Has training ever been proven to work? It’s a very simple question with a very complex answer. We all know that riding your bike gets you fitter, but is it that simple? How much does the specific combination of sessions, intensities, recovery and periodisation really matter?
“There are no secrets,” declares Peter Leo, cycling physiologist for the Australia national cycling team, “but you do have to train to what will be expected in the race you’re preparing for. It’s really important to understand the race demands; if you don’t understand them, you cannot be targeted in your training.” Training to the demands of your event is one of the most simple and fundamental cornerstones in the coaching world. But beyond this core principle, it often seems that wherever you look, you find conflicting opinions about how exactly to train. There’s a joke in applied sports science that for every study you find supporting a theory, there are two disproving it.
Should you obey the old 80:20 training
