Build a Bigger Aerobic Engine With These 2 Workouts

Most cyclists think a massive amount of Zone 2 training is the secret to a bigger aerobic engine, but it's only part of the story. Coach Adam Pulford breaks down two workouts he uses with his athletes, from ProTour riders to time-crunched amateurs, to push aerobic fitness to the next level.

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RESOURCES

• Cycling’s Latest Trend: Structured Zone 2 Intervals
• Zone 2 Training to Improve Aerobic Endurance and Fat Burning - CTS

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HOST
Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly two decades and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.

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Transcript

Zone 2 Myth And The Fix

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Most cyclists these days think that in order to get a huge aerobic engine, you just need to put in a massive amount of zone two training. Spoiler alert, it ain't true. In this video, I'll give you two workouts that will increase your aerobic capacity in two hours or less and teach you how to weave it into your overall training plan. I'm Adam Pulford, head cycling coach at CTS. I've spent the last 20 years coaching everyone from pro tour riders to time crunched athletes, and today I want to show you how to incorporate the right intensity to build your aerobic engine as big as possible. Let's get started. So does this mean all that zone two riding is useless? Obviously not. Zone 2 endurance riding is the bread and butter, the base of all we should be doing as endurance athletes. But at some point, you need more intensity to move the needle forward on your fitness in order to increase your performance. So, what intensity am I talking about? What are these magical two workouts? They're not magical. They're simple, but they're not easy. Let me walk you through both of them. Workout number one long tempo with low cadence. We're talking zone three intensity at around 70 to 80 RPMs. For those who are racing road, gravel, or mountain bike, aim for workouts like this, which incorporate a main set such as two by 20 minutes at tempo, which is about 80 to 90% of FTP with 5-7 minute recovery in between. Start there and progress up to 4x15 with 5 to 7 minute recovery in between. Then 2x30 minutes with the same 5 to 7 minute recovery. And then finally, build up to a 1x60 at the same zone 3 tempo intensity, aiming to stretch your extensive high aerobic ability to produce more power. Low cadence. Why? I want more force production out of your legs on these workouts. I'm trying to make your legs do more work than your heart. So zapping the legs with lower cadence here will hurt your legs now during this workout, but will set you up for success later in the year when the breakaways happen or the hilly races come. Rate of perceived effort or RPE is a really useful metric to use on longer intervals like this. Simply put, using a scale of one to 10 where one is super easy spinning and 10 being a max effort, your tempo efforts should be around 6 out of 10, maybe finishing at a 7 out of 10 as the legs fatigue. Do this two times per week in your build phase of your annual plan for best success. But more on that in a minute. Aim for at least one hour of total time in zone at tempo for a proper workout, or aim for 90 and up to two hours of total time in zone if you're really wanting a big day out. If you're a beginner, try three by ten or four by ten minute with four to five minute recovery between and build up to longer interval length, aiming for at least 45, if not 60 minutes of time in zone per session to get the most out of it. Workout number two, long low threshold intervals. This is zone four, but on the low end of it. Some people call this sweet spot. I just call it what it is, low threshold. Specifically, 90 to 97% of FTP is what I typically use with my athletes. I use the same workout progression from an interval length and recovery period as the tempo work. I just increase the percentage of FTP up a little. So you can try something like this 2x20 minutes at 90 to 97% of FTP and self-select your cadence this time, then progress toward 4x15 minutes with 5 to 7 minute recovery between 2x30, 1x60. You see where I'm going. Perceived effort is about 7 out of 10 for these, and toward the end it may be feeling more like an 8 out of 10. Self-select a cadence means you choose whatever it takes to make your best power and feel good while you're doing it. Usually 80 to 95 RPMs is about what I find to be effective for most, but again, I let the athlete self-select. Recovery periods are not full, just enough to ease up on the legs a bit, then keep going. Total time in zone should be 45 to 60 minutes. Generally, most won't be able to do more than 75 minutes of total time in zone or go straight through over an hour like tempo, which is a little bit less intense. Like I said, these are pretty simple workouts, nothing fancy, but they are effective and certainly not easy. You should start each of them thinking, this doesn't feel so bad. Then toward the end, you should be asking yourself, can I finish this? Now, when to do these workouts. It's best done in your build phases of training, assuming that you start at base phase and then go toward build one, then build two, prep and race. And you can see what I'm talking about here on the visual. I'm talking about those build one and build two phases specifically. So you're building up toward your race phase with these workouts. Generally, I'm doing more tempo work in build one, and I'm doing more threshold work in build two, but this can vary depending on how you're adapting to the training and how soon the race is actually coming. Two times per week for each key workout in their respective build phases with your long rides on the weekends. Now let's talk about the benefits. Long, high aerobic threshold intensity intervals like this have a ton of benefits, including increased power at lactate threshold, increased plasma volume, increased glycogen storage capacity, enhanced mitochondrial enzyme activity, conversion of type 2X to type 2A muscle fibers. Look that one up, all you science nerds, and contribute to improving VO2 max. Are there any downsides to this? Yes. There are pros and cons to everything, and I encourage you to think like that when designing your training. Everyone asks me, what's the best workout out there? But my answer is always the same. There is none. As Thomas Sowell, famous economist and social theorist once said, there are no solutions, just trig-offs. And the same can be said about any workout for any athlete, zone three and four workouts included. Historically, it's gotten some pretty good hype and a bad rap. Why? Sometimes called the gray zone, where it's not hard enough to really make you fast, but hard enough to make you tired. Sentiments around this type of training used to say stay out of the middle or gray zone because it'll just make you tired and slow over time. This is all bullshit, by the way. Why though? Why does it get the bad rap? It's an age-old human problem. What we perceive as good must be great if we do more of it. Remember all those great benefits? Who wouldn't want those all of the time? The problems start with the advice that tempo and low threshold work are great bang for the buck. So people want to do a lot of it. They're great for time-crunched athletes because we can generally get more work done, think kilojoules, in 70 to 90 minutes versus maybe two hours of riding zone two. Riders can do it on back-to-back days, it feels good, and again, more must be better is the mentality for most people. The reality is that these workouts cause some sneaky fatigue because even though the legs are tired, your cardiovascular system can keep doing the work so long as you are sleeping and getting enough food. Remember, these are still aerobic intervals. The fatigue indicators are not as black and white as zone five and higher, where once you're done, you're done. Hieraerobic has some gray area to it, and it doesn't mean that you should be scared of it. The real problem is doing tempo or low threshold workouts every week, year round, thinking you're going to get all the benefits all the time. It just doesn't work like that. In summary, when done properly and at the right time of year, these longer sub-threshold workouts will build your aerobic engine to handle breakaways, long climbs, and the ability to grind it out at a hard pace all day on the gravel bike. Just stay away from thinking that these workouts are your solution to everything. They're not, but they sure are effective at building a durable aerobic engine that can go all day. That's it for today. Hope you liked it. If you want to build a bigger aerobic engine, try the stuff I talked about. If you want help structuring your training the right way for your physiology, that's what we do here at CTS.