The ability to accelerate into corners and to be better placed for the start of a climb is an important factor in any MTB race. But quite often these accelerations occur from an already high, steady power.

In this session, we replicate this demand by completing a series of sprints that are preceded by a steady state effort.

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Anna Meares, OAM, is the most decorated female track cyclist of all time, including 6 Olympic medals. The team sprint is one of the most intense things you can do on a bicycle, and this workout will take you through what it feels like to participate in one!

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It's time for another workout courtesy of our friends over at Team Jumbo-Visma. This workout is designed for their American sprinting superstar, Coryn Labecki. Hang on for just 5 short and sharp intervals!

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EF Pro Cycling's Alex Howes says 'I love 30/30s on yellow days. They're great for developing that high end power that translates to on the road success, yet when broken into more bite sized chunks, they're something the body can recover quickly from, setting me up for a green day tomorrow.'

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Italian professional cyclist, who currently rides for UCI World Team Ineos Grenadiers is a sprinting legend. Returning for his second spell with the team, Elia has achieved so much both on the road and track, with two Olympic medals, 9 grand tour stage wins and 85 pro road victories.

With sprinting chops like that it's only right we serve up one of his favorite sprint sessions. Today's workout consists of 3 “longer sprints” of 1 min, 2 min, 1 min with full recovery. To finish off the workout you've got 2 rounds of 3 x 15 seconds sprints. If this doesn't make you faster, nothing will.

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EPOC stand for 'Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption', and is how much work it takes after exercise to return your body to normal resting level. This type of interval sessions 'costs' a lot of energy. After training the calories you burn to recover are quite large. This also has a great benefit to your power profiles.

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One final tune-up to keep the legs sharp and the mind and body fresh before you take on your Fondo!

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Since he was a Junior, Mathieu van der Poel (MvdP) has been dominant in cyclocross and mountain biking, winning World titles in both. Now he also races at WorldTour level, winning stage races and Classics. He has an incredible ability to accelerate, seemingly at will, and keep extreme pressure on to break his competitors. This ability is called anaerobic capacity and is what today's workout will be focused on improving.

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This session is all about Fast legs, fast breathing, fast heart rate and getting a quick fix workout in.

These workouts have been designed and tested by some of the best cyclists in the world. Olympians and World Champions such as Sir Bradley Wiggins, Fabian Cancellara, Dame Sarah Storey and Kristin Armstrong.

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Small ring and big ring sprints today. The goal with the small ring is to enhance your explosiveness, so focus on your jump. The Big rings are longer, designed to enhance your resistance to fatigue.

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MTB riding often requires you to fight for position before exploding out of the corners. This effort requires a sustained power before accelerating well above threshold.

Over a flat course you will have to perform these accelerations at a high cadence, adding another element to your performance.

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Ivan Garcia Cortina is a sprinter and Classics specialist. He also won the 2017 Red Hook Criterium Milan fixed gear criterium race which requires MANY short and sharp efforts, while being able to recover between. Today we have over/under threshold training with the aim to improve the buffer capacity of your body and put your muscles working at their maximum capacity of lactate clearance.

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Today's workout features 2 sets of short and sharp intervals. Lauren describes it as: "I love power style workouts in order to prepare for hard one day races. This High intensity interval (HIT) session gets my blood pumping and legs burning and when I can complete it and not be 'dead' then I know I'm ready to race. This is a great work out for preparing for the classics and more sprint style races. My coach Cedric Barre is the brains behind the pain!".

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Another low intensity workout where we focus on leg speed today. The majority of the session is spent within zone 2.

However, we hit some 90sec high cadence efforts during the session. All this then culminates with a steady state zone 3 effort.

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Designed to hone your after a higher load of work leading up to the sprint. This is another great one that simulates sprints in racing.
Warm-up 10 minutes, and then 3 x 1 minute fast pedaling drills >110rpm, then riding for 3 minutes at your sweetspot, then 2minutes at FTP, followed by a 15 second sprint and then recovery for 3 minutes and repeat.
Cool-down!

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Work here on that top end speed just above threshold. If you want to make - or join - a breakaway, this is the sort of fitness you will need to make that happen.

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His friends call him 'Bling', you may know him as Michael Matthews, but which ever name you use, know you're riding with a legend. Matthews is a sprinter for Team BikeExchange - Jayco and targets the Classics and stage race victories. The 2010 U23 road world champion is among the few sprinters to have won stages in all three Grand Tours and also claimed the coveted Green Jersey at the 2017 Tour de France. Matthews racked up 18 victories in addition to a silver medal at the 2015 World Championships during his first spell with the team and has proven to be one of the most versatile sprinters in the peloton.

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It's a Microburst kind of day! Today's ride consist of 3 sets of 8 efforts building from 10 second to 20 second to 30 second intervals, each separated by 2:30 minutes recovery. The number of repetitions will be 8 for all three sets, expect fatigue to accumulated over each set. The effects made in this workout are tremendous, although time spent in upper zones are short you are allowing more capacity in your anaerobic box meaning over time you will be able to spend more and more time in the higher intensity prior to fatiguing.

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Microbursts are great to do on a regular basis to make sure that you can change speeds anytime no matter the activity you are doing as well as handle power fluctuations on the bike. Each set consists of 10x 30 seconds on (120-130% of FTP) and :15 seconds off (40-50% of FTP). These will definitely be entertaining for the mind yet very challenging for everyone. The great thing about this workout is you will see improvement from the first time doing this to the 2nd and beyond.

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Nelson Vails is the first, and only, African American Cyclist to win an Olympic medal. He took home the Silver medal in the sprint in the 1984 Olympics. Nicknamed “The Cheetah”, he is known for going from zero to 40+ MPH in the blink of an eye. The track sprint is an equal mental and physical challenge with competitors playing tricks and mind-games on one another before uncorking their sprint… Be prepared to launch yours when the time is right!

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Warm-up ramping up to the top of Z2 at 10 minutes.
Then do 3x1 minute fast pedaling drills. The goal here is to increase your cadence to 110-120 rpm and hold it there for the full minute, normal cadence of 80rpm between each one. The wattages are low for both the fast pedaing and recovery.
Now ride for 5minutes at tempo pace, and prepare for your first sprint. You are going to do 10 sprints for 20 seconds each to start. These aren't all out sprints, but the top of Zone 6. Ride at 90 rpm between each in Zone 2.
Cool-down for remaining time

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Steady endurance work trains your body to utilize oxygen to metabolise fat as its fuel source. By incorporating sprint efforts into a steady state effort, you will recruit additional muscle fibres and extend their ability to work aerobically.

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Today we are looking for leg speed! Power is not the focus, so with this in mind the "speed" intervals are performed as a 'free-ride' section.

The goal is long sprints with high cadence!

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Bring it on! You are going to do 10 sprints for 20 seconds each to start. These aren't all out sprints, but the top of Zone 6. Ride at 90 rpm between each in Zone 2.

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This is to prepare you for what happens in a real sprint at the end of the race. You never get to sprint from a "fresh" state. You always have to do at least 1-2 sprints to either hold your position or get into position for the sprint. So, this will be two sprints, the first at about 80% and then the 2nd at 100%, as if you are finishing a race and sprinting for the finish line. Be sure to rest and pedal easy between each for 3minutes, as you will want to be recovered for the next set!

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Want to win the sprint in the Zwift races? This is the workout for you. Be prepared, not for the weak minded or legged! This simulates a run up to the sprint over 40 seconds, so be prepared for a harder and harder load as the time goes on in each sprint. After the 4th sprint, the time between the next is at tempo pace making sure you have to give it some effort to stay in the peloton.

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This session aims to develop your ability to make big surges in effort, to overcome tricky sections on a mountain bike, i.e. a really muddy / boggy section, or super steep and rocky climb, where you need to ride almost max effort just to get up it!

Often, during these technical sections, you are forced to ride at a low cadence of around 65rpm of lower, which is is where todays 1 minute efforts take place. After a short ramp, you will complete a 1 minute max effort at 65rpm - grind it out!

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The hard work is done! It is time to TAPER! Keep your muscles firing as we back off the load to let you recover and freshen up for the big day!

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The challenge is to complete 4 short, high intensity intervals of increasing power, after first opening with a steady 15min Tempo effort.

By working aerobically in the early 15min effort you will be improving the ability to deliver oxygen to the working muscles and preserve your carbohydrate stores for the finishing maximal efforts.

Can you achieve the same max power in both sets?

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Riding in the peloton requires plenty of speed and cadence changes, along with sustained output.It's important that you are ready for those changes, and doing this workout will help!
Warm-up for 10 minutes and then do 3 x 1 minute fast pedaling drills at >110rpm with 1 minute at 80rpm between each. Then begin a 40minute block at tempo pace, 80% of FTP, and do a "burst" for 15 seconds every two minutes. Each burst is at 120% of FTP, and return to previous pace of 80% of FTP after each. Cool down.

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Teniel Campbell is a UCI pro cyclist for Team BikeExchange-Jayco and comes from the small island of Trinidad and Tobago. Teniel won four medals at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games and she won the U23 individual time trial at the 2019 Pan American Road and Track Championships. She joined Team BikeExchange in 2021 and recently won her national road and TT championship. Today's session is a great one to improve all-around fitness. The main set is 2 x 10 min as 90 second ramp from 83% - 93%, 20 second ramp from 105% - 120% and 10 seconds MAX, 5 times through! Get ready this one is going to be fun!

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Michal Kwiatkowski is a powerhouse cyclist who has a huge range of abilities that helps win races. Sprinting, time trialing, climbing—he can do it all! Today's workout is a great example of what it takes to win a race that comes down to a finishing sprint. Get ready to give it your all in the final 15sec!

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Sprinter Ben Swift can generate massive power at the end of a long race to beat almost anyone to the line. To develop that kind of explosive power, you need to accelerate against resistance—which means starting out going slow in a big gear and powering up to high speed. Today's workout intervals will feature exactly that!

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