Do Something Streak, Day 12: Super Simple 70.3 Bike Intervals

This week’s One-Hour Workout also doubles as our Day 12 Do Something Streak workout, and it’s taken from coach Matt Fitzgerald’s Super Simple Ironman 70.3 Triathlon Training Plan. As the name suggests, it’s a super simple bike workout that is 50 minutes in duration with some three-minute higher intensity efforts peppered throughout the ride.

While training and physiology can at times be complex, Fitzgerald is a big fan of keeping things simple: “First, I find simple plans to be less mentally stressful than complex training plans. Why make your training so complex that it is unnecessarily mentally taxing in addition to being necessarily physically taxing? Second, the results of a very basic, and highly repetitive, training plan are predictable, and predictability of effects is a major virtue in a training plan…Finally, it’s easier to measure and monitor progress in a training plan with lots of repetition. You can make apples-to-apples comparisons of your performance in difference instances of the same workout. This is important, because seeing progress inspires future progress.”

With this workout, spend the first 10 minutes gradually warming up and building effort, before riding at a steady aerobic pace, think RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) 6-7/10. Once you feel well warmed up and you’re moving well, start to include the five sets of three-minute harder efforts, taking two to three minutes recovery between each interval. These should be done at RPE 8/10.

Once you’ve done all five sets of efforts, take some time to spin relaxed and easy for five to 10 minutes (or longer, if time allows).

Do Something Streak, Day 12: Super Simple 70.3 Bike Intervals

Warm-up

10 min. easy riding

Main set

40 min. steady aerobic riding RPE 6-7/10 including:
5 x 3 min. RPE 8/10 with 2-3 min. recovery between each

Cool-down

5-10 min. easy riding

Not signed up yet for our January challenge? You can still be a part of the Do Something Streak. Just do something (anything!) for 30 minutes for 30 days. Sign up for the Do Something Streak and be entered to win one of our great prizes. Prizes will be picked at random a week in, halfway through, and at the end of the streak. Do something!