Brendon Hartley: how is he training?

Brendon Hartley is a racing driver. He’s not very famous. However, he won the famous 24h Le Mans race 2 times! First, in 2019, as an official Porsche driver. And next year – in 2020, driving a Toyota. He was even racing with Toro Rosso in Formula One in 2017 + 2018. So, Brendon is a strong athlet. And living in Monaco, he loves cycling (every) day in the mountains.

Formula one drivers need to muscle their neck, their arms, and most of the body. But strength training is balanced with aerobic exercise. That’s why many of pro drivers are running. But to prevent back injuries, many of them would rather like cycling. Like Brendon! So, let’s decrypt his schedule, as we can see on Strava:

From January to May 2021:

cycling: 5645km (86 bike rides) 98700 D+ (total time: 223h)
running: 163km (25 workouts) 2612 D+ (total time: 15h)

His best 10km running time is 51’15. It’s a not a huge perf. But, as we can see, he much more likes cycling. According to Strava, 6% of his workout is about running. While 94% is about cycling!

5645km / 223h = 25km/h average. This is not a strong speed. But, it’s easy to understand why: his bike rides are mostly in the moutains (he climbed Le Mont Ventoux last 1st June). And he switches his road bike to a MTB sometimes.

Every cyclist who are looking to improve their speed, endurance or strength will focus on their training zone. And Strava gives us interesting datas here. These are Brendon Hartley’s training zones – on Tuesday, 1st June 2021:

Z1: < 157W

Z2: 158 – 215W
Z3: 216 – 258W
Z4: 259 – 301W

Z5: 302 – 344W
Z6: 345 – 430W
Z7: >431W

His FTP seems to be something like 287 watts. It’s not that huge. Again, it’s quite easy to understand why. Brendon is a racing driver. Then, he’s using cycling as an aerobie activity. That’s all. Riding, in the moutains, but not doing specific exercices. He just loves riding on his bikes. And, as sport fan, we agree!

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