Hawaii From Home: Bike Workout #2

Join us for Hawaii From Home—one week, 140.6 miles. Swag, prizes, training tips from coaches, bragging rights. Get all of the details at triathlete.com/hawaiifromhome.

This workout from bike coach Matt Bottrill is the second of six cycling workouts that are designed to lead you to your best performance for our Hawaii From Home challenge, which involves a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run over the course of Oct. 5 to 11. Bottrill is one of a panel of expert coaches who will help guide you to race week in top shape. He’s a world-renowned bike guru, cyclist, and coach who works with pro triathletes such as Tim O’Donnell, Tim Don, Matt Hanson, and Justin Metzler. He also works with the Lotto-Soudal pro cycling team as time trial bike fitter and planner.

Throughout these workouts, Bottrill uses Levels 1 through 7 (listed as L1, L2, etc.) to determine effort or RPE. If you prefer to train by power or heart-rate then you can refer to those too. See below (beneath the workout) for a full explanation of levels and their respective heart-rates and wattages. You’ll see the three-hour workout here is based around your sweetspot, which is the zone on the cusp of tempo and lactate threshold level (lower zone 4) based on Bottrill’s table below. It’s an area many athletes work heavily in, as it helps boost power without the heavy fatigue associated with higher intensity work.

This workout includes two options, one that is around three hours in duration and targeted more at advanced athletes, while the second is two hours in duration and aimed more at beginners/intermediates, but you’re obviously open to tackling whichever workout you prefer.

Bottrill said: “This week’s workouts are great to help you build strength as you continue with your Hawaii From Home training. They are hard sessions where you’ll burn lots of glycogen, so sufficient fuelling and hydration is needed.”

Hawaii From Home: Bike Workout #2

Three-hour workout

Warm-up
40 min. @ L2 – cadence 90-100 RPM

Main Set
20 min. – @ sweetspot – cadence 70-80 RPM (strength focus)
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20 min. – @ L2 – high cadence
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20 min. – @ sweetspot – cadence 70-80 RPM (strength focus)
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20 min. – @ L2 – high cadence
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20mins – @ sweetspot – cadence 70-80 RPM (strength focus)
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20 min. – @ L2 – high cadence
—
20 min. – @ sweetspot – cadence 70-80 RPM (strength focus)

Cool-down
10 min. – @ L1 – recovery

Two-hour workout

Warm-up
20 min. @ L2 – cadence 90-100 RPM

Main Set
15 min. @ L3 – cadence 80-90 RPM
15 min. @ L3 – cadence 70-80 RPM
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20 min. @ L2 – high cadence
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15 min. @ L3 – cadence 80-90 RPM
15 min. @ L3- cadence 70-80 RPM 

Cool-down
20 min. @ L1 – L2 – high cadence recovery