I have recently started training ready for my solo and pair 24 hour races later on in the year. They feel very far off at the moment, I know from experience that it takes a while for your body to adapt to training.
One of the best ways to improve your power is to use hill repeats, these sessions usually take between one hour and one hour 30 so are ideal for fitting into lunch breaks and before work.
The training session.
Depending on your level of fitness would depend on the amount of reps. I set myself 8.
- Warm up for a good 15/20 minutes in heart rate (HR) zones 1 and 2 if you’re a HR meter
- 3 min power climb to the top of the hill push as hard as you can, I find counting to 10 before switching gears makes me push harder (zone 5 HR)
- Use the lap button on your Garmin to record each climb
- Free wheel down the hill and have a 3 min rest
- Repeat 5 – 8 times
- Easy cool down for 15 mins
Spending time in the pain-cave can really help to improve your stamina, threshold power and determination to push that little bit further or faster. You goal over this session should be to maintain the speed in which you climb the hill consistently over each rep and to improve your recovery between reps.
To find some great tips on hill climbing check out the British Cycling website.
