Prudential RideLondon Training With Dani Rowe: Week 4

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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I’m writing this from the Tour of Yorkshire where I’ve been given a fantastic opportunity to commentate on a star-studded lineup in the women’s 2-day race, on ITV4.

It’s a little strange being in the commentary box rather than out on the road racing these big races, and even more so as I was 2nd overall in this race last year. Amazing memories as it was one of my best road cycling results.

Having an unstructured lifestyle means it’s hard to plan my training these days, which has given me a new appreciation for people with full-time jobs! At the start of each week I map out my week’s commitments and decide when I’m going to fit my training sessions in. This is one of the huge benefits of Zwift: having a world-class training tool in my house waiting for me 24/7.

Before I traveled up to Yorkshire, I completed the “AC Maintenance #3” PRL workout. It was 12 x 1-minute efforts with a rest period of 1:15 between each, where I just about recovered in time to hit the power required to gain that all-important yellow star. I don’t know about you but I’m gutted when I don’t get a star, or even end up with half a star. This provides me with even more motivation to not only get through the session but complete it as best I can at the power required.

At the end of the session, there was a 15-minute Zone 3 effort. This didn’t seem that daunting at the start, but with 12 x 1min efforts in my legs, I really had to focus and dig in to produce the required power.

This was a super productive way to finish off the session with a long effort, helping to improve our FTP (functional threshold power) ultimately making our lives easier come the big day of PRL.

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