Why do you prefer a certain type of training? What does that mean?

When it comes to improving our cycling performance, there are certain types of sessions that are a bit of the ABC of training, aimed at working on very specific qualities. Depending on our characteristics as cyclists, we all have our preferences and the ones we find easier to nail, while there are others that we always have to suffer through to meet the goals.

Tell me how you like to train and I'll tell you what kind of cyclist you are

Although there are hundreds of ways to plan a training session, as many as coaches, in the end, it's all the same: distributing a sufficient load, so that the cyclist can face it without some effort, in order to improve the specific characteristic we want to work on.

However, there are sessions that are repeated in almost all training plans and are done by professional cyclists as well as those who just want to improve among their group of friends. Let's take a look at some of them and try to explain what it means to be good or bad at facing that type of training.

Endurance rides

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What is perceived effort and how to use it in training

This is a very simple training. What is popularly known as base training consists of riding many hours at a constant pace in the so-called Z2 zone. It is the most typical training in the early stages of each season where the goal is to establish a good aerobic base that makes us more efficient in using fats as fuel, preparing the body for the intensity work that will come in the following months.

If our aerobic base is not adequate, either due to lack of previous training or because we have always focused on short-duration disciplines, for example cyclocross, it will be quite difficult for us to spend a certain amount of time on the bike. Besides, these sessions, when we do not have a minimum starting level, are especially frustrating because of how slowly they force us to go even on the slightest incline. However, it is a very necessary training because the better aerobic base we have, the higher our achieved form can be later on.

Under/Over

These are interval training sessions that consist of alternating slightly above threshold time with slightly below threshold time. A training that is simple and attractive for those who have good recovery capacity after intense efforts. However, cyclists who do not have it will see how the accumulation of efforts makes them suffer a lot as the session progresses. It is a super intense training and really enjoyable if your body tolerates lactate well, but agonizing when we increase the demand or our form is not optimal.

However, this is precisely the purpose of this type of training, to teach the body to work in the presence of a high concentration of lactate, which is why the unders are not really a recovery but are done at a notable intensity level as well.

Sweetspot

As the name suggests, it is about training at that 'sweet spot', that intensity where we ride really hard but can maintain it for a prolonged period. A type of training that is easier to face if we have good energy efficiency, so having a good base that makes us resort more easily to fat consumption will be of great help when doing these workouts.

It involves doing several blocks that usually last between 20 or 30 minutes at a slightly lower pace than our FTP and help us improve our cruising speed, making us faster cyclists.

Microintervals

One of the most typical workouts are the 30/30, that is, 30 seconds all out, 30 seconds recovery. A training that few cyclists are able to enjoy because it requires a great mental capacity to tolerate the burning sensation in the legs caused by the high intensity combined with the short recovery time.

However, it is also a clear indicator of our fitness level and, as we improve, it is a training that we will tolerate better and better. It is important if we focus on competition because it is one of the best simulations of the situation we often encounter in races with constant changes of pace without time to recover.

A special case of this type of intervals would be sprint work, with even shorter efforts but at the maximum intensity we are capable of, although, in return, this type of work is usually combined with longer recovery times.

There are many other types of training sessions that you will be familiar with if you follow a planned preparation: 5-minute intervals, long 1-hour sweetspots, intervals that start with 30 seconds at high intensity and then continue at the desired pace or, conversely, end the interval with a sprint, or those progressions where we gradually increase the intensity. There are many variations and it depends in many cases on the preferences of each coach and our strengths or weaknesses that we have to do more or less of one or the other. What are your favorite workouts? Let us know on our social media.