16 hours per week training program

This training program is for serious riders who already have a solid mileage. I recommend that you use a heart rate monitor or, even better, a power meter in your training.

During short intervals, a heart rate monitor is worth nothing because the reactions from the cardiac system are delayed by a few minutes.

This article is beneficial for beginners: Introduction to training with power meters. However, a heart rate monitor is still valuable, it is motivating to train with, and it is an excellent education to see how your body performs and reacts during training. So don´t throw your heart rate monitor away!

In this program, Tuesday and Thursday are the days for interval training. Mondays and Saturdays are recovery days. I suggest you do a short 5 min interval the day before the race day. After three weeks of intensive training, I recommend you take a recovery week with less training, fewer intervals but at the same high intensity as usual. It is also essential to be serious when you are not training. I am talking about optimizing your recovery.

When you are ready to spend 16 hours per week on training, you should consider why you are doing it. Try to write down some of the goals you want to achieve. Also, remember to write down your performance in a diary. It can be advantageous for you later. I will come back later with an article about writing a training diary.

Here is the training program:

Â	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
app.16hr	1,5hr recovery	4hr — 3x(3+3)min V02 max	3hr — 4x200m sprint	3,5hr — 2x10min AT	Rest	1hr easy ride.	Race, 3hr.
app.16hr	1,5hr recovery	4hr — 3x5x(40+20)sec. V02 max	3hr — 4x200m sprint	3,5hr — 4x(3+3)min V02 max	Rest	1hr easy ride.	Race, 3hr.
app.16hr	1,5hr recovery	4hr — 2x10min AT	3hr — 4x200m sprint	3,5hr — 3x5x(40+20)sec. V02 max	Rest	1hr easy ride.	Race, 3hr.
app.10hr	Rest	2hr — 2x(3+3)min VO2 max	2hr — 4x150m	2hr — 2x4x(40×20)sec VO2 max	Rest	1hr easy ride.	Race, 3hr.

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