Interval Training Tips?

[fenlandpsychocyclist]

Just looking for some tips regarding interval training to increase my average speed on all rides?

My current situation:
I've cycled lots of "junk miles" over the past 22 months since i got back on the bike, have lost
28 pounds over this time ... but have now plateaued. (Eating 2800 cals a day on average).

In the early days i would suffer leg aches/stiffness for two days after cycling ten miles.
Now its a case that i can cycle 30 miles in bang on two hours .... and only feel very slight aches
for an hour or two after the ride.

I recently cycled 85 miles in 7 hours, but suffered the day after due to dehydration, so i think
i've got a good cycling base (just need to hydrate more!!)

I train quite often, preferring a certain 30 mile route that has a mix of ten miles of head wind, 5 dual carriageway flyover climbs, three river bridge climbs ... all of these put me above being able to hold a conversation.


Experiments
Last night i tried the following (using h.r.m on my garmin edge).

5 mile warmup in zone 2.
30s flat out. (reached 85% hr)
4m30s in zone 1 (heart rate took 4mins to drop back to 60%)
30s flat out
4m30s in zone 1
and so on

Six high power sprints in total, reaching 85% hr and then finished with a zone 1 ride of 5 miles.

Straight into zone 2 was quite hard, and the first two sprints saw me running out of puff before the 30 seconds was up, but the 5th and 6th saw me carrying on a few more seconds.

Anyway, what are your timing/zones preferences for interval training, and can you honestly
say you've become faster, and what are your tips??

 

[amaferanga]

You'd benefit much more from doing long threshold-type intervals. You want to get quicker over long rides so you need to increase your threshold power. 30s sprints won't do that. Also, HR is completely useless for pacing intervals less than about 5 minutes in length.

So find a suitable hill or use a turbo trainer and do 2x20min or 4x10min or similar at an effort that you can just maintain for the set with a 5-10min break between intervals. If you're using HR then you should aim to be reaching ~85-90% MHR by the end of each interval (remember that HR takes time to react so don't go balls out in the first minute trying to get your HR up to a certain level - use RPE and HR as a guide and let your HR rise slowly through the first 5mins or so). Bear in mind though that these intervals are hard, especially when you're new to them - it takes a lot more mental strength to do threshold intervals than it does a few 30s sprints.

 

[TheSandwichMonster]

You'd benefit much more from doing long threshold-type intervals. You want to get quicker over long rides so you need to increase your threshold power. 30s sprints won't do that. Also, HR is completely useless for pacing intervals less than about 5 minutes in length.

Amaferanga recommended this exact same course to me, a while back when I first started looking to train a little bit more effectively. My 2x20 session is now a little Friday night ritual as I try to paste myself onto the rear wall of the garage in agony.

They're not fun, in no way are they fun, especially the bit around 12 minutes when you think to yourself "why the **** am I doing this to myself, and how is there still 8 minutes to go?", but push yourself on and ensure that you have an accurate way of recording your efforts. You'll soon see the gains.

 

[Owen Burgess]

Pretty sound advice from Amaferanga. Intervals such a 5mins hard, 5 minss easy are a good start. Do this for an hour on a turbo and you should improve your speed a bit. 30s intervals are pointless in terms of improving stamina, just too short and use a completely different energy system to long distance riding

 

[Ruary]

I use a pyramid interval system on the turbo and have found it wuite useful takes about an hour plus a bit of warm up and cool down time.

2 min hard 1 min easy
4 min hard 1 min easy
6 min hard 1 min east
8 min hard 1 min easy
10 min hard 1 min easy
8 min hard 1 min easy
6 min hard 1 min easy
4 min hard 1 min easy
2 min hard

 

[amaferanga]

I use a pyramid interval system on the turbo and have found it wuite useful takes about an hour plus a bit of warm up and cool down time.

2 min hard 1 min easy
4 min hard 1 min easy
6 min hard 1 min east
8 min hard 1 min easy
10 min hard 1 min easy
8 min hard 1 min easy
6 min hard 1 min easy
4 min hard 1 min easy
2 min hard

That's a bit of a dogs dinner of a session. I'm sure it's hard and I'm sure it does do some good, but with the variable interval length and the very short rest periods it's certainly not one I'd want to do. If you have or can borrow a power meter it'd be interesting to know how your power falls of through the session. 2x20 or similar would work better assuming you want to increase your 'cruising speed'.

 

[Ruary]

Weirdly now I've written it down and re read it I'd agree with you!
Strange really considering when I'm running I do equal rest to work intervals but for some reason I don't on the turbo.

 

[fenlandpsychocyclist]

Thanks for the advice guys (sorry i didn't reply sooner ... have been busy).
I think i'll go for the 2 x 20 intervals advised by amaferanga with 10 minute break between intervals.

My day-job keeps me on my feet most of the time (i'm maintenance engineer in a large factory) and that can
have an effect on available energy levels during my weekday-evening rides.

A good comparison being last wednesday evenings 30 miler compared with sundays 30 miler.
Both were covered as fast as possible, peak heart rate for any length of time on wednesday was 150bpm, but on sunday i hit
the roof several times at 170bpm.

With this in mind, i'll keep doing the 30 milers in the evenings (at zone 2) just to keep the legs working, and will do the intervals
at weekends .... possibly combined with my frequent rides around thetford forest on the m.t.b!

 

[Hont]

I'd recommend that you check out the following link, as you are unlikely to get a consensus on this forum and you have no idea who is giving the best advice. I, for example, disagree that sprint intervals are not beneficial for increasing average speed, when used in conjunction with endurance rides. They're good for your CV system, increase leg strength and if you're riding hilly routes short bursts of anaerobic power can be essential for speeding over short steep ramps.

http://www.cptips.com/intervl.htm

I also disagree that there is such a thing as "junk miles", unless you are freewheeling at resting heart rate, every mile benefits you somehow. Long, steady rides are great for building base fitness and for burning fat.

 

[TheSandwichMonster]

Not wanting to be contrary, but the chap who wrote/writes that website is:

I am a gastroenterologist (specialist in diseases of the digestive tract)...

Not a cycling coach.

Nobody ever said that short intervals were no good, but in the context of the OP's questions, the answers around using longer intervals are both correct and relevant. In addition, when discussing intensity vs time when completing intervals, he only mentions VO2max, with no mention of associated changes in FTP.