Prudential RideLondon Training With Dani Rowe: Week 3

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.

---

Wow — another week is done and dusted. I really enjoyed the sessions this week, and I managed to complete my endurance ride on the road as well as the structured sessions on Zwift. This mix of indoor and outdoor rides is what the Prudential Ride London Training Plan is all about, providing you structure, but being flexible enough to fit around your lifestyle.

Case in point: my husband, Matt, was racing on Easter Monday. So I pedaled out to cheer him on, which was a nice twist because I’m usually the one competing. This also ticked off my endurance ride.

This week, my favourite session was “Power Surges 1.” A great workout and a bit of deja vu: the session is almost identical to my training for the Team Pursuit event at the London 2012 Olympics. We used to do 20 seconds on and 40 seconds off. The Zwift interval is 15 seconds on and 45 seconds off. This was always a session I enjoyed because the efforts and rest periods are short, making the session fly by. My heart rate was similar to a zone 3 effort, but the effort wasn’t mind-numbing. Win-win.

Power Surges 1 also helps recruit different muscle fibers — your Type II or fast twitch fibers — thanks to multiple sprints, which add an extra training stimulus.

I’m super motivated for week 4 and looking forward to the “Neuromuscular Power 1” session, which is a new one for me. Having trained full time for ten years, I still get super excited for a new workout!

For more weekly updates click here!