FTP-based training
Most cycling targets are written as a percentage of functional threshold power (FTP), so one workout suits riders of any fitness. FTP and power zones explains how FTP is estimated and how zones follow from it; the power zone calculator turns your FTP into watts, and the climb calculator shows what those watts mean on a real climb.
Power, heart rate and cadence
- Power responds instantly and is the most precise target for intervals. Write it as %FTP for portability or watts for one rider.
- Heart rate lags effort by a minute or more, so it suits long steady work better than short intervals. Use bpm or % of max heart rate.
- Cadence is a secondary target: “5 min at 90–95% FTP, 95–105 rpm” practises pedalling speed at a given power.
SurgeIQ Lab workouts support all three, including power and cadence on the same step.
Workout types
Five kinds of session cover most cycling training. Each chart below is a real, exportable workout.
Long, steady and conversational — the base most training is built on.
Blocks around FTP with short recoveries; even pacing is the skill.
Hard efforts of a few minutes above FTP with equal recovery.
Short, very hard efforts with a cadence target.
Very easy riding that lets the hard days work.
Endurance vs threshold vs VO2max compares their purpose and structure in detail, and road race vs criterium shows how they apply to racing — for example the Berkeley Omnium, a road race and a crit on back-to-back days.
Cycling training plans
A cycling plan arranges these sessions across weeks around a goal. In SurgeIQ Lab you can use a built-in plan or write your own — up to 12 weeks, with every ride built from structured steps — and apply it to your calendar from a chosen Monday. Coaches can assign plans to athletes (how that works).
Bike computers and FIT
Structured workouts reach a bike computer as FIT workout files. SurgeIQ Lab exports every structured ride as one, and a whole week or plan as a zip of files named by date or plan day. Load them on a Garmin Edge over USB; Garmin Connect can’t import workout files, and direct Garmin Connect or Wahoo sync isn’t available.
- Workout
- FIT workout file
- Garmin/NewFiles
- Edge workouts
Step by step, from download to the start of the first interval: how to export a cycling workout to your Garmin Edge. The file format itself: what’s inside a FIT workout file.