In a triathlon, after the swim, we move to the bike. During the winter season, some of us will be on the trainer, go to spinning classes or even out on our bike if the weather is appropriate. During this time we should be concentrating on our stroke mechanics and building an aerobic base. First, we need to do some testing, to give us a base line and something to aim for. 

How to establish a baseline? Do a test. 

No, not like a 3-hour school exam, but the hardest 30 minutes on the bike you will ever do. For the test, you need to have either a Heart Rate Monitor or Power Meter. The goal is to determine your Functional Threshold Heart Rate (FTHR) or Functional Threshold Power (FTP). Don’t worry about not having a power meter on your bike, those on spinning bikes at the gym work just fine. Warm-up on the bike for 10 minutes, don’t push too hard, just enough to get your sweat going on and your body warmed up. After 10 minutes, zero the monitor or watch. That is the easy part. Now comes the hard part: the next 20 minutes. Start at about 80% effort, after 5 minutes record your HR and/or Watts, then you can up your effort by 2-3% for the next 5 minutes and repeat twice more at every 5-minute interval, your heart rate will drift up or if you are not able to increase your effort for the next 5 minutes, stay at a steady pace for the rest of the 20 minute test. Record your HR and/or Watts at the end of every 5-minute interval. 

Now we have some data, let’s do something with it. To estimate your FTHR or FTP, multiply your last HR or Watts by 95%. 

Now that this hard effort almost killed us, what do we do with it? Use it to establish your Training Zone. For triathlons, especially sprint and olympic events, we need to work on our Lactic Threshold (that's where our body is working hard, but not too hard, you got your ‘burn’ going on), this is 91-105% of the FTHR or FTP.  

Let’s set where we want to race the bike at for our event using: 

• Heart Rate 

• Average Heart Rate recorded for the 20 minutes was 130bpm 

• 91% of avHR (130x .91) = 118bpm 

• 105% of avHR (130x 1.05) = 137bpm

So using my Heart Rate Monitor, I would set my alarms at 118 and 137, and try to keep my HR within that range during the event.

• Power 

• Average Power Recorded for the 20min effort was 195watts 

• 91% of avW (195x .91) = 177watts 

• 105% of avW (195x 1.05) = 205watts 

So using power, you would try to maintain your wattage output between 177 to 205 watts. 

Note - be aware that as you maintain a certain wattage output throughout the event, your heart rate will drift upor conversely, as you maintain a certain Heart Rate, your wattage output will decrease as you get tired. 

But how does this help our training? We should do 2 or 3 rides per week in different zones and lengths. The long ride should be 1 to 2 hours in the Aerobic/Tempo zone, which is 56 – 90% of the FTP and a short ride or two between 30 and 60 minutes that include intervals from 2 to 20 minutes at 91 – 120% of the FTP. The shorter the interval, the harder the effort/intensity is. Try to keep your RPMs in the 65-95 range. 

In addition to your bike training, there are other things you can do in the off season: 

• Get your bike serviced

• Get your bike properly fit 

• Do you need new equipment, shoes, shorts, helmet, etc? Shop now. Be prepared. 

In six to eight weeks, repeat the test to re-establish your FTP. If it is going well you should be getting fitter! 

Email me at Andre.Gordon.Fitness@gmail.com if you have any questions. 

Ride Strong!