Last night after staying up through the entire Golden Globes I got in bed to put together this morning’s cycling mix. Since I’d be running on only a few hours of sleep (like I’m sure many of my students were as well) I made sure it starts out with FULL energy. The ride begins with speed, followed by a big hill and ending with another speed set. No messing around at 6:30am on a Monday morning.

Here’s what we did if you’d like to recreate this ride on your own:

• Song 1: Warm up around 80 RPMs
• Songs 2-4: 5x:60 speed drills with :60 recovery in-between each. For every :60 drill you do, go 5-10 RPMs faster than the previous one until your final :60 drill is full out effort. Once you are done with your 5 accelerations you will have about 90 seconds of recovery time until your hill, coming in song 5.
• Songs 5-8: Hill climb, gradually increasing resistance through, alternating between seated and standing positions. By song 8 your hill should be so heavy that it requires you to get out of the saddle to keep going. Aim to stay between 55-65 RPMs in that last song.
• Songs 9-11: Speed set #2 with 8x:30 speed drills. Start around 75-85 RPMs and instead of increasing RPMs for this speed set like you did to start the ride, this time you will gradually add resistance after each sprint until you are at your heaviest for the 8th sprint, going all-out. Take :30 recovery in-between each sprint.
• Song 12: Cool down and stretch

Total Run Time: 45:33