Cycling training with limited time available

Marc Moeller is a strong cyclist with limited training time because he has a lovely family and two small children to take care of. Nevertheless, he was able to do some very impressive test results last week:

Critical Power Test – Week 1 (Marc Moeller)

Comments from Jesper Therkildsen:
Marc is a strong cyclist across the range but maybe a little low in sprinting power. 1110W might sound unreachable for many riders, but I guess Marc will perform even better with some training.

Training with limited time available
The biggest challenge for me with Marc’s training program is that he has a limited amount of time available. He can train a maximum of 8 hours, which will limit his possibilities for improvements, but not more than I am ready to challenge him with a program that focuses on getting the most out of the time he has. Please remember that most riders at his level spend significantly more time on their bikes when looking at Marc’s stats.

Intensive training required
If you have limited time for training, intensive training is required to maximize the outcome. Thus, Marc will be training five days a week with incredible intervals on three of them. Marc’s program has more intervals than the other riders in this project because I know he can perform higher training amounts if he had the time for it. Thus, increasing the number of intervals is a way to compensate for fewer hours on the bike.

Anaerobic endurance and sprints
Marc wants to improve his anaerobic endurance and his ability to recover from anaerobic bursts. When I look at his power profile from the first test series, I think that sounds reasonable (at least for the sprinting power). Thus, I have implemented some anaerobic sprints with a 40-45 seconds duration that will raise his anaerobic capacity. There will also be power sprints from the beginning of the training program (Standing starts in big gears 53×12-15 for about 10 seconds). I hope that this training program will raise his power at 5sec and 1min and maintain the current level 5min and 20min. Hopefully, his aerobic engine will also benefit from this very intensive program.