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Coaching25 min read

THE INTERVAL SESSION LIBRARY: 15 STRUCTURED WORKOUTS FROM RECOVERY TO VO2MAX

By anthony-walsh

WHO THIS IS FOR

IS THIS YOU?

  • Self-coached riders who want a ready-made library of sessions they can pick from on any given training day
  • Turbo trainer users who are tired of staring at the garage wall wondering what to do for the next hour
  • Power meter owners who know their FTP but do not know how to translate it into specific workout prescriptions
  • Plateau-stuck racers who suspect their interval selection is too random and want a structured reference

THE ROADMAN VIEW

The Roadman View

  • This is the post I wanted to exist years ago. Fifteen sessions, each with a purpose, a power target, and a rest period. No theory, no waffle.
  • The 2x20 sweet spot session is still the most time-efficient workout in amateur cycling. If you only have an hour, that is what you do.
  • If you cannot finish the last interval within five per cent of the first, the prescription is too hard. You are training willpower, not physiology.

This is not a theory piece. If you want to understand why intervals work, how polarised training distributes intensity, or the physiology behind VO2max adaptation, those posts exist — the complete intervals guide and the VO2max intervals guide cover that ground properly.

This is a reference library. Fifteen sessions, each with a specific purpose, an exact power target, a rest prescription, and an RPE cue. Bookmark it. Come back to it on a Tuesday evening when you're standing in the garage staring at your turbo wondering what to do. Pick the session that matches your training day, clip in, and execute.

No interpretation required.

How to use this library

Every power target in this library is expressed as a percentage of your FTP. If you don't know your FTP, go and test it before you start. Without that number, these sessions are guesswork — and guesswork is the thing we're trying to eliminate.

Once you have your FTP, the zone calculator will map every percentage to your actual watts. A rider with a 250-watt FTP and a rider with a 180-watt FTP will both ride these sessions at the same relative intensity. That's the point. The stimulus is the same. The adaptation is the same. Only the number on the screen differs.

Matching sessions to your training phase

Not every session belongs in every week. Here's the short version:

  • Base phase (building aerobic fitness): Sessions 1, 2, 3 — and possibly Session 4 in the second half of the block
  • Build phase (raising threshold and introducing intensity): Sessions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 — with one VO2max session from 9, 10, or 11 if the block runs long enough
  • Race/peak phase (sharpening race fitness): Sessions 9, 10, 11, 12, 15 — sprinkled with maintenance threshold work from Session 7
  • Recovery weeks (every third or fourth week): Session 1 only, possibly Session 2 at the lower end

Two to three structured sessions per week. The rest should be genuine endurance riding or rest days. If every day feels hard, something is wrong with the plan, not with you.

A note on RPE

Every session includes an RPE cue on the 1-10 scale. These aren't decorative. Power meters run out of battery. Sensors drop signal. You might be riding outdoors on an unfamiliar road where holding exact watts is impossible. RPE is your backup system, and learning to calibrate it against your power data makes you a more capable athlete over time.

Here's how the RPE scale works for these sessions:

| RPE | What it feels like | |---|---| | 2-3 | You could do this all day. Conversation flows easily. | | 4-5 | Breathing is noticeable. You can talk in full sentences but don't particularly want to. | | 6-7 | Uncomfortable. Short phrases only. You're aware of the effort. | | 8 | Hard. Three-word answers. You want it to end but can sustain it. | | 9 | Very hard. Single words. The clock moves slowly. | | 10 | Everything you have. Cannot sustain this for more than 20-30 seconds. |


Zone 1-2: Foundation sessions

These are your bread and butter. They look boring on paper. They feel boring on the road. They build the aerobic engine that everything else sits on top of.

Session 1: Active Recovery Spin

Power Target: 50-60% FTP

Structure: 30-45 minutes of continuous spinning. No surges, no hills, no chasing anyone.

Recovery: Not applicable — this is the recovery.

Total Session Time: 30-45 minutes (no separate warm-up or cool-down needed at this intensity)

RPE: 2-3

When to use it: The day after a hard session. During recovery weeks. When your legs feel heavy and your motivation is low. The point is blood flow and gentle stimulus, not fitness gains.

Coach's note: The hardest thing about this session is riding easy enough. I mean it. If your FTP is 250 watts, you should be at 125-150 watts for the entire ride. If someone rides past you, let them. If a hill appears, gear down. The moment you start pushing, this stops being recovery and starts being junk mileage — too easy to produce a training stimulus, too hard to let your body actually recover. Your ego will fight you on this one. Don't let it win.


Session 2: Endurance Builder

Power Target: 60-75% FTP

Structure: 90-180 minutes of steady riding. Keep it in the lower half of the range (60-68% FTP) for the first hour, allow it to drift towards the upper half (68-75% FTP) in the second hour if you feel good.

Recovery: Not applicable — the entire ride is at a single intensity.

Total Session Time: 90-180 minutes

RPE: 3-4

When to use it: Base phase training days. Weekend long rides. Any day that isn't a hard session day. This is the session that builds mitochondrial density, improves fat oxidation, and develops the aerobic foundation that makes every other session in this library possible.

Coach's note: Here's the thing nobody tells you about endurance rides — most riders do them too hard. You should be able to hold a conversation without gasping. Your breathing should be relaxed. If you're riding at 80 per cent of FTP and calling it endurance, you're in the grey zone that Professor Seiler has spent decades warning about. Too hard to build your base. Too easy to trigger threshold adaptation. Check the power. Stay honest. The 80/20 polarised model only works if the 80 per cent is actually easy.


Session 3: Tempo Blocks

Power Target: 76-87% FTP

Structure: 3 x 15 minutes at tempo, with 5 minutes of easy spinning (50-55% FTP) between each block.

Recovery: 5 minutes between blocks at 50-55% FTP.

Total Session Time: ~80 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 3x15 minutes + 2x5 minutes recovery + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 5-6

When to use it: Late base phase when you need something harder than endurance but aren't ready for sweet spot. Mid-week during a build phase as a "medium" day between a rest day and a harder session. For riders new to structured training, this is a good first step into intentional intensity.

Coach's note: Tempo is the most misused zone in cycling. Some riders never go there — they jump straight from easy to threshold. Others live there permanently, grinding every ride at a moderate effort and wondering why they don't get faster. Tempo has a place, but that place is specific: it builds muscular endurance and teaches your body to clear lactate at moderate intensities without the fatigue cost of threshold work. Three blocks of 15 minutes is enough. If you feel like you could do a fourth, the intensity is right. If you couldn't have done a fourth, you were in sweet spot, not tempo.


Zone 3-4: Threshold development sessions

This is where the real work happens for most amateur cyclists. Sweet spot and threshold sessions are the most time-efficient way to raise your FTP without the recovery cost of VO2max work.

Session 4: 2x20 Sweet Spot

Power Target: 88-93% FTP

Structure: 2 x 20 minutes at sweet spot, with 10 minutes of easy spinning (50-55% FTP) between the two efforts.

Recovery: 10 minutes between efforts at 50-55% FTP.

Total Session Time: ~75 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 2x20 minutes + 10-minute recovery + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 6-7

When to use it: The single most time-efficient session for building aerobic fitness and raising FTP. Works in base, build, and maintenance phases. The default "go-to" session when you have 75 minutes and want to get genuine work done.

Coach's note: Let me be really clear about this — the 2x20 sweet spot is the session I'd keep if I could only keep one. Forty minutes of work at 88-93 per cent of FTP produces a training stimulus that would take three to four hours of endurance riding to approximate. The recovery cost is moderate enough that you can ride again the next day. The intensity is high enough to trigger meaningful adaptation. This is the sweet spot of the sweet spot. Start at 88 per cent for your first attempt. Build towards 93 per cent over a few weeks. If you can hold 93 per cent for both twenties with a strong finish, your FTP has probably moved and it's time to retest. The sweet spot guide covers progression in detail.


Session 5: 3x15 Sweet Spot

Power Target: 88-93% FTP

Structure: 3 x 15 minutes at sweet spot, with 7 minutes of easy spinning (50-55% FTP) between each effort.

Recovery: 7 minutes between efforts at 50-55% FTP.

Total Session Time: ~85 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 3x15 minutes + 2x7 minutes recovery + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 6-7

When to use it: When the 2x20 starts to feel comfortable and you want more total time at intensity without pushing the power higher. Also a good option for riders who find 20-minute blocks mentally difficult — 15-minute efforts are more digestible, and the extra set compensates for the shorter duration.

Coach's note: Same power, different packaging. The total work here is 45 minutes versus 40 for the 2x20, and the shorter efforts with more rest can actually make this a better session for riders who tend to start the second twenty too conservatively. Three lots of 15 minutes allows you to commit properly to each block without the creeping dread that comes from watching a 20-minute countdown. Mentally easier. Physiologically equal or better. Use whichever version you execute more consistently.


Session 6: Over-Under Threshold

Power Target: Alternating between 105% FTP (over) and 85% FTP (under) in 2-minute blocks.

Structure: 4 rounds of 2 minutes at 105% / 2 minutes at 85% FTP (16 minutes total per set). 10 minutes easy spinning at 50-55% FTP. Repeat for a second set.

Recovery: 10 minutes between sets at 50-55% FTP. The "under" portions (85% FTP) within each set serve as active recovery.

Total Session Time: ~75 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 2x16 minutes + 10-minute recovery + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 7-8

When to use it: Build phase. This session teaches your body to clear lactate while still producing power — the exact skill you need when the pace surges in a group ride, a race, or on a climb with variable gradient. The "over" pushes you above threshold, flooding the muscles with lactate. The "under" asks you to keep riding at a meaningful intensity while clearing it.

Coach's note: Here's where it gets really interesting. The over-unders don't just train your threshold — they train your ability to recover at intensity. That's a different skill. In a race, nobody sits at a constant 95 per cent of FTP for 20 minutes. The pace surges, drops, surges again. Over-unders replicate that pattern in a controlled way. The "under" at 85 per cent should feel noticeably easier than the "over" at 105 per cent, but it should not feel easy. If 85 per cent feels like recovery, you're not pushing the overs hard enough. If 85 per cent feels impossible after the overs, your FTP number is too high. The contrast between the two efforts is the training stimulus. Protect it.


Session 7: 2x20 Threshold

Power Target: 95-100% FTP

Structure: 2 x 20 minutes at threshold, with 10 minutes of easy spinning (50-55% FTP) between the two efforts.

Recovery: 10 minutes between efforts at 50-55% FTP.

Total Session Time: ~75 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 2x20 minutes + 10-minute recovery + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 8

When to use it: Build phase, once you've established a sweet spot base. This is the gold-standard FTP development session — the one that directly trains the physiological systems governing sustainable power. The threshold intervals guide covers the full progression from 4x10 through to 2x20.

Coach's note: The difference between sweet spot and threshold is about five to seven per cent of FTP. It sounds small. It isn't. That five per cent is the difference between "I could do a third set" and "I'm counting down every minute of the second." Threshold should feel like controlled discomfort. Your breathing is heavy and rhythmic. You can manage three-word answers if someone talks to you. You want it to end, but you know you can sustain it. If you find yourself bailing at minute 14 of the second set, drop the power by 2-3 per cent rather than cutting the effort short. Completing the full duration at a slightly lower intensity is more productive than a partial effort at the "correct" number.


Session 8: Threshold Pyramids

Power Target: 95-100% FTP

Structure: 5 minutes - 8 minutes - 10 minutes - 8 minutes - 5 minutes at threshold, with 5 minutes of easy spinning (50-55% FTP) between each effort.

Recovery: 5 minutes between efforts at 50-55% FTP.

Total Session Time: ~85 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 36 minutes of work + 4x5 minutes recovery + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 8

When to use it: When the 2x20 gets monotonous and you need variety without changing the physiological target. Also a good bridge session for riders who can manage 3x10 at threshold but aren't yet ready for 2x20 — the pyramid builds confidence through the shorter bookend efforts before hitting the ten-minute centrepiece.

Coach's note: Same power as Session 7, different mental game. The pyramid structure gives you a psychological lift at exactly the right moment — the efforts get shorter after the ten-minute peak, and that countdown effect keeps you committed. There's also a practical benefit: starting with five minutes lets you settle into the intensity before the longer efforts, which often produces better pacing than jumping straight into a twenty-minute block. If you can hold power cleanly through this entire pyramid, you are ready for the 2x20. If the ten-minute peak forces you to drop power, stay with the pyramid until it doesn't.


Zone 5: VO2max sessions

This is the sharp end. VO2max sessions improve your body's maximum capacity to transport and use oxygen. They're demanding, they require full recovery afterward, and they produce the biggest fitness gains per minute of any session type — but only if the dose is right.

Two VO2max sessions per week is the ceiling for most riders. One is often enough. If you're doing three, you're almost certainly not recovering from them, and the quality of each session drops.

Session 9: The Norwegian 4x4

Power Target: 106-120% FTP

Structure: 4 x 4 minutes at VO2max intensity, with 4 minutes of easy spinning (40-50% FTP) between each effort.

Recovery: 4 minutes between efforts at 40-50% FTP.

Total Session Time: ~60 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 4x4 minutes + 3x4 minutes recovery + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 8-9

When to use it: Build and race phase. The 4x4 is the most studied VO2max protocol in endurance sport — made famous by the Norwegian research groups who demonstrated its effectiveness across cycling, rowing, and running. Four minutes is long enough for oxygen consumption to ramp up near its maximum. Four efforts is enough to accumulate meaningful time at that ceiling.

Coach's note: The power range here is wide for a reason. A rider with a high anaerobic contribution might need 115-120 per cent of FTP to reach 90 per cent of maximum heart rate by interval three. A rider with a strong aerobic engine might hit that target at 106-110 per cent. The right power is the one that gets your heart rate above 90 per cent of max by the middle of the second or third interval and keeps it there. If your heart rate never gets above 85 per cent of max, the power is too low. If you can't complete interval four within 5 per cent of interval one, the power is too high. Adjust accordingly and don't let ego set the target. The VO2max intervals guide covers format and dosing in detail.


Session 10: 5x3 VO2max

Power Target: 110-120% FTP

Structure: 5 x 3 minutes at VO2max intensity, with 3 minutes of easy spinning (40-50% FTP) between each effort.

Recovery: 3 minutes between efforts at 40-50% FTP.

Total Session Time: ~55 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 5x3 minutes + 4x3 minutes recovery + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 8-9

When to use it: An alternative to the 4x4 for riders who find four-minute efforts mentally or physically too demanding at the correct intensity. The shorter work interval allows a slightly higher power target, while the extra repetition compensates for the reduced duration per effort. Total time at intensity: 15 minutes versus 16 for the 4x4. Functionally equivalent.

Coach's note: Three minutes is a different beast to four minutes, even though it looks similar on paper. The psychological difference is real — you always know you're within 90 seconds of the end. That mental safety net lets you commit harder. For some riders, that means the 5x3 actually produces more time near VO2max than the 4x4, because they're willing to push properly rather than holding back to survive the final minute. Try both formats across different weeks and compare heart rate traces. Use whichever one gets you higher, more often.


Session 11: 6x2 Billat-Style

Power Target: 115-125% FTP

Structure: 6 x 2 minutes at VO2max intensity, with 2 minutes of active recovery (50-60% FTP) between each effort.

Recovery: 2 minutes between efforts at 50-60% FTP. The short recovery is deliberate — it keeps oxygen consumption elevated between efforts.

Total Session Time: ~50 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 6x2 minutes + 5x2 minutes recovery + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 9

When to use it: Mid-to-late build phase. The two-minute work intervals with two-minute recoveries exploit a quirk of oxygen kinetics: your VO2 doesn't drop back to baseline during the short rest. By interval three or four, you're beginning each effort with oxygen consumption already elevated, which means you spend more cumulative time near your ceiling than the work intervals alone suggest.

Coach's note: This format comes from the work of Veronique Billat, who showed that alternating between intensity and active recovery in equal-duration blocks produces substantial time at VO2max without the perceived brutality of longer continuous efforts. The active recovery at 50-60 per cent FTP is key — it needs to be high enough to keep blood flowing but low enough to allow some lactate clearance. If you drop to near-zero during the recovery, you lose the oxygen kinetics benefit. If you push the recovery too hard, you can't hit the next work interval. Ride the recovery, don't coast it.


Zone 6-7: Anaerobic and sprint sessions

These sessions target systems above the aerobic ceiling — anaerobic glycolysis, neuromuscular power, and sprint-specific recruitment. They're short, explosive, and deceptively fatiguing. The work intervals are brief but the recovery needs to be genuine.

Even if you never plan to sprint for a finish line, these sessions improve pedalling efficiency, fast-twitch fibre recruitment, and the ability to accelerate — all of which transfer to group rides, short climbs, and any situation where the pace changes suddenly.

Session 12: 8x30/30

Power Target: 130-150% FTP for the "on" phases.

Structure: 30 seconds at 130-150% FTP / 30 seconds easy spinning (50-60% FTP), repeated 8 times (8 minutes per set). 8 minutes of full easy recovery between sets. 2 sets total.

Recovery: 30 seconds between each effort within a set. 8 minutes between sets at 50-55% FTP.

Total Session Time: ~55 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 2x8 minutes of work + 8 minutes between sets + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 9

When to use it: Build and race phase. The 30/30 format bridges the gap between aerobic and anaerobic systems. The 30-second efforts are long enough to draw heavily on glycolytic energy but short enough to repeat without complete collapse. The equal-duration recovery prevents full metabolic restoration, which keeps the aerobic system running hot even during the rest intervals.

Coach's note: The craziest part of this whole thing is what happens to your heart rate during a 30/30 set. Watch it. By rep four or five, your heart rate will be climbing during the 30-second recovery periods — your cardiovascular system can't keep up with the demand. That's the point. You're stacking aerobic stress through anaerobic work. Start at 130 per cent FTP for your first session and build towards 150 per cent over two to three weeks. If you can't complete the eighth rep of the second set within 10 per cent of the first rep, the power is too high. Scale it back. Consistency across the set matters more than peak numbers.


Session 13: Tabata Protocol

Power Target: 170%+ FTP (functionally: as hard as you can go for 20 seconds)

Structure: 8 x 20 seconds at maximum sustainable effort, with 10 seconds of near-complete rest between each effort.

Recovery: 10 seconds between efforts — not enough to recover, by design.

Total Session Time: ~35 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 4 minutes of Tabata + 10-minute cool-down, plus optional second set after 10 minutes of recovery)

RPE: 10

When to use it: Late build or race phase. Sparingly. The Tabata protocol is the most time-efficient interval format ever studied — Izumi Tabata's original 1996 research showed that four minutes of this protocol produced both aerobic and anaerobic improvements that six weeks of traditional endurance training couldn't match. But it only works if the intensity is truly maximal.

Coach's note: Let me be really clear about this — a real Tabata set is four minutes of suffering. Not discomfort. Not a hard effort. Suffering. The 10-second recovery is just long enough to take two breaths and nothing else. If you finish the eight reps and feel like you could do another set immediately, you weren't going hard enough. One set is often enough for a meaningful stimulus. If you do two, take a full 10 minutes of easy spinning between them. This session should appear in your plan once a week at most, and only during sharpening phases. It's a scalpel, not a hammer.


Session 14: Sprint Repeats

Power Target: Maximum effort (not percentage-based — true all-out sprint from a rolling start)

Structure: 6 x 10-second sprints from a rolling start (approximately 25-30 km/h), with 5 minutes of complete easy recovery between each sprint.

Recovery: 5 minutes between sprints at very easy intensity (50% FTP or lower). Full recovery is essential — this is a neuromuscular session, not a fatigue-accumulation session.

Total Session Time: ~60 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 6x10 seconds + 5x5 minutes recovery + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: 10 (for each sprint), 2-3 (for the session overall)

When to use it: Year-round, once every week or two. Sprint repeats train neuromuscular recruitment — the speed at which your brain activates muscle fibres and the number of fibres it recruits per pedal stroke. This is a skill, not just a fitness quality. It degrades if you don't practise it, regardless of your aerobic fitness.

Coach's note: The five-minute recovery is not optional and it is not a suggestion. This session works because each sprint is performed from a fully recovered state, which allows maximum neuromuscular recruitment. If you cut the rest to three minutes to save time, you turn this into a glycolytic fatigue session — different stimulus, different adaptation, and not the one you're after. Each sprint should be an absolute maximum. If sprint six feels just as explosive as sprint one, the session is working. If sprint four feels sluggish, extend the recovery to six or seven minutes. The work-to-rest ratio looks absurd on paper — one minute of total effort in a 60-minute session — but the neuromuscular adaptations transfer to everything: accelerations out of corners, closing gaps in a group ride, attacking short rises. Every cyclist benefits from sprint work. Not just sprinters.


Session 15: Race Simulation

Power Target: Variable — see structure below.

Structure: The session cycles through multiple intensities to replicate the surges and recovery of actual racing or hard group rides.

One cycle consists of:

  • 20 minutes at tempo (76-87% FTP)
  • 5 minutes at threshold (95-100% FTP)
  • 3 minutes at VO2max (106-120% FTP)
  • 10 seconds at maximum sprint
  • 5 minutes easy recovery (50-55% FTP)

Repeat 2-3 times depending on fitness and target event duration.

Recovery: 5 minutes of easy spinning between each cycle.

Total Session Time: 90-120 minutes (15-minute warm-up + 2-3 cycles of approximately 33 minutes each + 10-minute cool-down)

RPE: Variable (5-6 during tempo, 8 during threshold, 9 during VO2max, 10 during sprint, 2-3 during recovery)

When to use it: Race phase, in the final 2-4 weeks before a target event. This session teaches your body and your mind to handle repeated changes in intensity — the defining feature of mass-start racing and hard group rides. It's not about training any single system. It's about training the transitions between systems.

Coach's note: Here's the thing nobody tells you about racing — the fitness demands aren't steady-state. A criterium isn't a 40-minute threshold effort. A sportive isn't a long endurance ride. They're sequences of surges, recoveries, and surges again. This session replicates that pattern. The tempo section simulates sitting in the bunch. The threshold push simulates a climb or a break attempt. The VO2max effort simulates chasing back on or responding to an attack. The sprint simulates a finish or a gap-closing effort. Then you recover and do it again. Two cycles is a solid session for most riders. Three cycles is a full race simulation for longer events. If you can't complete the VO2max portion of the third cycle at the prescribed power, stop. You've reached the productive limit of the session. Going further just accumulates fatigue without a useful training stimulus.


How to select your sessions: phase by phase

The sessions above cover every intensity from active recovery to maximal sprint. But throwing them all into a single week would be counterproductive. The art is in selection.

Base phase (8-12 weeks)

Your week should be built around Sessions 1, 2, and 3. The aerobic foundation comes first. Without it, the harder sessions later in your plan won't stick — you'll fatigue too quickly, recover too slowly, and plateau early.

A typical base-phase week:

  • Monday: Rest or Session 1 (Active Recovery)
  • Tuesday: Session 3 (Tempo Blocks)
  • Wednesday: Session 2 (Endurance Builder, shorter — 90 minutes)
  • Thursday: Rest
  • Friday: Session 3 (Tempo Blocks) or Session 4 (2x20 Sweet Spot) in the second half of the base block
  • Saturday: Session 2 (Endurance Builder, longer — 150-180 minutes)
  • Sunday: Session 1 (Active Recovery) or rest

Build phase (4-6 weeks)

This is where sweet spot, threshold, and the first VO2max sessions appear. Two hard sessions per week, separated by at least 48 hours.

A typical build-phase week:

  • Monday: Rest
  • Tuesday: Session 6 (Over-Unders) or Session 7 (2x20 Threshold)
  • Wednesday: Session 1 (Active Recovery)
  • Thursday: Session 9 (Norwegian 4x4) or Session 10 (5x3 VO2max)
  • Friday: Rest or Session 1
  • Saturday: Session 2 (Endurance Builder, 120-150 minutes)
  • Sunday: Session 4 or 5 (Sweet Spot) if legs are fresh, otherwise Session 2

Race phase (3-4 weeks)

VO2max, anaerobic, and race-specific work replace the sweet spot sessions. The volume drops. The intensity sharpens.

A typical race-phase week:

  • Monday: Rest
  • Tuesday: Session 11 (Billat-Style) or Session 12 (30/30s)
  • Wednesday: Session 1 (Active Recovery)
  • Thursday: Session 15 (Race Simulation) or Session 14 (Sprint Repeats)
  • Friday: Rest
  • Saturday: Session 7 (2x20 Threshold — maintenance dose) or Session 2 (shorter endurance)
  • Sunday: Rest or Session 1

Recovery weeks (every 3rd or 4th week)

Drop the structured sessions entirely. Ride Session 1 and Session 2 at the lower end of the power range. The adaptation from the previous three weeks lands during this week, not during the work itself. Skipping recovery weeks is the fastest way to plateau. I've seen it happen hundreds of times.


One more thing

This library gives you the sessions. The complete interval guide gives you the principles behind them. The threshold guide, sweet spot guide, and VO2max guide go deeper into each intensity band.

But the sessions are only as good as the plan they sit inside. Knowing what to do is one thing. Knowing when to do it, how to progress it, and when to back off — that's where coaching comes in, whether it's a paid coach, a structured plan, or a community of riders who've already made the mistakes you're about to make.

If you want that kind of structured accountability — weekly sessions, structured training guidance, and a community of serious amateur cyclists working through the same problems — the Roadman Cycling community is where it happens. No fluff, no beginners, just riders who are not done yet.

Clip in. Execute. Recover. Repeat.

FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How many interval sessions should I do per week?
Two to three for most amateur cyclists, with at least 48 hours between hard sessions. The remaining days should be genuine endurance rides or rest days. More interval sessions is not better — the adaptation happens during recovery, not during the session itself.
What if I do not have a power meter for these sessions?
Use the RPE cues provided with each session. RPE is less precise than power but still effective for targeting the right intensity zone. Heart rate can supplement RPE for longer intervals above five minutes, but it lags too much for shorter efforts. A power meter is the ideal tool, but it is not a prerequisite.
Should I do these sessions indoors or outdoors?
Either works. Indoor sessions offer better interval control because there are no traffic lights, junctions, or descents interrupting the effort. Outdoor sessions add bike handling, terrain variability, and mental resilience. Sweet spot and threshold work well indoors. VO2max and sprint efforts can be done in either setting.
How do I know which session to pick on any given day?
Match the session to the training block you are in. Base phase — endurance and tempo sessions. Build phase — sweet spot, threshold, and the first VO2max touches. Race phase — VO2max, anaerobic, and race-simulation sessions. Recovery days — the active recovery or endurance session only.
Can I modify the sessions if they are too hard or too easy?
Yes. Adjust power by 3-5 per cent in either direction first. If the session is still wrong, change the number of intervals rather than the power target — three intervals at the right intensity is better than five at the wrong one. If you consistently need to drop power by more than 10 per cent, your FTP test result may be too high.

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AW

ANTHONY WALSH

Host of the Roadman Cycling Podcast

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