Lance Watson’s Speedplay A

Cycling, April 01, 2024

This is a hard Threshold and VO2 Max workout that develops your ability to sustain your top-end intensity and enhances your ability to cycle fast. It is perfect for road cyclists and mountain bikers, as well as draft legal triathletes.

See a previous post about training intensity (Levels) to know how hard to work. If you are working directly with Coach Ray he will in most cases prescribe either a Power Zone or Heart Rate Zone to work within if you are training with these tools.

This workout is based on a Running workout that I wrote about a couple of months ago:

http://www.coachray.nz/2018/05/04/friday-fartlek-run-lance-watsons-speedplay/

Despite being a running workout, the time at the various intensities will be a real benefit for cyclists.

Lance Watson’s Speedplay A

  • 12min Level II WU;
  • 3min (1 min each at Level III, IV & V), 2min RI Level II;
  • 7min Level IV, 3min RI Level II;
  • 3min Level V;
  • 10min Level II CD;
  • 10min Stretching

The warm-up (WU) should be done at an intensity that is steady but not overconsuming at Level II for twelve minutes.

The main set is made up of three reps. The first one is three minutes long and progresses from Level III to Level V, with a minute at each intensity. It is followed by a Rest Interval (RI) of 2 minutes at Level II to recover.

The next rep is seven minutes long at Level IV and is followed by a three-minute Rest Interval (RI) at Level II.

The last rep is three minutes long at Level V, then go straight into the Cool Down (CD).

The Cool Down (CD) is at low intensity (Level II) for a minimum of ten minutes.

Finish with 10 minutes of stretching to assist with the recovery.

Here is my data from doing this workout: