It’s time for All Access! Join EF Pro Cycling for a group ride of 3 8-minute FTP over-under intervals. Apart from getting to know some of the stars like Neilson Powless, Kim Cadzow, and Michael Valgren, this session will have you training your body to be more efficient when working just below FTP.
Join the mixed EF group ride for 3 FTP over-under intervals. You’ll find out more about the team’s goals for the upcoming 2024 season as well as getting to know some of the stars of the team including Neilson Powless, Kim Cadzow and Michael Valgren who share what life is like as a professional cyclist both on and off the bike.
The concept of over-unders is simple, alternate blocks of time just below your FTP, with equal duration blocks just above your FTP. For this session, each interval is 8-minutes in length, with 1-minute blocks at 95% of FTP (Under) and 1-minute blocks at 105% of FTP (Over). The real training benefit comes from that time spent just below FTP trying to “Recover.” Physiologically, you train your body to be more efficient when working just below FTP.
Remember, you have 50 hours to complete each stage. As long as it’s still today’s date anywhere on earth, you’re golden. Check out the Tour Challenge Page for details on stage open and close times.
Stage II done. The very first “Over” at 100% was very clear that I was not going to be able to do 24 minutes of Over-Unders at 100% so, I dialed them down to 80% with one, 100% “Over” in each interval set. I was another nail today. Oh well. On to Stage III tomorrow.
I noticed that right before the third over-under interval, Kim Cadzow tells us that she likes doing indoor training on her Wahoo setup in part because there is no freewheeling on the trainer.
So what happens for the first 2.5 minutes? We’re going 100%/90%/100% at 105%/95%/105% of FTP, and the EF riders are freewheeling down a long descent. I think they called that traumatic irony in English class.
Stage 2 went much better for me.
I did do a 10k run this morning in 80 degree heat. (SoCal winters are tough)
After a bit of recovery, got on to the trainer.
On a dumb trainer, this type of workout is much better; longer intervals and only really to do. Getting the right gearing and cadence to hit those targets is much easier than how Stage 1 was.
I’m not going nuclear, doing 80% to make sure I don’t actually die.
I can’t tell if this is some super-high level joke that went over my head, but in my English class we called it dramatic irony (the audience being aware of information that the character is not).
