Follow This 4-Week Training Plan If You Want to Get Faster—Fast!
You’ve been training consistently, riding a few days a week and have built a decent base. But now, maybe you’re hoping to take it to the next level and get faster—fast. Just like building a base, it does take time to build speed, but there are some shortcuts to get you there in less time if you’re willing to put in some dedicated, focused work in the next month.
Structuring your training week in the right way matters even more when you’re trying to get faster, compared to when you’re building a base, because you need to add high-intensity training to your schedule. And each hard session requires recovery, which means you can’t just go hard or long every single day. “To get faster, you need to become more intentional and more specific,” says cycling coach Lucas Wall of Develo Coaching. “You don’t want to add a ton of extra hours on the bike at the same time you’re adding in more intensity—you want to be really focused.”
For a block like this, you’re going to want to make sure you’re truly polarizing your workouts, says Ryan Kohler, cycling coach at Rocky Mountain Devo. This means spending a small chunk of time at high intensity, and then spending the rest of your time at a genuinely easy/endurance pace. “You’ll need to focus on high-intensity efforts, because you’ll get the most bang for your buck there. But any more than three interval workouts a week is going to be unsustainable,” he says.
Especially for new riders, Kohler recommends keeping workouts relatively short and focusing on quality efforts, rather than longer rides. “You can see a lot of improvement doing workouts that only have eight to 12 minutes of intensity,” he adds.
Wall focuses on three key rides each week: Two high-intensity workouts and one longer endurance ride, bookended by easier efforts and skills sessions. “It’s important to be consistent and ride throughout the week, but not do hard efforts every day,” he says. “Typically, a plan for this kind of goal would start with Monday as off or easy, then Tuesday and Thursday would be days where we add in high intensity, while Wednesday and Friday are easier rides. Then the weekends, where people typically have more time, are for longer rides and for some fun. But don’t go huge both days!”
Finally, Wall recommends using your ride time to visualize what success looks like. “Visualization is a great way to practice skills, work on positive mental talk, and generally be more ready for race day or that scary group ride,” he says. “While you’re riding, just visualize yourself on the race course, or riding confidently in the group. What does it look like? What are you thinking? I find that it can be really helpful as you’re preparing for any event at any level, and it can help newer riders grow their confidence on the bike.”
Your 4-Week Plan to Ride Faster
Who This Plan Best Serves
If you’ve been riding consistently a few days a week and are ready to take your cycling up a level, this plan is for you! (If you’re just starting a cycling routine, go for our base training plan first!). It also works for intermediate and advanced riders who don’t have a ton of time to train.
Heart Rate and Power Zones
Threshold Heart Rate (HR): Average heart rate for a 20-minute time trial or 1-hour hard group ride
Threshold Power: Average power for a 20-minute time trial, minus 5% of this number
Threshold (T): 95-105% of T HR/91-105% of T power
Active Recovery: <68% of T HR/<55% of T power
Endurance: 69-83% of T HR/56-75% of T power
Tempo: 84-94% of T HR/76-90% of T power
Hard: For this plan, “hard” efforts (between zone 4 and zone 5) should be the most power/effort that you can hold for around 60 seconds (when intervals at this effort are longer than 1 minute, drop your effort slightly in order to keep it steady for the duration)
Week 1
Monday: Rest day (or active recovery like a walk or yoga)
Tuesday: Threshold intervals: Record your average power or total distance during this workout, because you’ll repeat it at the end of the block to see how much you’ve improved!
15 minute easy warmup
2 x 10 minutes at threshold (zone 4) with 5 minutes easy in between
15 minute easy cooldown
Wednesday: Endurance pace (zone 2) 45-90 minutes
Thursday: Hard intervals:
15 minute easy warmup
30 x 30 seconds hard (zone 4/5) with 60 seconds easy between
15 minute easy cooldown
Friday: 45- to 60-minute active recovery ride or off day
Saturday: Endurance pace (zone 2) 90 minutes to 3 hours (if you’re working toward a hillier event, make sure to include some climbing and descending on this ride)
Sunday: Group ride or endurance pace (zone 2) 90 minutes with skills work (focus on riding smoothly around corners or find a hillier route to practice climbing and descending)
Week 2
Monday: Rest day (or active recovery like a walk or yoga)
Tuesday: Threshold intervals:
15 minute easy warmup
2 x 15 minutes at threshold (zone 4) with 5 minutes easy in between
15 minute easy cooldown
Wednesday: Endurance pace (zone 2) 45-90 minutes
Thursday: Hard intervals:
15 minute easy warmup
Hard effort ladder (for the longer intervals in this ladder, you won’t be able to sustain a hard pace, so drop your effort to the high end of your threshold)
30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy
1 minute hard, 1 minute easy
1:30 hard, 1:30 easy
2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy
1:30 hard, 1:30 easy
1 minute hard, 1 minute easy
30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy
15 minute easy cooldown
Friday: 45-60 minute active recovery ride or off day
Saturday: Endurance pace (zone 2) 90 minutes to 3 hours (if you’re working towards a hillier event, make sure to include some climbing and descending on this ride)
Sunday: Group ride or endurance pace (zone 2) 90 minutes with skills work (Focus on riding smoothly around corners or find a hillier route to practice climbing and descending)
Week 3
Monday: Rest day (or active recovery like a walk or yoga)
Tuesday: Threshold intervals:
15 minute easy warmup
20 minutes at as close to threshold pace as possible
15 minute easy cooldown
Wednesday: Endurance pace (zone 2) 45-90 minutes
Thursday: Hard Intervals:
15 minute warmup
30 x 30 seconds hard with 30 seconds easy between
15 minute easy cooldown
Friday: 45-60 minute active recovery ride or off day
Saturday: Endurance pace (zone 2) 90 minutes to 3 hours (if you’re working towards a hillier event, make sure to include some climbing and descending on this ride)
Sunday: Group ride or endurance pace (zone 2) 90 minutes with skills work (focus on riding smoothly around corners or find a hillier route to practice climbing and descending)
Week 4: Training
Monday: Rest day (or active recovery like a walk or yoga)
Tuesday: Threshold intervals: Record your average power or total distance ridden during these intervals to see how much you’ve improved since week 1!
15 minute easy warmup
2 x 10 minutes at threshold pace with 5 minutes easy in between
15 minute easy cooldown
Wednesday: Endurance pace (zone 2) 45-90 minutes
Thursday: Hard intervals:
15 minute easy warmup
Hard effort ladder (for the longer intervals in this ladder, you won’t be able to sustain a hard pace, so drop your effort to the high end of your threshold)
30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy
1 minute hard, 1 minute easy
1:30 hard, 1:30 easy
2 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy
1:30 hard, 1:30 easy
1 minute hard, 1 minute easy
30 seconds hard, 30 seconds easy
15 minute easy cooldown
Friday: 45-60 minute active recovery ride or off day
Saturday: Endurance pace (zone 2) 90 minutes to 3 hours (if you’re working towards a hillier event, make sure to include some climbing and descending on this ride)
Sunday: Group ride or endurance pace (zone 2) 90 minutes with skills work (focus on riding smoothly around corners or find a hillier route to practice climbing and descending)
Week 4: Before an Event
Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: Threshold intervals: Record your average power or total distance ridden during these intervals to see how much you’ve improved since week 1!
15-30 minute easy warmup
1 x 10 minutes at threshold pace
15-30 minute easy cooldown
Wednesday: 60-minute endurance pace (zone 2)
Thursday: Hard intervals:
15 minute warmup
10 x 30 seconds hard with 60 seconds easy between
15 minute cooldown
Friday: 45-minute easy spin with 4x30 second hard efforts
Saturday: RACE DAY!
Sunday: Recovery
How to Execute the Workouts on This Training Plan
Use the Time Range
Because we know you’re busy, we’ve given a range of times for endurance-paced rides. If you have a lot of free time on Saturday, aim for the longer duration. Busy week? Opt for the low end.
Measure Efforts
No power meter? No problem. Focus on heart rate and perceived exertion. You may want to find a hill or uninterrupted flat segment of road to test your speed in the first week so that at the end of the four-week block, you can re-test it to see if you’ve improved.
Train on Race Terrain
If you’re working toward an event or have a goal that’s gravel- or mountain bike-based, make sure you’re doing some of your rides on the terrain you’re training for! It’s easy to stay on the road bike or trainer when you’re trying to get faster because results are easier to measure, but you need to prepare for the goal you’ve set.
Similarly, if your goal is to get faster outdoors, you need to be riding outside as well. Too many athletes build huge engines indoors on the trainer, says Wall, and then struggle to use that fitness outdoors because they struggle to corner, climb, descend, and draft. Try to do at least some of your rides outside (weather permitting) whenever possible, especially longer efforts or skills practice.
Build Your Skills
We've added a skills component on Sundays because working on skills is free speed. This means practicing things like cornering or descending, or hopping into a group ride to practice drafting. Getting faster doesn’t just mean building power on the bike, it means spending less time and energy braking in corners and needing to work hard to get back up to speed. (Watch a cyclocross race to see what we mean: The back-of-the-pack racers are almost always losing time in every corner.)
Embrace a Taper (If You Need It)
Finally, if you’re planning to do an event (a race or a hard group ride) at the end of this block, we’ve added an “event” version on week 4, which has more of a taper so that you get to the start line feeling fresh. If you’re just working on getting faster, though, stick to the standard training week.
5 Common Mistakes to Avoid During This Training Block
Doing It All, All at Once
You’ve successfully completed a base training block and you’re ready to work on speed. While it’s tempting to boost both your volume and your intensity at this point, be careful of doing too much, too soon. “Don’t just go out and ride more if you want to get faster,“ says Wall.
Wall notes that in cycling, it’s easy to go overboard on volume because it is a low-impact activity compared to running (where your body lets you know it’s time to slow down). If you feel like this plan is too easy, put more effort into doing your intervals at the high end of the power/heart rate range rather than trying to add more training hours.
Sneaking in Other High-Intensity Training
If you love strength training and you’re already doing it, you can keep it in the program without sacrificing speed, says Kohler. But if you’re new to strength training and exhausted after every session, or you’re doing more bootcamp-style workouts that are high intensity, you’re going to struggle to gain speed quickly on the bike.
This can also apply to group rides: If you’re jumping into a group ride that feels too fast for your endurance pace on what’s supposed to be an easy day, you’re doing extra high-intensity work that won’t help you in the long run.
Skipping Rest Days
It’s tempting to sneak in a bonus workout if you find yourself with time and energy on Monday—we get it. But your body needs those rest days to recover, especially when you’ve increased your interval training significantly, says Wall.
At least one day a week should be off the bike, so that your body (and your butt!) has time to recover from all that time in the saddle. For newer or busier cyclists, two days of active recovery like walking or yoga can be helpful.
Skipping Too Many Training Days
Conversely, you can’t expect to get faster if you’re skipping multiple workouts in this plan. Because it’s short—only four weeks—every workout is going to make a difference. Skipping one isn’t going to wreck your efforts, but every workout you miss means you won’t see results as quickly. (That said, please don’t train if you’re sick or fatigued. Prioritize health, and be okay with slower progress. You’ll still get faster, it just won’t happen as quickly.)
Forget to Fuel Your Rides
Finally, harder efforts and longer rides can lead to bonking—when your muscles run out of glycogen and you hit the wall. Make sure that you’re fueling workouts and longer endurance rides before, during, and after. Prioritize simple carbohydrates during workouts and a mix of protein and carbohydrates after your rides. This will help you recover faster and see more strength gains.
You Might Also Like
