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Weekend Workout: Low cadence ladder

A strength-building workout for the trainer this weekend.

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As a triathlon coach and professional triathlete, I hear athletes complain about low cadence riding all of the time. The consensus is that while turning the pedals over at a lower cadence, many triathletes have trouble exerting themselves properly. That is because riding at 70 revolutions per minute requires more strength than riding at 90 revolutions per minute. If triathletes lack bike specific strength, they are going to really struggle to get their heart rate up on this type of workout. But that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t do this workout! Those athletes would actually benefit the most from this type of workout.

For this session, all of the best effort riding should be done around 70 revolutions per minute. If you don’t have a power meter or cadence sensor, you can just estimate your cadence. Anywhere between 60 – 75 revolutions per minute is fine.

 

Warm Up

30 minutes aerobic

10 x 30 seconds BUILD from an aerobic effort to a harder effort. Spin easy for 1 min between.

Main Set

Intervals around 70rpm, recovery above 90rpm

5 x 30 seconds Best Effort with 2.5 minutes recovery

4 x 1 minutes Best Effort with 2 minutes recovery

3 x 2 minutes Best Effort with 1.5 minutes recovery

2 x 3 minutes Best Effort on 1 minutes recovery

1 x 4 minutes Best Effort

Cool Down at an easy / aerobic effort

 

AJ Baucco is an established long course professional triathlete from Cleveland, Ohio. He founded AJ Baucco Coaching LLC, which currently coaches nearly 50 age group triathletes from all over the country. He also runs an age group triathlon team called the “Baucco Squad”. In 2014, AJ Baucco was crowned the first ever Kona (Beer Mile) Champion. He has since been given legendary status on the Big Island.

Contact – ajbaucco@gmail.com

Websites – www.baucco.com, www.ajbcoaching.com, www.bauccosquad.com

Twitter – @irunshirtless

Instagram – @ajbaucco