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WORKOUT BREAKDOWN

“Boost your running & cycling fitness today!”

By Emma O’Toole

Hello there,

A little while ago we looked at the 6 steps to design a successful training plan. This is the question I was asked a lot following on from that post: “What actually is a tempo, threshold, steady session etc?” 

A lot of us tighten up our shoes, hit the Garmin or the like and head out the door ready to hit the trails and tarmac. That approach is leaving so much on the table when it comes to your progression with running and cycling. Your sessions need purpose and structure.

To help with this, I’ve been running a free ‘Workout Wednesday’ 6-week event in my coaching group. These workouts are 30-35 mins long, perfect for fitting into your already busy schedule and for tailoring the duration to suit your current fitness level.

So, if you too have been wondering “What actually is a tempo, threshold, steady session etc?”, or if you’re looking for more ideas for your current sessions, here is a breakdown of the workouts* that we have seen so far!

Want the workouts now? - Skip to the end of this email!

First up, 1/6: TURN UP THE AC!

Session aim: To develop your Anaerobic Capacity (AC).

Your ability to deliver short, high-intensity efforts and your ability to recover from them gives you an indication of how quickly you can lay down the hammer, recover, and go hard again.

This short, sharp session is pretty intense, but time flies by!

2/6- RECOVERY+

Session aim: Recovery boosting session with a bit of spice.

For the days where you’re not really feeling it. You’re tired, a bit drained and the idea of a pure recovery ride bores you.

Recovery+ is not a pure recovery session, but not by any means a hard workout either. It aims to fire up your neuromuscular system and keep your mind engaged; leaving you fresh, both mentally and physically, for your next session.

Our half way point- 3/6: Rock ‘N’ Roll Tempo

Session aim: Develop aerobic capacity and spend time at your targeted race effort.

Prepare to feel ‘comfortably uncomfortable’.

Tempo sessions often get butchered and turned into sub-threshold effort because they feel almost ‘too comfortable’ to be a beneficial session.

Short tempo sessions, like this one, provide great steady-state aerobic training without inducing too much fatigue and what this means for you is that you can then hit the rest of the sessions in your week hard.

It also gives you the opportunity to spend time at your targeted ‘race pace’ or ‘race power’, so that come race day, you know what it feels like to sustain that effort.

4/6: Feelgood Fitness

Session aim: Explore your body’s effort levels to be able to work at different intensities.

Rate of perceived exertion is used in a lot of training plans and this carries the assumption that everyone knows what an 8/10 feels like.

But guess what? You don't know what your 8/10 feels like, until you've lived it and beyond.

The duration of the effort is what is important in this session. Think about how you feel during each section and how that effort feels.

Use this session to help you explore your effort levels, learn your body's gears and truly begin to unlock your training potential.

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Without any further ado, here are your workouts:

If you'd like more guidance with these sessions, eg working to your heart rate or a targeted running pace or power output. Please reply to this email and I'll be in touch to tailor the workouts to you.

Plus! We can also get the workouts sent across directly to your training device using Training Peaks.

*The sessions have been designed on RPE, rate of perceived exertion, aka effort level:

1 = easy-peasy, laid in bed, 10 = All out max effort.

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