This is the Holy Grail question!

There is an obvious way to approach this question - in order to make the body adapt, you have to increase the amount of time it spends doing the activity you want to improve. So, a very simple answer is, just spend more time working AT the race power you deem is your target. Your coach will help you determine what might be achievable.

Once you have a figure in mind, your coach will design a programme that falls basically into two steps:

1. Raising your power output
2. Increasing your ability to sustain that power output

In practical terms, you will begin with short efforts at your target power, with ample recovery time to make sure you can repeat that effort. Then, once you can sustain that target power, your programme will progress by:

• increasing the time you can spend at the target power: first by increasing the number of repeats, and then making each repeat longer
• improving your tolerance to that target power: by decreasing the recovery time between each repeat

Before you know it, you will have raised that sustainable power! It does take time though, so be patient.