Threshold training is an important workout method for cyclists, targeted at pushing the limits of what your body can handle at high intensity. 

The primary focus of threshold training is to elevate your functional threshold power (FTP), which is the maximum power you can maintain over an extended period. By concentrating on your lactate threshold, threshold training helps you postpone fatigue, build muscular endurance, and improve your aerobic capacity. This enables you to ride harder, longer, and more efficiently.

In this article, we look at the science behind threshold training, examine how interval workouts can boost your cycling performance, and provide strategies for including threshold training in your routine. 

Threshold Training for Cycling

Threshold training in cycling is a specialized form of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) aimed at improving your functional threshold power (FTP) and your ability to sustain higher intensities for longer periods. This training method focuses on improving several key metrics of cycling performance.

• Aerobic capacity: Your body's efficiency in utilizing oxygen during extended exercise.

• Muscular endurance: Your muscles' ability to perform repeated contractions over time without experiencing fatigue.

• Mental stamina: Your psychological resilience needed to maintain focus and effort during difficult rides. 

• Sustained power capabilities: Your ability to consistently generate power output over prolonged durations.

The primary goal of threshold training is to elevate your lactate threshold. This threshold represents the point at which lactic acid accumulates in the bloodstream faster than the body can clear it, leading to fatigue. By improving this threshold, cyclists can ride at higher intensities for longer periods, ultimately boosting their overall performance on the bike.

Key Considerations for Threshold Training

When embarking on threshold training, there are several important factors to keep in mind for optimal results. These include:

• Duration

• Choosing the right route

• Using a heart rate monitor

• Using Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE)

• Getting lab tested

For optimal results in interval training, aim for a duration of 10 to 20 minutes. Beginners can start with shorter sessions lasting around 5 to 6 minutes. When it comes to selecting a training route, choose a flat, non-technical road or a sustained climb. It's also important to maintain your heart rate within a specific range to stay in the desired training zone. 

During threshold training, target a perceived exertion level of 7 to 8 on the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. To ensure proper recovery, limit threshold intervals to once or twice a week. For accurate measurements of threshold power, pace, or heart rate, consider undergoing a graded lab test.

Threshold Training Versus Lactate Tolerance Training

The main difference between threshold training and lactate tolerance training lies in their objectives:

• Threshold Training aims to increase the lactate threshold, which improves both speed and endurance. This is typically achieved through methods such as tempo rides and intervals.

• Lactate Tolerance Training focuses on improving the body's ability to manage high levels of lactate during intense exercise, helping cyclists cope with acidosis.

Lactate thresholds can be determined through laboratory tests or ramp tests. In a ramp test, intensity is gradually increased while blood samples are taken to monitor lactate levels.

Benefits of Threshold Training

Threshold training is a highly effective method for cyclists looking to improve their performance. This approach offers five key benefits:

Increase Lactate Threshold

Engaging in threshold training helps the body adapt to higher levels of lactate in the bloodstream. This adaptation allows you to maintain higher intensity levels for longer periods, which is particularly beneficial in endurance races where a steady pace is crucial.

Improve Power Output

Consistently training near the lactate threshold is important for improving muscle strength and boosting cardiovascular efficiency. The lactate threshold refers to the exercise intensity at which lactate begins to accumulate in the bloodstream, often signaling a shift from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism. 

This type of threshold training stimulates physiological adaptations, such as:

• Increased mitochondrial density

• Improved oxygen uptake and

• Greater efficiency in energy production

As a result, athletes can achieve faster speeds with only a minimal rise in heart rate. 

Enhance Fatigue Resistance

Training at or near the threshold improves your body’s ability to manage lactate and other metabolic byproducts. This improvement is vital for long-distance riders who need to sustain their performance over extended durations.

Greater VO2 Max Potential

Threshold training is a specialized form of exercise designed to improve aerobic capacity (VO₂ max), enhancing the body's efficiency in processing oxygen during intense efforts. This type of training enables you to maintain higher intensity levels during climbs and sprints by helping you manage lactic acid production and clearance more effectively.

Moreover, threshold training aids in quicker recovery after intense rides, which helps support a consistent training schedule. Threshold training also promotes cardiovascular health and endurance, allowing you to enjoy;

• Longer rides

• Higher speeds, and 

• Enhanced their overall performance. 

Better Pacing and Race Performance

Training at the threshold improves your ability to pace yourself effectively. With improved effort management, you can implement better strategies during races and time trials, gaining insights into how close you are to your physical limits throughout the ride.

The Role of Intervals in Threshold Training

High-intensity intervals (HIIT) are essential for threshold training in cycling, enhancing your endurance and power. Here's a brief look at their role and how they change as you improve.

High-intensity interval Training (HIIT) helps your body process lactate more effectively, which allows you to spend more time in the saddle at or near your lactate threshold. Engaging in short, intense efforts boosts your maximal oxygen uptake, enabling you to maintain these near-threshold efforts with reduced fatigue. 

HIIT improves your:

• Coordination and bike handling

• Pedal stroke efficiency and

• Muscle recruitment during longer rides.

HIIT Progression with Fitness Level

To build a solid base, focus on shorter intervals of 30 seconds to 1 minute, paired with longer recovery times of 2 to 4 minutes. For endurance training and to push your lactate threshold, incorporate longer intervals of 1 to 3 minutes with reduced recovery periods of 1 to 2 minutes. 

Additionally, utilize extended intervals lasting 3 to 10 minutes, coupled with shorter recoveries of 30 seconds to 1 minute. You can vary these workouts to simulate race conditions.

How Long To Train in the Threshold Zone?

If you want to boost your performance, you should generally focus your training in the threshold zone for a duration of 20 to 60 minutes. This training can be structured using intervals that last between 10 to 30 minutes each, allowing for both high exertion and recovery periods. 

It’s important to note that while these intervals are effective for building endurance and strength, the length of the threshold intervals can be adjusted based on individual goals and fitness levels. In some cases, these intervals can extend up to 60 minutes, providing a more sustained effort that challenges your body's limits and promotes significant improvements in your aerobic capacity and lactate threshold.

Cycling Threshold Workouts

These three workouts are designed to boost your threshold cycling performance. Each session focuses on specific aspects of your cycling abilities to help you achieve better results.

1. 3x 10 Min Threshold Intervals

In this workout, your objective is to complete 3 intervals, each lasting 10 minutes, where you'll maintain your effort within the threshold zone. This is a challenging intensity level that enhances your endurance and performance. 

After each 10-minute interval:

• Take a 10-minute rest to allow your body to recover.

• During the intervals, keep your cadence at around 95 rpm.

• Monitor your heart rate and adjust your effort as needed to stay within the threshold zone throughout the workout.

Try a intense interval workout for free on JOIN.

2. Sweet Spot Workout

This Sweet Spot workout requires you to complete 3 sweet spot intervals, each lasting 16 minutes. During these intervals, aim to push your effort levels to the upper end of your tempo zone, just below your lactate threshold. This level of intensity is designed to improve your endurance and increase your ability to sustain high power output. 

After each interval, you will have a 10-minute recovery period. Use this time to allow your body to recover. During the recovery, focus on maintaining a low intensity to help clear lactate from your system and give your muscles a chance to rest before tackling the next block of work.

Try this 1.5 hour interval workout for free.

3. Hairpins

The Hairpins workout is an ideal training session designed specifically for cyclists looking to improve their climbing abilities. 

This session features a challenging 10-minute segment spent just below Functional Threshold Power (FTP), which helps build endurance and strength. 

Every 2 minutes, you push through a steep 30-second interval that simulates the sharp turns found on an Alpine Col. 

This combination of sustained effort and explosive intervals makes for a complete workout that targets both aerobic capacity and climbing power, perfect for those preparing for hilly rides or races.

Try this shorter cycling workout to focus on climbing.

Dynamic Threshold Training For Quicker Improvement

Improving your cycling threshold is easier and faster with JOIN’s adaptive training plans. Designed by World Tour coaches, our training plans help you achieve your specific cycling goal, whether it’s a new threshold milestone or preparing for an upcoming event. 

With JOIN, you get a personalized cycling training plan that’s tailored to your individual needs. It also adapts to your schedule and recovery needs, so that your next workout is always the right one for you. 

Try JOIN for free and see the difference adaptive threshold training can make.