unlikely to find a road that's a course that's completely flat, so we're going to
00:52do some skills that get us over the hill and some hard work on that. And then we're going to
00:55do
00:56some strength work as well, because it's quite important and something that's quite often
01:00neglected is the strength work around it, so we're building up a nice solid core and some of the leg
01:04muscles as well that we can utilise then when we're back on the bike. Brilliant, well it all sounds
01:08like a lot of hard work, so we should probably get cracking. Yeah, let's do it.
01:16So coach, what is my first endurance session of the day? First session today is a pyramid session,
01:23so the idea of this is that we're going to build up your endurance by putting some harder efforts
01:29in during your ride. So you're going to go out in the lanes, 15-20 minutes, half an hour, just
01:34get all
01:34nice and loose, get in the fresh air, you know, just enjoy yourself, and then we're going to put some
01:39harder intervals in there. So you start off with two minutes, so two minute harder interval, two minutes
01:46easy, three minutes harder interval, three minutes easy, then a five minutes hard interval,
01:51and five minutes easy, and then we're going to go back again. So we start five minutes,
01:56five, three minutes easy, three minutes, two minutes easy, two minutes hard, it's all done,
02:03and then we're going to have our 15-20 minute, half an hour, and then you're going to go home.
02:06Yep, the intensity is going to be around about an eight out of ten effort, so it's not flat out,
02:13it's not a sprint, it's manageable, we've got to get through it, but you're going to feel it,
02:16you're going to feel it in the legs, you're going to feel it in the lungs, and you're going to
02:19push hard
02:20through it, and that. Brilliant, okay, so the perceived wisdom behind this session, as I understand
02:26it, is that when you're doing this for an hour and an hour and a half, you can obviously ride
02:30at your
02:30max threshold, but then when you're doing your hundred mile ride with your mates or your riding
02:36buddies, because you'll knock that pace down, you won't be riding so difficult, you can do it for a
02:42longer period of time. Absolutely, that's exactly what we're trying to get out this session, so that
02:47we want the hundred rounds to be sociable, nice and enjoyable out in the lanes. It's not the distance
02:53that tends to get people, it's the intensities, so if we can train to a higher intensity in training
02:59and ride at a lower intensity for the longer ride, then it's that much more manageable. Absolutely
03:04perfect, I think that is exactly what I need, so let's get into it and give it a whirl. Sounds
03:09good.
03:19So the bike I've been using to complete these training sessions is the Cannondale Synapse High Mod
03:24Disc with SRAM Red ETAP. The Synapse is well known for its versatility, its excellent handling,
03:31as well as its performance pushing capabilities. It really is an all-out brilliant bike, but it's also
03:37exactly what you would look for in the perfect example of an endurance bike, a bike that is going
03:42to keep you riding for longer. For starters, it's super lightweight, weighing just 7.3 kilograms in
03:49this size 56 that I have here. It then also has disc brakes for more controlled braking and clearance for
03:56wider tyres. It even has a removable seat stay bridge so you can fit a mud guard should the weather
04:01turn sour. But what elevates this bike to an all-day super weapon is Cannondale's genius use of carbon
04:09fibre. It's called Cannondale's save system and basically different parts of the frame can flex
04:14to absorb road chatter and the horrible bumps that you might find when riding along, keeping you in the
04:20saddle for longer and keeping you faster for longer, which after all is the most important thing anyway.
04:33So that was session number one done. What a killer it was. Thanks for that coach. And now we're on
04:39to
04:39session number two, which is about climbing. And we're going to use this hill behind me. I'm not a
04:45particularly good climber. So what have you got in store? How much is this going to hurt?
04:50And you're going to feel it. Yeah, you're definitely going to feel it. So the idea of this is hill
04:55repeats and it doesn't get any more difficult than that. You're just going up a hill multiple times
05:00and practicing your climbing style and also getting the physiological benefits of going hard up a hill.
05:07So we're going to start with about six reps, six reps of a hill going up, recovery on the way
05:13down,
05:14spending anywhere three to five minutes recovering before you're going to start the next
05:18the next descent. And then you can build it up as you get stronger and fitter. You can build it
05:22up to
05:2210 reps, 12 reps, however, however you can manage and feel. But the more you do, the stronger you're
05:27going to get. Brilliant. And I, as my understanding is, this is an important session for when you're
05:32riding upwards of 100 miles, because if you're doing that type of distance, you're almost guaranteed
05:36to come across a climb of some sort, probably multiple ones, depending on where you live. And what this
05:42will help me be able to do is even if I'm 60 or 70 miles into my climb, I'll still
05:48be able to get
05:49up it because I'll have that conditioning and I'll have practiced it. And this will have given me that
05:53extra fitness and power that I need to get over it. Absolutely. So there's no completely flat roads
05:59in Britain. We're not, it's not a mountainous territory, but there's no completely flat road.
06:02So we're always going to find something. And if you're going on a course, it's a 18,
06:061900 miles, then you're going to find, you're going to find hills. Definitely to train it,
06:11it puts it in the bank, you condition for it and you know how to do it. And, and then
06:16you can cut
06:16with it much better than, than if it, if it's a sudden surprise. So that's why it's very important
06:21to do hill repeats. And it's very important to practice hills so that when you get to ride them
06:27yourself, you know what to do. Brilliant. And what type of technique am I looking for on the bike?
06:31It's common to, to bob, you know, as it starts to get harder in your bob, but when you're bobbing,
06:36you're going to start to lose, lose some of your efficiency. So you want to keep it nice and tight
06:41because it's the hips and the, and the legs that are going to be doing all the work. Gear selection
06:45is very important as well. So you want to be changing gear before you have to. So as it legs
06:49start to get, start to lock, you're changing up, changing up, you know, you've got 11 gears on the
06:53back or most people have 11 gears on the back. You've got to use them. Yeah. And do that.
06:57And then the pedal stroke as well. So you're not just pushing down with your foot,
07:01you're pulling back as well. So you get a nice pedal stroke and that'll carry you up the hill.
07:06Brilliant. Okay. Well, this sounds like a lovely, tough session. So I reckon we should just get
07:10into it and give it a whirl. Yeah, let's do it.
07:36So that's the first two sessions completed and they were great. I really enjoyed those.
07:41Enjoyed me out? Brilliant. I think they're really useful actually, especially the climbing one,
07:45always something I need to work on. But now I understand that you've got a circuit session for
07:50me to do. I certainly have. Yeah. And it's a circuit based on building up some strength,
07:55core strength and leg strength off the bike as well. This is really, really important because
08:00the more stable that we are, the better that will transfer over onto bike. Sure. So by the
08:06sounds of it, flexibility is as important as strengths when it comes to cycling. 100%. Yeah. Yeah.
08:11Because we've got to be agile on the bike, you know, as we pointed out in the hill session, you
08:16know,
08:16we don't want to be moving around on the bike. The only thing we want to be moving really is
08:20our,
08:20is our legs, which is pushing the pedals around, which is our engine to get us, to get us where
08:25we
08:25need to go. So if we can be agile and flexible, then that can only be a good thing again.
08:30Perfect.
08:30Well, I think we should take a look at them and look at the form and how you're meant to
08:35do them.
08:35Absolutely. Yeah. A lot of that. Yeah. Brilliant. Okay. So what we're going to do,
08:38we're going to start off with the, with the lunges. So if you move to the side like that,
08:42so what you need to do is you're going to take a big step forward and you're going to stretch
08:48out the
08:48the quads, doing a step forward. But the form with this as well is we don't want to be your
08:53knee
08:54going over the edge of your toe. So a nice big step forward and then like that. Okay. Yep. Keeping
09:02your back nice and straight. How's that feel? Yeah, I can really feel it in the hamstring. Yeah.
09:07That's looking better. Forward again. Okay. Nice and straight and stand up. Okay. So what we're
09:13doing, we're doing, let's try with, start with eight a leg, eight on each leg and then you can
09:18build it up then. So you can do it to, you know, eight, nine, 10, 12, whatever, as you get
09:23fitter
09:23and you get more accustomed to the exercise. Sure. But remember, keep it, keep it low early on because
09:28we're going to be doing four exercises in a row and we're going to do three sets of that. So
09:32we want
09:33to make sure that we get through the whole routine and then we can build it up week by week.
09:36Okay,
09:36so the next one, we're going to go into a plank. Have you ever done a plank before? I have
09:39done a plank.
09:40Okay. So if you want to go into the plank position for me. So how would I do a plank?
09:46So plank position, exactly what you've got there. So arms nice and straight, back nice and straight.
09:53That's good. So what you should be doing is feeling it on your, on your abs there now. Yeah. Yep.
10:00And feeling it on my one ab. On your one ab. And you shouldn't be feeling it. The back should
10:05be nice
10:05and straight. So that's looking good. And then what we can do to make this a, a harder exercise,
10:12is if you bring your knee towards your elbow and then take it back again. Then do it with the
10:17other
10:17side. And back again. They're called Spiderman planks. How did that feel? Yeah, that's tough.
10:25So start off with the normal planks first, but that's just a progressional thing you can do as you get
10:30better at it. Sure. And do that. Okay. You can stop now. Again, sometimes you can do that and leave
10:36it to as long as you can go, but because we're doing this in a circuit, let's start with 10
10:41to
10:4110 to 20 seconds of doing the plank. And then we'll keep doing that, that circuit free. And then we'll
10:46see how we get to from that. Brilliant. Yep. So the next one's the hip flexor. So what we're going
10:50to do
10:50now is you're going to go back into that lunge position, hold it there. And then what you're going to
10:57do, you're going to stand up and bring your knee to your chest and then back into the lunge position.
11:03And again, that's it. So we're going to do eight of those in each leg. Stand up nice and straight,
11:09leg up. That's it. And down again. Okay. And stand up straight and then do the other leg.
11:14But the beauty of this exercise, again, it's, it's real stretch out for the, for the hips,
11:19because we spend a lot of time bent over on the bike and we, you know, with the, with the
11:23hips,
11:24you can get, you can get quite sore. So it stretches those out. It's also stretching the
11:28glutes and the hamstrings as well, as you can feel as you're going up. So it's a great all over,
11:32all over workout that one. Okay. Next, we're going to do some glute bridges. So if you lie on your
11:36back
11:36for me, okay, knees bent, put your knees in. That's it about there close together, put your feet together.
11:46Okay. And then what you're going to do, you're going to raise your pelvis up as high as you can.
11:51Down. That's it. Hold that for a second or two, and then back down again. And again, up,
11:56hold it for a second or two, and back down again. Okay. So again, we're going to do about six
12:02to eight
12:02of those, depending on where we are with the circuits. But what they're doing as well, good
12:07core exercise, stretching out the core and the glutes and the, and the hamstrings as well. So,
12:12um, really giving you a good workout post-bike and hopefully unlocking those muscles and, and
12:18adapting those muscles and that you might be not using as much or, or being a bit lazy with on
12:23the
12:23bikes. Brilliant. And that's something you can do anytime. It shouldn't take too long. Um,
12:28you can do that anytime. You go straight off the bike, isn't a bad thing to do actually, you know,
12:32while you're still warmed up and it gives you that activation. And it's something that you can fit
12:36in quite easily then before you have your shower and, and anything to eat. So there you go.
12:41You can do free, hopefully not so grueling sessions that you can all try at home guaranteed to help
12:46boost your fitness and help you ride further, faster for longer, which after all is the goal.
12:52So thank you very much to coach Watto head coach of team London. They're some brilliant sessions.
12:57Great pleasure. Thank you very much. But guys,
13:00if you have any sessions that you like to do at home, or if you've got any big plans for
13:05this summer,
13:05do let us know in the comment section below and don't forget to like and subscribe and we'll see
13:10you next time.
Comments