- Welcome to GTN's Hour of Power,
and today, I've got a great little brick session for you,
going from bike to run,
that will have you done and dusted
within 60 minutes.
Right, as the name suggests,
this one is all about power,
so if you're after an easy session today,
well, I'm afraid this one's probably not for you,
because this is a real time-efficient
bang-for-your-buck kind of session,
with a real focus on top-end power,
which has a benefit for all distances of triathlon.
Now, you notice behind me,
I've got a turbo trainer and a treadmill,
so I'm going to be performing today's brick session indoors,
But you can, of course, do it outdoors, or a mix of both,
and quite often, I'd actually start off indoors
on the turbo trainer, and then run off outdoors.
So, do whatever you're happiest with.
Now, in terms of brick session,
if this is something that's new to you,
well, the idea's that you're running
straight off of the bike,
as you would in a triathlon or a duathlon.
So, that means having your running trainers out,
and perhaps even a change of clothes,
so that we have a real slick transition,
as you would do during a race.
Now, in terms of the session,
well, let's run you through it.
So, we're going to start off on the bike,
with six minutes in zone two for your warm-up,
and then we're moving into five minutes continuous
as 10 seconds maximal sprint,
straight into 50 seconds easy spin.
Then, we're going to do five minutes
at zone two, recovery spin with a nice high cadence,
and then into three lots of four minutes
at your Functional Threshold Power,
with six minutes zone two between.
And then, after that final four minutes,
we're going to jump straight off the bike and into the run,
and we're going to start off with three minutes steady jog,
just to find your feet to start off with.
So, a nice, comfortable pace,
and then we're going to go into five minutes
where we're building our pace each minute,
from around a marathon pace
up to a really fast five-kilometer race pace
for the final minute.
And then, a two minutes easy jog,
and then the same thing again.
Five minutes building the pace each minute,
from marathon pace up to 5K race pace by the final minute,
and then we're going to finish with a five minute
easy jog to cool down.
Okay, so just before, I touched very briefly
on some of the equipment that you'll need
during the brick session,
but whilst I'm doing this six-minute bike warm-up,
I thought I'd run through that in a little bit more detail.
So, on the bike, you will obviously need your bike,
no surprises there, but if you are doing it indoors,
you're probably going to want to have a towel to hand,
just so you can catch the sweat off yourself,
or maybe even drape over your bike
so that it catches the sweat,
and stops it from going over your lovely frame.
With that in mind, you may even want
a fan in front of you on the bike,
and perhaps even on the run if you're doing both indoors,
and having some hydration and fuel to hand
is very important.
Now, personally, for the run,
I quite like to just do this in my bib shorts.
I'm very happy with that,
but I do like to change my top half,
just because I'm not the biggest fan
of my bike jersey ending up like a crop top whilst I run.
But you may want to change your bottom half too,
so just have some shorts at the ready to slip on.
And then also, obviously,
have those run shoes ready and raring to go.
(slick electronic music)
Some of you may well have done the math already,
but this works out as a short and punchy
40-minute bike into a 20-minute run off.
But what's the deal with these sprints?
Well, the sprints require a large force through the pedals
that in turn, increases our neuromuscular recruitment,
which is good, because they also prepare us
for the FTP intervals ahead.
All right, so I'm about to go into my final two minutes
of my 10 seconds on, 50 seconds off.
Now, the 10 seconds should be an all-out maximum effort,
and feel free to get up out of the saddle for this,
and really sprint to your heart's content.
Or, if you like, just sit down in the saddle,
and try and lay down the power as best as possible.
But, before you know it,
you'll be into that 50 seconds easy.
It's only 10 seconds at the end of the day.
Right, three, two, one, go!
(remixed slide guitar music)
And there we go!
Go back down to an easy gear,
spin those legs out for 50 seconds,
and we're going again one more time.
Whoo!
All right, three, two, one, final 10 seconds!
All that effort, two, one...
Easy gear.
50 second spin,
and there also into our five-minute zone two.
Yeah, okay, they are surprisingly hard,
but despite the effort, you will likely surprise yourself
with how well you ride for the FTP intervals.
Now, if you're wondering what on earth
Functional Threshold Power, or FTP is,
well, it is commonly defined as the highest average power
that you can sustain for an hour.
It can be measured by power, or even by heart rate.
Now, the best way to find these values out
is to perform a 20-minute FTP test,
and which you record either or both
your average power and heart rates.
Your FTP is actually the point
at which your body starts to produce lactic acid
at such a rate that it can't keep up
with the process of removing it.
Therefore, if we can bump that level up,
we will ultimately ride better and faster.
And one of the best ways of doing that
is by riding at it for a sustained period of time,
as we are in this session.
Okay, coming to the end of my final four-minute FTP block,
and I'm actually going to get straight out of my bike shoes
whilst on the bike, like a proper triathlon transition,
and then straight on to the run.
So, just got a few seconds left.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Nice and slick.
Right, and as I mentioned,
want to start off with a three-minute jog,
just a chance to find your feet.
Bit unlike, I guess, a real triathlon race,
but I'm being nice to you today 'cause it is a hard session.
So, get your shoes on really quick, as I'm doing now.
Don't want to waste any time,
want to make this as realistic as possible,
and maybe get changed, which you probably won't want to watch.
Okay, so one of the first things you've probably noticed
when you're running off the bike,
particularly a hard bike, is that jelly leg feeling.
Your legs just feel so heavy, and out of control, almost,
and I'm afraid to say, that never really goes,
no matter how seasoned you are in triathlon,
but what you can do is get better at dealing with it,
which is exactly what we're doing today.
By doing a brick session,
we're learning how to cope with that feeling,
and actually how to push through that.
So, in a session, we're going to build through the pace
in the two five-minute blocks,
and hopefully, you'll be a better triathlete because of it!
(serene electronic music)
Okay, so as I come to the end of my three-minute block
and about to start the session,
hopefully that's been an opportunity
for you to get the feeling back in your legs a little bit.
Now, we're going to go into these
two lots of five-minute blocks,
starting at marathon pace,
finishing at around 5K race pace.
Now, I've gone for marathon pace and 5K pace
rather than zones,
just because this is an opportunity
for you to freestyle and experiment a little.
So, marathon pace for some people
may actually be very similar to their steady run pace,
or just a fraction higher.
I'm going to start at somewhere around 15K an hour,
and I'm going to knock it up
about a kilometer per hour each minute.
So, just think about that marathon pace
that you have in mind,
and your 5K race pace,
and try and go up in increments at each minute.
So, I've got a few seconds left,
can start bumping the pace up.
Okay, 15K an hour for me for my first minute.
(heavy footsteps)
Now, try and stay tall whilst you're doing this.
It's very easy to start slumping down,
almost like you're sat in a seat,
when you come off of a hard bike session.
So, try and think about your form,
and staying nice and tall.
(upbeat electronic music)
Okay, so into my final minute
of the five-minute blocks here,
so really shifting some now, going at some pace.
And this is quite an important part of the session,
because our legs are quite fatigued
from everything we've just done on the bike and the run,
but we're asking them to turn over quickly,
quick contact time on the ground,
and that's important because, as we do fatigue,
our go-to is to have a slower contact time on the ground,
to sit down into that stride that I mentioned before.
So, really focus on being quick and light on the feet,
as we bump the speed up.
(steady electronic music)
Now, as you finish that first five-minute block,
drop that speed back down to an easy pace.
But, make sure you keep moving.
This is actually going to help recovery,
by flushing your body out.
And then, we're back onto it again,
with the same five-minute build block.
(heavy footsteps)
(exhales)
(footsteps slow)
Well, there we go.
That is our Hour of Power brick session there,
and it seriously is an Hour of Power.
Really hitting some big numbers,
both on the bike and the run.
You may be thinking, "How is this useful
"if I'm training for a 70.3 or Ironman?"
Well, it really is,
because what you're doing here on the bike and the run
is you're tapping into those high powers,
higher run speeds, that's in turn
going to increase your Functional Threshold Power,
and increase your overall run speed.
And not to mention, actually,
the amount of stress and fatigue
that you're placing on your body
just in this hour session here,
can emulate that of, actually, a longer session.
So, a really time-efficient session,
real bang for your buck
that you can squeeze in around family and work.
So, I hope you have enjoyed that.
Do give us a thumbs-up button if you have.
Probably isn't that enjoyable, I will add.
But if you would like to subscribe to GTN,
and get more videos like this and other sessions,
you can click on the globe and subscribe.
And if you'd like to find out
why indoor cycling on a turbo trainer can be so hard,
you can see that video by clicking just down here.
And if you'd like to find out
how to increase your run speed using three tips,
you can see that by clicking just down here!