Improve your climbing with long hill repeats

Jonathan Farber

Often a powerful guy who cruises on the flats will suffer on the hills. How is it that this big strong guy pushing a big gear on a vertical gets smoked by a slim gal spinning a Cuisinart cadence in her granny gear? Simple. She’s stronger. When climbing, gravity is the greatest opposing force a cyclist will face. If our big fellow weighs 190 lb. (86.1 kg) and his petite cycling friend tips the scales at 113 lb. (51.2 kg), the big guy has to output a consistent 252 watts or more. His counterpart need only output 150 watts to do the same amount of work. So how can he improve his performance on longer climbs that last more than seven minutes? The short answer is lose the weight, but that is easier said than done. Next is improving muscular endurance, as well as building greater lactate tolerance. Better muscular endurance means increasing the duration of time that you can apply considerable torque to the pedals. Long hill repeats will help this endurance. Building lactate tolerance will increase your ability to suffer through the burning sensation in your legs at higher intensities, delaying your quitting point. Both will improve your ability to stay with the group.

Long Hill Repeats
Find a long but moderate climb (4 to 6 per cent) that you can attack several times during the workout. If you are lucky enough to have regular access to a 10 to 12 minute climb, and have a power meter, attempt each interval as a time trial. Ride with a moderate to challenging intensity for the majority of the interval, between 85 to 105 per cent of your FTP. Focus the highest intensity on the last 10 per cent of the climb. Don’t lay off the gas until you are facing downhill.

The Workout
Start with 20 minutes of warm-up, and then repeat the following four to six times:
9 minutes at 65 to 75 r.p.m. 85 to 105 per cent of FTP
1 minute at 80 to 90 r.p.m. 105 to 120 per cent of FTP
2 to 3 minutes at 85 to 100 r.p.m. 55 to 70 per cent rest between intervals