Long Ride with Hill Repeats

Session Overview

This 90-minute outdoor ride combines aerobic base building with structured hill work. You will develop climbing strength, improve power output on ascents, and practise pacing on hilly terrain. Ideal for intermediate triathletes targeting hilly UK race courses like IRONMAN 70.3 Bolton or Weymouth.

What You’ll Need

• Road bike or TT bike
• Cycling computer or GPS watch
• Helmet and cycling kit
• 2 water bottles plus an energy gel or bar for the final 45 minutes

Warm-Up (15 minutes)

15 minutes of flat, easy cycling at Zone 2 (60-65% max HR). Build cadence to 90 rpm. Finish with two 10-second standing accelerations to prepare your legs for climbing efforts.

Main Set

Choose a hill with 2-4% gradient taking 3-5 minutes to climb. Repeat the following circuit:

• 5 x hill repeats: climb at Zone 4 (80-85% max HR), recover on the descent, 2 minutes easy before next rep
• Between repeats: maintain Zone 2 effort on flat connecting roads
• After final repeat: 20-minute continuous ride at Zone 3 (70-75% max HR) to simulate race-pace cycling on tired legs

Cool-Down (10 minutes)

Spin easy for 10 minutes at low resistance, cadence above 90 rpm, to flush lactic acid from your legs.

Coaching Notes

• On the climbs, keep cadence above 70 rpm by shifting to a smaller gear to protect your knees
• Common mistake: going too hard on rep 1 and blowing up by rep 3 — aim for consistent power across all 5
• To make it easier: reduce to 3 repeats. To make it harder: extend climb efforts to 8 minutes or add 2 more reps
• RPE during hill repeats: 7-8. Flat and descent sections: 5-6