Performance

Training for an IRONMAN means preparing your body to swim 3.8 km, cycle 180 km and run a full 42.2 km marathon in the same day. For a first-time athlete, that usually requires several months of structured training across all three disciplines, with recovery, strength work and nutrition practice fitted around everyday life. Knowing how long to allow and where to place the biggest sessions makes that commitment far easier to manage.

We lined up on the rail, ready to leave it all on the track in a team sprint race. The whistle blew, and we dove down the track, wheel to wheel, cadences high and our determination even higher. We gave it everything we had – until our lungs burned and our legs gave out into wobbly, noodly messes. Yet the final sprint was photo-finish close.

A power meter measures how much power you produce while riding, shown in watts. Unlike speed, which changes with wind, gradient and road surface, power tells you how much work your body is doing at that moment.

Cycling and weight lifting can work well together when you manage timing, volume and recovery. The goal isn't to train like two different athletes at once, but to build one joined-up programme where the gym supports the bike and the bike doesn't ruin the gym. Riders usually get into trouble for three reasons: they lift too heavy too soon, they place hard gym work too close to key rides, or they treat soreness as proof that the session worked. That's how a sensible strength plan turns into a Zone 2 ride that feels like dragging a fridge through wet grass.

Whether you're fuelling a long endurance ride, a hard interval session or a ROUVY race, knowing when to eat fast carbs and slow carbs can make all the difference to your performance.

RPE, or rate of perceived exertion, is a simple way to measure how hard a ride feels by rating your effort on a scale, usually from 1 to 10. For cyclists, RPE helps you judge intensity using breathing, muscle fatigue, focus and overall effort, even when power, heart rate or speed don’t tell the full story.

If you want better results from your riding, heart-rate zones are a simple place to start. Discover how to calculate yours, train with purpose and balance intensity with recovery for steady progress.

Can lacing up your running shoes actually boost your cycling performance – or is it a fast track to injury? Discover the real pros and cons of mixing kilometres on foot with time in the saddle, and learn how to strike the right balance.

When cyclists talk about getting faster, aerodynamics often sounds like something reserved for pros, wind tunnels and marginal gains. In reality, the way air flows around you affects every ride. Understanding it can change how you think about speed.