Of all the cycling disciplines, a time trialist can get the most out of a turbo session.

The turbo is a perfect replication of the constant effort required during a time trial. If you are aiming for time trials then I would recommend doing threshold efforts on the turbo on your time trial bike (should you be lucky enough to have one) to increase the specificity of the effort.

With threshold efforts the key is to break them up into manageable chunks. This ensures you can hit the intensity you need for the full duration of each effort, rather than fading off if you make the effort too long.

The idea of threshold efforts is to increase your lactate threshold, so I would recommend trying to ride slightly harder than your FTP power or lactate threshold heart rate (this article will explain how to find both) for the duration of each interval.

Doing this means you are constantly being pushed and you give your body a stimulus to adapt and improve. Because you are doing the efforts above a level that is sustainable, it is even more important to break the efforts up into manageable chunks.

Example session: 3×10 mins zone four

• Warm-up for 10 mins zone two
• 10 mins upper zone two – self-selected cadence
• 10 mins zone one
• 10 mins upper zone four – self-selected cadence
• 10 mins zone one
• 10 mins upper zone four – self-selected cadence
• Cool down 10-15 mins zone two decreasing to zone one