Originally Posted by
Snuffleupagus
Standbys in the racing world, from short to long tend to look like:
All out sprints:
10-15 reps of 10-30 second bursts of explosive effort with full recovery between sprints.
1 minute intervals: 5-8 sets, with full recovery
VO2:
3-8 minute intervals, the standby is 5 minutes. 3-6 sets with maximal effort
Threshold:
3x15 minutes maximal effort (for the duration, use feel at first, or a HRM if you like).
2x20 minutes at 100% of LT
1x30 minutes at 90%+ of LT
1x60 minutes at 90%+ of LT
1x90 minutes at 85-90% of LT
Race specific:
3 sets of 3 minutes of 15 seconds flat out/15 seconds easy, with full recovery between 3 minute sets
Over/unders - ride for 20-60 minutes at a pace just under your LT with bursts every 2-3 minutes lasting 15s up to 3 minutes, and then dropping back to just under LT.
+10 on this great post, only thing I'd add is don't underestimate the impact of interval training, especially if you are at all noobish to the sport. This things put even more stress on your body than you really know how to guage as a beginner when you don't really know the fatigue signs and you can dig yourself into a hole pretty quickly.
So if you are in your first year of training I would recommend only one type of interval per session (i.e. sprint, LT, or anaerobic), and only 1 or 2 sessions at the absolute most per week. And these take the place of group rides, if you're doing a group ride once a week don't do more than one interval session per week.