When you go on vacation it can be difficult – even impossible – to maintain your fitness levels. After all it is a time for relaxing and chilling out with your family and friends, so your cycling training program tends to take a back seat.

But lazing on the beach or enjoying a few holiday cocktails does not mean you have to throw your training regime totally out of the window. You can still maintain your fitness: the challenge is how to be creative with your time to make sure you achieve this.

Finding the time without compromising your loved ones can be a challenge but it can also be fun. So I have devised a training program to make sure you don’t waste all the months of hard work that you have put in while on vacation.

Here are my six steps that will make your vacation a training success:

1) Be proactive.
When you are on vacation you can’t follow your regular training program. You can’t train on your normal bike or ride your regular routes. Instead focus on the possibilities and not the limitations. Cycling on vacation can be an excellent way of discovering new places: take in the sights and sounds of your new surroundings while simultaneously maintaining your fitness. Read more about being proactive.

2) Cut down on the number of training days.
In fact, reducing your total training time may well be good for you. The optimal number of training days is three because you will then be able to tackle tough intervals in every session. If you train fewer times per week, you will not get enough stimuli for your aerobic system.

3) Decrease the length of training sessions.
When you go for shorter rides, it becomes easier to stay focused and concentrate. Consequently you will get more quality into your training and fewer junk miles.

4) Interval training.
The real secret to succeeding with a dramatically reduced training amount is highly effective interval training. By doing intervals, you will be able to get a lot of training with an intensity close to VO2 max. And that will largely compensate for the reduced training volume.

5) Use the 80/20 principle.
Focus on the things that improve your performance and leave the time-consuming tasks for later. So you should mainly focus on high quality training sessions and (for a while) forget about fine tuning and polishing your bike and shaving your legs etc. To sum up: spend the time you are away from your travelling partners wisely.

6) And don’t forget that first and foremost you are on vacation…

The Magic 2 Hour Cycling Training Program

I have boiled these tips down to a ready-to-use training program for you. Since this program is extremely time effective, I have called it The Magic 2 Hour Cycling Training Program.

You see? It can be done.

Have a great time on your vacation but don’t forget to find the time for my free Magic 2 Hour Cycling Training Program.

I hope you enjoy it and I wish all of you the best of luck with it.

Most riders enjoy a sprint once in a while with the group they train with. It can be a really good simulation of the challenges at the end of a race.

If you organize these random sprints, you have the opportunity to make your sprints a lot better – and you still have a lot of fun battling with your friends. Here are some sprint sessions which may help you to become a better sprinter:

Sprint Program for Cyclists #1

15 minutes – warm-up (increasing intensity)
8 x 10 sec group sprint. 5 min recovery between each sprint.

This program is a very simple example of solid principles that you should use in sprint training.

Please note that after each sprint you should have a long recovery before your next sprint. By having this long recovery you will be able to make maximum effort in each sprint and get a great stimulus for every single muscle fiber involved in sprinting.

It is a mistake to believe that sprint training should only be done after long rides to simulate “the real thing”.

When you are tired, dehydrated and your glycogen stores are empty, you have probably also lost your concentration and motivation. The circumstances might be psychologically comparable to race situations, but they will never represent optimum training of your physiological sprinting skills.

Sprint Program for Cyclists #2

15 minutes – warm-up (increasing intensity)
5 x 10 sec power sprint. 5 min recovery between each power sprint.

Slow down your bike and then do a maximum acceleration in a high gear (53×14-16). This exercise is probably the closest you can get to specific maximum strength training on your bike.

This workout can easily be performed a couple of times each week because the recovery needed after these power sprints is minimal. Although it should be emphasized that recovery periods between power sprints must be long enough to ensure full recovery.

Just like any other workout, it is a good idea to analyze your efforts afterwards. Group sprints are more complex to analyze because you train several different skills (technical, tactical and physiological) while power sprints are pure power training.

Again I need to mention that a power meter is a fantastic analysis tool providing objective feedback for your efforts.

Finally, don’t forget to read the real secrets of successful sprinters.

2 months ago I published a training program designed to increase your VO2 max in only 14 days. I promised you a higher VO2 max if you completed the training program as scheduled and I’ve already heard from several readers who have made significant improvements.

Now I want people who have completed or almost completed the VO2 max Booster Program to enter their before and after VO2 Max power outputs and comments about the training program. I will use your feedback to make an optimized edition of the training program. Thanks in advance.

PS. The VO2 Max Booster Program is a part of my e-book Time Effective Cycling Training. Read more here.

12-Week Cycling Training Plans

12-Week Winter Training Program (Recommended)
This training program can be used by a wide range of cyclists who want a high quality training program for their winter training.

12 Week Pre-Season Cycling Training Program
This program is an example of how you can plan the final 12 weeks before the race season begins. If you have been lazy during the winter, starting on this program might be a good chance to catch up.

Time Effective Cycling Training

16 Wk Training Program incl. Tapering Protocol
This exciting new e-book will showcase how you can develop your own individual training program, fine tune your intervals and taper towards a major event.

Indoor Cycling Training Programs

Indoor Cycling Programs – part one
3 super effective indoor training programs that can be used on ergometer bike or in the spinning class.

Indoor Cycling Programs – part two
2 Highly effective indoor training programs that will boost your aerobic engine.

VO2 Max Booster Program
This training program will dramatically boost your race performance in only 14 days. The training program can be used by any cyclist, but riders with a SRM or PowerTap mounted on their bike will get the best value. There are amazing reports from readers who have tried this program. You can improve your VO2 max dramatically in only 14 days using these workouts.

I have previously posted three quality programs for indoor cycling. These programs are not only easy to understand they are also a very efficient way to train if you don’t have much time for training.

The principles used in these training programs are very similar to the ones used in my VO2 Max Booster Program. Another advantage is that it is not necessary to use a heart rate monitor or power meter for pacing even though it certainly will be a good help for an optimal training session. I will now introduce you to two more indoor cycling programs that really rocks:

Indoor Cycling Programs

Aerobic power 3
10min warm-up
3min (semi-high intensity)
2min low intensity
8 x (3min high intensity + 2min low intensity)
5min cool down

This program gives you 24minutes at very high aerobic oxygen consumption. Your aerobic engine will love this program and you will be glad that these tough intervals are separated into short 3minutes bursts. It is though important to maintain some intensity in the recovery periods since that will help you to recover faster.

Aerobic power 4
10min warm-up
3min (semi-high intensity)
2min low intensity
4 x (6min high intensity + 4min low intensity)
5min cool down

This program also gives you 24minutes at very high aerobic oxygen consumption, but it will be tougher for you to maintain the same power outputs as in ‘Aerobic Power 3’ since the intervals are twice as long. If you compete in time trial events this program is good for pacing control training.

If you use a power meter for pacing then focus on intensity in the difficult parts of the workout and relaxe in the rest periods. There is a big difference between 350 and 380w in the work period so it is here you shall concentrate on your power output. If you get a good recovery in the rest periods that’s fine, don’t worry about your power output here.

Jesper Bondo Medhus explains more about his strong views on VO2 max and threshold power in his new ebook, Time Effective Cycling Training. For more information please visit www.training4cyclists.com/time-effective-cycling-training/