If You Have…45 to 60 minutes

THE TRIPLE THREAT Warm up for 15 minutes. Then boost your intensity until you’re working very hard (a 9 on a rate of perceived exertion, or RPE, scale of 1 to 10). Hold that intensity for three minutes. Recover for three minutes. Repeat two more times. Finish your ride at a moderate pace, including a cooldown.
The Benefit: Your VO2 max is your fitness ceiling. To raise that roof, you need to do lung-searing efforts like this one that force your body to find ways to increase VO2 capacity.

HILL ATTACKS There are two ways to do these. One: standard hill repeats. Warm up for 10 to 15 minutes. Find a hill that takes about five minutes to climb and ascend it hard, staying at your max sustainable pace, or threshold (RPE of 7). Descend for three minutes to recover. Repeat for a total of five intervals. Cool down. Or, take a more organic approach and map a 10- to 15-mile route that includes four to six good climbs. Hit the hills hard and ride moderately between efforts.
The Benefit: You know the saying: Hills make you stronger.

CROSS THE THRESHOLD Warm up for 10 to 15 minutes. Increase your effort to beyond your comfort zone (about an RPE of 8) and hold it five to six minutes. Back off and ride just below your threshold point (RPE of 6) for five minutes. Do three or four sets. You won’t feel fully recovered between them. Cool down.
The Benefit: Your threshold, the point at which you produce more lactate than you can absorb, is your max sustainable effort. A high threshold lets you ride hard and long before your legs scream; this workout raises it.

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