Luke McKenzie is a professional triathlete. Triathlete Magazine recently posted an article with his “hardest workout” and it just so happens to be on the bike. I would love to know what his Ironman Watts are that he puts out!! 🙂
It doesn’t matter if we are professional athletes, age group podium athletes, or recreational athletes…every one of us has a workout that we consider to be a “hard” workout at some point…one that pushes us physically, mentally or both.
Friday I had a VERY. HARD. RIDE. Since purchasing my new toy a few weeks ago…
this was the first ride that REALLY challenged me (both physically and mentally). After having my VO2 Max test at the end of February, I know what my power zones are:
- Power Zone 1 = 0 -123 watts
- Power Zone 2 = 124 – 167 watts
- Power Zone 3 = 168 – 200 watts
- Power Zone 4 = 201 – 233 watts
- Power Zone 5 = 234 – 266 watts
- Power Zone 6 = 267+ watts
Friday morning’s ride was power intervals and looked like this:
- 30 minute warm-up
- 6×3 min power zone 3 (mid to high z3) while keeping my cadence above 95 rpm with 2 min easy spin between each set
- 15 minute cool-down
Typically I have at least one other person to ride with in the sweat cave early in the mornings, but not this time. I was all by myself. In my own head. Staring at concrete walls and a bunch of empty bicycles.
Here is what my performance yielded:
My power and cadence were nearly spot on according to the targets I was to be aiming for. The first 4 intervals were challenging, but physically I felt strong. By the 5th and 6th intervals, I really had to use my mental focus, self talk (or yell) and visualization to dig deep and finish as strong as I could.
Before training with power, I was training on heart rate. According to my heart rate data below, my heart rate was solidly in zone 4 for each interval after the first two and was nearing zone 5 by the final interval. With power zone 3 being the target, I was forced to work harder, pushing my heart rate much higher than zone 3. If I would have done this same workout using heart rate, I would not have pushed this hard.
This was only the first of many more HARD WORKOUTS, but I am excited to see where training on power will take me!!


What is your hardest workout? Do you train with power? If so, what improvements have you seen as a result?
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Week #13 (Recovery Week) Totals:
Swim: 4700 yards
Bike: 76.2 miles
Run: 21.7 miles
Strength Training: 2 hours & 15 minutes
Hot Yoga: 1 hour
Week #13 in the green 😉