Threshold cycling workout

Crisp Sixes

65 min · 65-80 TSS · IF 0.81 · 100-105% FTP · Zone 4-5 (Threshold/VO2max)

0%
50%
100%
FTP
0:00
16:15
32:30
48:45
1:05:00
Duration 1:05:00
Load · TSS 71
Intensity · IF 0.81
Avg target 77%
Work 752 kJ
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What this workout does

Short, punchy reps just above threshold. Six minutes is long enough to stress your engine at 100-105% FTP but short enough to stay crisp and controlled on every rep.

Six-minute reps at 100-105% FTP work just above threshold, raising your lactate turn-point from the top down. The length is short enough to hold form and repeat, but long enough to stress the aerobic system hard on every rep. Best in build phases once a solid threshold base is established; climbing amplifies the stimulus.

How to ride it

Indoor / trainer

Warm up 15min. 5x6min at 100-105% FTP with 3min easy between. Cool down 5min. Hold form - the last rep should match the first.

Outside

Find a climb that takes about 6 minutes at a steady grade. Ride it 5 times at 100-105% FTP - breathing hard but rhythmic, legs loaded by the top - and roll back down easy between reps.

Workout structure (65 min)

- Warm-up 15m 55%

5x
- Climb 6m 103%
- 3m 55%

- Cool-down 5m 55%

Targets are a percentage of FTP. This is the same shorthand the free workout builder understands — paste it there to edit any step, or download the workout for Zwift, Garmin or any smart trainer.

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