McKenzie 'Maintenance Mode' Indoor Bike Workouts
Hi there, from your WYN republic co-founders, Beth & Luke McKenzie. As we periodize our training throughout the year, we often enter ‘maintenance mode’ when we want to keep things ‘ticking along’, but are also balancing other priorities. Currently, to carve out extra time with the kids and grow our businesses, WYN republic and MALO republic, we’re cutting back our cycling a bit. The good news is, we’ve developed a program where we can maintain our fitness and our sanity while cycling 90 minutes or less per day. And we’re sharing the program with you! As Luke says, “If you do this every week, you’ll be stylin’”.
If you’re not sure when your next race will be, enter ‘maintenance mode’! It’s a great idea for both the mind and body. Seriously, retaining bike fitness doesn’t require 15 hours per week of riding! If you follow this Monday to Friday sanity-saver schedule, you will be ready to dive into more race-specific training whenever the calendar permits. Use your weekends for either extra time with the family or some long solo miles if that’s what your body is itching to do. Be sure to include at least one day per week off the bike to allow for recovery.
MONDAY - strength/endurance
Every single professional triathlete we know does big gear, strength work almost weekly. Here is our favorite set with some spicy race pace efforts mixed in.
Warm-up
15 minutes easy to moderate spinning at 90+ cadence
Main set
5x {6 minutes BIG GEAR (50-60rpm) immediately into 2 min TT above race pace (80-100rpm) }
-spin 4 minutes easy between each 8-minute ‘work’ chunk-
Cool Down
10 minutes, spinning easy
TOTAL TIME : 1hr 25 min
(note- for the big gear, we go mostly by feel and not ‘too hard’, typically about 3.5 w/kg for beth, 4.1 w/kg for Luke. The idea is to ‘leave the hill in your legs, not your legs on the hill’. For the 2 min TT sections, we aim for 40-50 watts higher and speed up the legs. You should be breathless by the end of the 2 min).
TUESDAY - riders choice
60 to 90 minutes of easy to moderate riding. If indoors, check out an interactive platform like ZWIFT or Peloton for motivation and ‘social’ interaction. Lately, we’ve been doing the Tour of Watopia stages on ZWIFT for our ‘group ride’ fix. If you are able to ride outside- do so, and enjoy the fresh air. Use the time to clear your mind.
WEDNESDAY - over/under threshold work.
Longer tempo-work is key for long-distance triathlon racing and helping you dial in your race pace. Our over/unders toggle between Ironman pace & 70.3 pace for longer chunks of work. Start with 1x 30 minute ‘set’ and work up to two, even three sets as your race comes into focus.
Warm-up
15 to 30 minutes easy to moderate spinning at 90+ cadence
Main set
30 minutes alternating:
5 minutes at 70.3 effort/watts/heart rate (Beth- 3.7 w/kg, Luke - 4.6 w/kg)
5 minutes at Ironman effort/watts/heart rate (Beth- 3.3 w/kg, Luke- 4.1 w/kg)
Cool Down
15 to 30 minutes, spinning easy
TOTAL TIME : 60 to 90 minutes (or 2 hours if you repeat the main set for 1 hour of ‘work’. If you do the 2x 30 min option, we recommend 10 min easy between your over/unders).
THURSDAY- riders choice
Do 60 to 90 minutes of easy to moderate riding. Same as Tuesday.
FRIDAY - old faithful 5 x 5
This is a workout that has been on our schedule for at least a decade (maybe 2 decades for Luke!) in one form or another. The goal is to put forth your best average pace for each of the 5 efforts. For us, this is about 110%-120% FTP (but the goal is ‘harder than race pace’ if you don’t have a power meter).
Warm-up
15 minutes building from easy to moderate with a few 20-second accelerations above goal wattage/effort
Main Set
5x 5 minutes hard (110-120% FTP if we’re getting technical), with 5 minutes easy spinning between each interval (Beth- 4.3 w/kg, Luke- 5 w/kg)
Cool Down
10 minutes, spinning easy
TOTAL TIME : 1hr 15 min
Beth & Luke McKenzie are professional triathletes, co-founders of WYN republic and MALO republic and parents to 2 young girls. Luke is a 9-time Ironman champion and Beth is an Ironman & 70.3 champion.
