Train For REAL^TM Series of Training Videos

The Train for Real^TM library draws on several references for their inspiration. Among them, Joe Friel's Training Bible series, and the Canadian Cycling Association's National Coaching Certification Program's Technical information, by Guy Thibault, Ph.D. When we refer to training zones, we use the Coggan zone definitions made popular by CyclingPeaks^TM Software. Read about them here. We use AT interchangeably with CyclingPeaks^TM FTP only because the CompuTrainer software uses the AT acronym.

The non-intervals based sessions, "Base 3 Cool Rides" and "Tempo Club Ride" focus on keeping you in the target zones (aerobic endurance zone 2 and Tempo zone 3 respectively) for extended periods. There is a great deal of variety in each ride, to keep you motivated and fresh. Indeed, Base 3 Cool Rides changes from a steady flat group ride with easy pace-line work, to a hilly but easy ride in rolling hills, to a more spirited variable ride through rural Quebec. Using the ride designer, you can choose your ride within the video as described in the "How-To" section. The Tempo Club Ride ErgVideo is more intense and follows a very spirited group ride, with the usual hard work at the front and a little bit of competitiveness from the riders.

The various intervals sessions presented in the ErgVideo Train for Real^TM series are chiefly attributed to Guy Thibault, Ph.D.  Guy has written extensively on interval training and indeed the Canadian Cycling Association's Coaching Certification training program is based on much of his work (In some cases we have made minor modifications to widen the appeal to more coach's preferences).  You will also notice that the sessions fit very well into the workout descriptions in Joe Friel's "Training Bible" series for cyclists and triathletes. 

In interval training, not only is the duration and intensity of the interval effort of important, but so is the length of the REST period. Your recovery time limits the ultimate intensity with which you can do the next interval, and indeed, finish the set. Don't be surprised if the first interval in a set seems a little easy, by the end of the sets, you'll be pretty knackered..um..."well-worked-out".

Most intervals-based ErgVideos are entitled according to the cycling performance factor that is trained, and should be easily understood. Generally speaking, in a training session you often work on a single performance factor, like endurance, max aerobic power, or anaerobic capacity. There are of course, MANY ways to achieve improvement, and Thibault's work describes many different sessions which can improve each factor. These sessions are a set of intervals described as "work vs. rest" time, intensity, the number of reps per set, and the number of sets per workout.

To bring you very high value in your ErgVideo, we actually present one set each of 2 to 4 DIFFERENT interval sets. Most have between 5 and 8 reps. In general, you choose ONE set per workout, but you use the RIDE DESIGNER to repeat the sets as desired by you or your coach. The table in the next panel shows the details of each Train for Real ErgVideo's Intervals sets.

Train For Real Intervals Sessions Chart

* Short intervals 30 contains the entire 4 sets of 7 rep sequence, no need for ride designer to create more sets.

** in all cases, rest period is done in the Zone 1 recovery zone, <45% AT/FTP

*** Your sprint ability is not well related to threshold, and differences between individuals are vast. The Sprint training video should be set to the HIGHEST AT setting that the athlete can manage, and still complete the prescribed sets with high cadence (no grinding!). 200% of this setting will be applied during the sprint intervals.

More information on Ride designer usage is shown in your ErgVideo User Documents, the instructional video that plays upon installation of your ErgVideo, as well as the IntelliCoach Website.

Continue to the "How-To" panel on this page for a brief tutorial on using the ErgVideo Ride Designer to build multiple-set workouts.

In each Intervals-oriented ErgVideo, a set is preceded by a warm-up, and is followed by an extra rest period. The warm-up is characterized by random but increasing power just prior to a set of obvious intervals. The extra rest period follows the obvious intervals and is lower power, on average, than the next warm-up for a different set of intervals.

For your session, you should decide on which interval set you will execute. Set the Ride Designer Start point at the start of the warmup section, the "Rep-start" point at the start of the intervals, the Rep End point at the END OF THE EXTRA REST PERIOD, and the end point just beyond the rep end. In the example below, we've chosen the set in the middle of the ErgVideo.

Now simply choose the number of sets you would like to execute, (set the intensity if you are using Coaching CS) and hit the "Build it" button in the ride designer. For the example below, we chose 3 repeats. ErgVideo will build you a workout with profile as you have designed it, and it will show in the ErgVideo Profile window. With reps=3, the profile shows as below, where you see a warmup, 3 sets with extra rest between sets, and a finish.