Interval Training

TomRainKIng said:

I'm 22 years old, and recently have been diagnosed with SCiatica...developed it after coaching high school baseball (Too much pitching). Cycling is really the only cardio exercise which I can perfrom...and i've really grown to love it. I'm really searching for routines that maximize metabolism...as well as routines that help the heart ( I also suffer from High Blood Pressure and Kidney Hydronephrosis). I was introduced to interval training two weeks ago, and it has pretty much kicked my butt so far. My questions center around the length and benefits of interval training. The bike at my gym has a pre-configured inteval course, which consists of 1-minute intervals. 1 Minute on level zero, then a hill for 1 minute. Each hill gets steeper and steeper, finally reaching a maximum height in the middle of the workout. There are four of these maximum height hills in a row, then in winds down. Are one minute intervals too short? If so, how long would be good? I'm extremely atheltic, but would consider myself an intermediate cycler. Is interval training better than normal workouts when performed for the same amount of time. I currently ride 5 days a week, and lift three. I lift on Monday, Wed, Friday...and ride on Monday, Tuesday, Thrusday, Friday, Saturday. Should the interval training be combined with other forms of riding to maximize results? In 2 weeks, I plan to switch to a four day a week lifting plan, should I change my riding schedule too?

I won't address any medical issues you may have, because I'm not qualified. But, as to interval training, the key is to stress your body by riding for periods of time at a higher intensity of effort than you can currently sustain for, say, an hour. At any intensity, you're going to get more benefit from longer intervals but at some intensities one just can't do it for very long without a recovery period. Let's say that at my current fitness I can maintain 250 watts of power for an hour. Most of my intervals would be at 275w and higher. But, I will be able to maintain 275w for a lot longer than I could maintain 300w. So, I might do 275w intervals for up to 20 minutes, with a 5 minute recovery, whereas I would probably do my 300w intervals for 5-10 minutes with a 5 minute recovery. The higher you go above your current fitness, the shorter the interval for the simple reason that you can't hold it. As to schedule, you always want to follow a day of intervals with a recovery day at a recovery pace. BTW, lifting won't help your cycling (although you may have other reasons to lift). Here are a couple of training schema to chew on. Don't be deterred by the references to power meter data. They are cross-referenced with HR data. Personally, I follow Andy Coggan's schema and it is having the desired and predicted effect.
peakscoachinggroup.comPowerTrainingChapter.pdfOpen ↗
cyclingnews.comfitnessOpen ↗

TomRainKIng said:

Are one minute intervals too short? If so, how long would be good?

It all depends on your goals, but unless you are training for some event where you need to maximize your 1 minute power I would go for something longer.

Quoted post said:

I'm extremely atheltic, but would consider myself an intermediate cycler. Is interval training better than normal workouts when performed for the same amount of time.

Interval training can most certainly offer a better bang for the buck compared to steady state riding. Depending on the weather where you are, you should get out on the road more. Friends don't let friends ride LifeCycles. Besides, it's not apropos for an intermediate cyclists. 😉

Quoted post said:

I currently ride 5 days a week, and lift three. I lift on Monday, Wed, Friday...and ride on Monday, Tuesday, Thrusday, Friday, Saturday. Should the interval training be combined with other forms of riding to maximize results? In 2 weeks, I plan to switch to a four day a week lifting plan, should I change my riding schedule too?

For a weight training plan and how to perfect your spits, I suggest you hop on over to Dr. Fred Hatfield's web sit and read this article on periodicity. Great stuff.

http://www.drsquat.com/index.cfm?action=viewarticle&articleID=15

As for mixing weight training (bodybuilding or powerlifting) with cycling you're going to have to be very careful about recovery periods - especially now that you're considering interval training! Recovery and down time is where you make the progress. Since youre a mere 22, you won't have to rest & recover as someone who is my age but don't neglect it or you'll plateau rather quickly. The reason I'm brining this up is because the schedule you've laid down doesn't appear to have sufficient recovery built in.

I can't really offer any advice on how to mix and split your program because I don't know your fitness levels, lifestyle, bodytype, dietary practices, etc. What works well for me probably won't be optimum for you.

With the medical problems you describe, and if indoor cycling is your only cardio exercise, I'd pass on interval training. Believe you'll get more long-term benefits and less stress by doing your 5 day/week rides at a longer, steady aerobic pace. I'd shoot for 30 minutes, plus a cooldown. You can gradually increase the resistance as your fitness improves, but wouldn't let the HR go above 75-80% (keep your breathing steady and controlled).

Most indoor trainers at the gyms don't have cooling airflow set up, so hard efforts can rapidly overheat you and run the HR up to redline. For this reason, I avoid hard intervals indoors; much prefer save the hard training for real hills and club rides.