Race Rehearsal
55 min · 49-59 TSS · IF 0.76 · 100-105% FTP · Zone 4-5 (Threshold/VO2max)
What this workout does
Tempo straight into hard threshold efforts with only short recoveries - the way races actually unfold. Teaches you to go hard when you are already working, not from fresh.
Starting hard efforts from tempo rather than from rest mirrors how races unfold, training you to hit 100-105% FTP with lactate already present. The short 90-second recoveries keep the aerobic system pinned, deepening the threshold stimulus rep after rep. Best in the final weeks before target events.
How to ride it
Indoor / trainer
Warm up 15min. 10min at 80-85% FTP straight into 3x5min at 100-105% FTP with only 90s easy between. Cool down 10min.
Outside
Pick a rolling circuit like a race course. Ride 10 minutes at 80-85% FTP as if sitting in the bunch, then attack the next section: 3x5min at 100-105% FTP with just 90 seconds easy between - legs burning, effort honest.
Workout structure (55 min)
- Warm-up 15m 55% - Tempo 10m 83% 3x - Attack 5m 103% - 1m 30s 55% - Cool-down 10m 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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