The speed at which you're able to ride long climbs is almost solely related to your functional
Threshold power and that is defined as the maximum effort you can sustain
For 60 minutes and that effort you're making over long climbs will be almost purely aerobic
so the best way to get faster is simply to increase your
FTP now if you want to find out what your current?
FTP is you can do so using a test which we did in a [previous] video the link to which you can find in the
Description below this one, but the great thing is that you don't need a power meter to make visible improvements
So it's three sessions that anybody can try to help improve your climbing on the long ones
Now the first session is a classic when it comes to increasing your functional threshold power
And actually it's pretty simple it just involves doing two 20-minute efforts now to be really really
Specific you want to try and do it on a long climb, but let's face it most of us don't have that luxury
So alternatively just try and find a nice quiet
Flattest piece of road which will allow you to do those [twenty] minutes with minimal disruption
[it] is a session which you can do on an indoor trainer
But bear in mind that if you're going by power that most people can't quite sustain the same amount and power
Indoors as they can out on the road and in terms of actually doing it well
[we] want to warm up for a good 20 minute induce a very easy ride II then get on with the first interval
If you're going by power output then you want to be sustaining around about your functional threshold power, or just below
For the duration if you're going by heart rate well
You should be averaging your threshold heart rate over the last 10 minutes or so of each interval
But bear in mind it is a lag time
Just use the first [five] to [six] minutes to allow your heart rate to come up to that level
You're just going on plain old feel well in the first five or six minutes
Should feel reasonably comfortable quite hard then over the last few minutes of the first interval
Should be getting up to like a nine out of ten effort in the last couple of minutes [to] the last in [two]
Almost a [ten] out of [ten] effort between [each] 20-minute effort you want to have five minutes a very easy riding
It's important that you keep that quite short that way you'll be making sure that you stress the correct
physiological system
Do you want something slightly different?
Or you're a little bit pushed for [time] and try doing shorter intervals at just above your threshold power
So to do the session warm up steadily
15 to 20 minutes
And [then] we're going to do three lots of eight minutes at or [just] above our threshold
So for me that currently equates to about 350 watts and I'm feel
First two to three minutes should [feel] relatively controlled, but by the end of the effort
I'm going really really hard, but I'm not maxed out
Having said that at the end of the third interval I am going to be pretty close to max because this is a hard
session
Now because it can be done in only an hour or so you probably get a couple of these in in your weekly training
But do some other riding around it probably with lower intensities
And if you want to replicate the feeling of climbing put your stuff on [the] flat and remember to do the intervals on the Hoods
And choose a cadence. It's ever so slightly lower than it would be for normal flat riding
Now many of you will [have] heard of the term sweet spot being [bandied] around over the last Few years
Well that basically is the zone just below threshold where you get the most bang for your buck in [terms] of training efficiency
Now the best way to go around this session is to have a first 15 to 20 minute warm-up
And then essentially it's a [1] [hour] interval, but don't be put off by that
Basically you need to ride at around 85 to 93 percent of your threshold and for me
That's around
270 to 300 Watts
Now to break up the boredom because it can be quite hard every six minutes or so try and do a short acceleration
either in or out of the saddle
And that will help break up the monotony of the session and add a little bit of extra
stimulation
so training for longer climbs
20 minute threshold sessions [8] minute above threshold sessions and longer sweet spot sessions
For more training videos just click on [that]
and for
More training videos. You poked me in the face