Winter Cycling Training – Day 1 of Week 4

The instructions for today’s workout read as follows:

WU:
10' @ 65-70%FT + 5' alternating 20" @ 110-115%FT
40" @ 65-70% + 5' @ 75% FT

MS:
5x1' (1' Rest@ 65-70% FT) as 1-4 set @ 150-120% and last one try pushing 3-5w higher
the last set will be your baseline for next week-- + 15' @ 78-80%

CD:
5-10' @ 60-65%

WU: Warm Up
MS: Main Set
CD: Cool Down

In the Warm Up section, the instructions call for ten minutes at 65 to 70% of my functional threshold power. Then five minutes of intervals – 20 seconds at 110-115% with 40 seconds at 65-79%. Then five more minutes at 75%

Easy to understand right?

Well, when I read the Main Set section, I got confused. First of all, there is a typo – the 150 should be 105. But I never made sense of the “…as 1-4 set…”. After requesting clarification, I learned that the Main set first called for ten minutes of activity. One minute at 105-120% followed by one minute at 65-70%, this repeated five times, except the last interval I was try to increase my effort by three to five watts.

Instead, I did four minutes at what turned out to be an average of 281 watts or 117% and then one minute at 117%.

Oh well, at least I was on the trainer!