Four ways to improve your Cycling Power!
Push the pedals faster to get just that… faster! It really is as simple as it sounds. So if you are looking to improve your bike speed to get a better time in a race or beat a friend that has entered alongside you, then you are going to want to improve your power on the bike. However, this does not just come about from riding hard from the get go, it takes a lot of work with different levels of intensity thrown in there.
Here are four ways you can improve your cycling power:
1. Over-gear work
Something that a lot of triathletes have in common is the struggle of fitting all that training in, there are three disciplines to get through after all! One way you can combat not being able to get out on the bike as much as you would like is by riding in bigger gears to gain strength quickly. Add this in once or twice a week to your programme and you will find that over time you will get stronger which in turn will help you push down harder. While there is a limit to how much strength you need to push down, you will start to be able to resist fatigue much better in your leg muscles for a longer period of time.
2. Bike Position
It is certainly worth taking a look at your position on the bike. This includes optimising your saddle height, bar height and cleat positioning. A good aero and comfortable position can help to boost power and efficiency. If you don’t do these things you will find yourself doing unnecessary extra work for absolutely no reason. Once you have this set up correctly, spend some time getting used to the position so that your body and range of motion can get used to it. If you have any trouble finding the correct position, it can be worth investing in getting a professional bike fit to help you gain your optimal position.
3. Hills!
Yes, the dreaded hills! Riding uphill is a great way to improve your muscular endurance and your power because to ride up hills you need to ride up at a good power and a moderate cadence for an extended period of time. A bonus that also comes with grinding your way up is that they are ideal for improving your sprinting and short burst power. Triathlon courses have plenty of corners in short course racing so you need to have the ability to hit high power quickly and riding hills will help you with that necessity.
4. Sweet spot Intervals
Designed to give you maximal physiological gains sweet spot interval training refers to the intensity of a workout. This tends to be in the 88 percent and 94 percent range of your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) and is a great tool for increasing your FTP over time. For example if your FTP is around 300, a ‘sweet spot’ ride may average 230-260 watts. In essence the sweet spot offers a high return on increasing aerobic power and should lead to a quick improvement in fitness. After around two-three months of this training you will see significant gains. (We will be releasing an article soon of a more in-depth look into ‘Sweet spot’ interval training!)
