Interval training

[WychwoodTrev]

Ok so I am a newbie to cycling and my aim apart from getting fit and losing weight is to do a couple of 10 mile tts and do a 60 mile sportive. I have been told interval training is the best way of getting up to speed. Now on a couple of nights a week I go out with a couple of mates who are slower than me so I ride with them at a slowish pace whenwe come to a climb I put in 100 percent effort then slow and wait for them next climb do the same. Could this be classified as interval training ?

 

[montage]

Ok so I am a newbie to cycling and my aim apart from getting fit and losing weight is to do a couple of 10 mile tts and do a 60 mile sportive. I have been told interval training is the best way of getting up to speed. Now on a couple of nights a week I go out with a couple of mates who are slower than me so I ride with them at a slowish pace whenwe come to a climb I put in 100 percent effort then slow and wait for them next climb do the same. Could this be classified as interval training ?

Yep....you could always wheel down the climb to your mates and do the rest of it again

 

[amaferanga]

How long are the climbs? For the TTs you'd be best doing intervals that are about 15-20 minutes long at threshold (= the intensity you could ride at for an hour on a good day when you're well rested). Training and riding with mates that are slower than you don't really go IMO. I'd probably use those rides as steady endurance or even recovery rides and do the intervals on my own.

 

[WychwoodTrev]

The longest climb is 1.1 mile and realy makes me blow kicks up at the last third too. I have been going out doing a 10 mile route first 5 miles are maily up hill then the return is mainly down,in feb this took me 50 min have gradually got it down to 34 mins which I am well chuffed with. On sundays we do a longer ride up to 40 miles at the mo but they are steady rides. Thanks for your input it makes sense. I do worry a bit about the 60 mile sportive but at the same tome excited at doing one

 

[Norry1]

Trev, I'm no expert, but for TTs training I like to do short intervals - so something like

15 mins warm up
2 mins hard (just above normal TT pace), 2 mins easyish recovery - repeat 5 - 10 times
15 mins warm down

This gets the body used to riding a bit quicker than your TT speed and so you should improve.

Martin

 

[ClichéGuevara]

When you're with your slower friends would dropping a few gears and cranking up the cadence be an option?