Prudential RideLondon Training With Dani Rowe: Week 11

About this Series

Welsh-born Dani Rowe is a former pro road cyclist and three-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist in the women’s team pursuit with Great Britain.

Each week she is sharing her story preparing for the 2019 Prudential RideLondon 100 using the “Prudential RideLondon 100” Zwift Training Plan. See her full list of stories, or learn more about Zwift’s Prudential RideLondon Training Plans

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Warning: new toughest session alert!

I thought the sessions I’ve done previously were hard, but this week’s 5 x 3min VO2 increasing is the session I’ve found the hardest so far in the PRL plan. Not only was it 1.5 hours long, but with the efforts being after the 40-minute free ride, I found the residual fatigue made the 3-minute efforts pretty savage.

Admittedly I made it tough for myself as I hit the free ride hard, generally pressing on and making a few max sprint efforts as I felt good. Luckily I went into the session fresh, so I was still able to get the VO2 efforts done properly. It’s always a bit of a balancing act, figuring out how hard to go during the free rides around your efforts. As a general rule of thumb, it’s vital you prioritise the prescribed efforts–don’t go so hard in the free riding that you are on your knees and fall short on those key intervals.

Whilst it’s great to train your strength, to make your strength your real weapon on a bike, it’s also important not to neglect your weakness. For Sportive riding in particular, it’s about being a good all-around rider. There is no sprint finish or mountain top finish, but it’s nice to be able to climb hills a bit quicker and also pack a punch for the final charge up the mall. Plus, variety is the spice of life, and that is laid on a plate for us throughout the PRL Training Plan. The types of sessions and their focus constantly changes, touching upon every element of bike riding that you need for PRL.

Ride On!

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