THE HARDEST WORKOUTS IN CYCLING: EVERY ZONE RANKED | Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast 601
Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast - Presented by TrainerRoad
Analyzing 60,000 Athletes’ Workout Outcomes
Jonathan explains the filtered 12-month dataset, workout-compliance categories, and why large samples help separate workout difficulty from life-related fatigue.
Donate to Hannah’s World Bicycle Relief Fundraiser: https://beyond-the-summit.raiselysite.com/
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// TOPICS COVERED
(00:00:00) Which Workouts Do Cyclists Struggle With the Most?
(00:05:01) Life TSS: When to Push Through and When to Back Off
(00:06:21) Inside the Data: A Filtered Sample of 60,000+ Athletes
(00:12:35) 85% of AI-Prescribed Workouts Went to Plan (vs Picking Your Own)
(00:16:33) Why Recovery Rides Go Wrong More Than Endurance Rides
(00:20:21) The Hardest Workout Type (and Where Over-Unders Really Rank)
(00:28:08) Why Sweet Spot Workouts Rarely Go Wrong
(00:30:34) Why Steady Training Weeks Beat Big Spikes
(00:42:11) Longer Workouts Go Wrong More Often, but Not Equally
(00:44:29) Race Pacing: Treat Every Climb Like an Interval
(00:47:46) What Cyclists Actually Do When They Skip a Workout
(00:57:15) Worlds to Chequamegon in 6 Days: Hannah's Lesson on the Confidence to Rest
(01:02:24) Hannah's Kilimanjaro Record Attempt: Up and Down by Bike in One Day
(01:14:01) Soldier Hollow World Cup and NICA Racing
What's the hardest type of cycling workout? We looked at TrainerRoad data from a filtered sample of over 60,000 athletes and 12 months of planned workouts to find out. Pro cyclist Hannah Otto joins Coach Jonathan to break it down.
Anaerobic attacks top the list, followed by threshold hard starts and threshold sustained power workouts. Threshold over-unders, the workout everyone loves to hate, landed right in the middle. Sweet spot workouts sat near the bottom, with fewer problems than any threshold, VO2 max, or anaerobic workout. The surprise was recovery rides. They went off track more often than endurance rides. And when athletes swapped a recovery ride for an unstructured one, the median ride came in at nearly three times the planned TSS.
We also cover why longer VO2 max and anaerobic workouts get riskier past the 75 to 120 minute mark and how to use that to pace your races. We talk about why consistent training weeks beat big spikes, and how Hannah recovered between Marathon World Championships and Chequamegon. Plus, she explains her attempt to set the women's record for riding up and down Kilimanjaro in a single day, which is also a fundraiser for World Bicycle Relief.
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