is this interval training?

You could do many workout in intervals. You workout isn't clear because the 1 minute interval isn't long enough to improve your sustainable LT power. You have to do at least 10 minutes 4 to 5 sets. As the season progresses, increase to 20 minutes and 2 sets.

For sprint intervals, try something like 15sec to 20sec duration ALL out for 10 sets.

For base miles, count how many hours you are on the bike a week. 10 hours to 15 hours is good.

sparknote_s said:

I have been building a base for about 2 months now. For the past two weeks I've only had time to do about 20 miles per day, I hope that counts as building a base. Anyways, today I did what I thought was interval training.

I did 4 minutes easy/ 1 minute max speed I could hold, and did that four times. Next, I did 4 minutes easy / sprint to 30 mph for about 5 seconds. I did that part four times as well.

Should I do more of these, or longer duration, or what? I finished these pretty quickly so I just rode at a moderate/hard pace the rest of the way.

Any tips? (Yes I will be getting a book, so any tips other than that 🙂)

sparknote_s said:

I have been building a base for about 2 months now. For the past two weeks I've only had time to do about 20 miles per day, I hope that counts as building a base. Anyways, today I did what I thought was interval training.

I did 4 minutes easy/ 1 minute max speed I could hold, and did that four times. Next, I did 4 minutes easy / sprint to 30 mph for about 5 seconds. I did that part four times as well.

Should I do more of these, or longer duration, or what? I finished these pretty quickly so I just rode at a moderate/hard pace the rest of the way.

Any tips? (Yes I will be getting a book, so any tips other than that 🙂)

It really depends on what your goals are, and the type of cycling you do. For e.g., if you're a track sprint cyclist your training would be very different than if you're an Ironman triathlete, which again would be different to if you're road racer, which will be different than if you just concentrate on TTs!

Additionally, the training that you may need to do will also be dictated by the amount of time you have available for training on a weekly basis (e.g., you can only train 5 hrs a week - it better be lots of high intensity training, versus having 20 hrs a week - the intensity will be a lot less).

Add in other issues, such as your fitness, recent training, health status, upcoming races, etc. and it becomes very difficult to guess what sort of training you might need at this point in time, unless you can specifically answer some of these questions. Of course, at that point it may well be an idea to get involved with a coach who will be able to guide your training and help you improve rapidly.

Obviously, at RST we can help you with the coaching and have a range of products to suit all budgets.

Ric

If I am doing 10-minute sets, there is no way I could go the same pace as my 1-minute interval. For the one minute interval, after one-minute I was totally wiped. It was almost like a 1-minute sitting sprint. So what kind of pace would I do for a 10 mintue interval?

Do I shoot for a certain HR range for intervals or what? I don't have a powermeter.

sparknote_s said:

If I am doing 10-minute sets, there is no way I could go the same pace as my 1-minute interval. For the one minute interval, after one-minute I was totally wiped. It was almost like a 1-minute sitting sprint. So what kind of pace would I do for a 10 mintue interval?

Do I shoot for a certain HR range for intervals or what? I don't have a powermeter.

I don't think Blue Jersey meant that you do 10-min intervals at the same pace as your 1-min intervals.

Ric

At or above LT. I am not saying it is easy. Having a strong base miles foundation would help. Having a couple of racing years would help. Having been racing for 2 years, on my 3rd years I finally able to nail down my training and intensity level. Right now I can do these TT intervals for 30 minutes at 181 bpm HR average, each week. If you could barely hold the intensity for 1 minutes, you can't be expected to hold the same intensity for 10 minutes. You should remind at or above LTHR.

sparknote_s said:

If I am doing 10-minute sets, there is no way I could go the same pace as my 1-minute interval. For the one minute interval, after one-minute I was totally wiped. It was almost like a 1-minute sitting sprint. So what kind of pace would I do for a 10 mintue interval?

Do I shoot for a certain HR range for intervals or what? I don't have a powermeter.

BlueJersey said:

At or above LT. I am not saying it is easy. Having a strong base miles foundation would help. Having a couple of racing years would help. Having been racing for 2 years, on my 3rd years I finally able to nail down my training and intensity level. Right now I can do these TT intervals for 30 minutes at 181 bpm HR average, each week. If you could barely hold the intensity for 1 minutes, you can't be expected to hold the same intensity for 10 minutes. You should remind at or above LTHR.

Just to clarify, the main definition of LT (lactate threshold) is the work rate that is required to elicit a 1 mmol/L increase in lactate over exercise baseline levels - this would be 2.xx mmol/L. Work rate is measured in power output (watts - W) in cycling and velocity in running (km/hr, m/s). The other common definition is the work rate required to elicit a fixed level of 2.5 mmol/L.

Both of these work rates are quite a low intensity, such that it can be mainted for ~ up to 3 + hours, as the intensity is ~ 10 - 15% less than the power than can be maintained for ~ 1-hr TT.

Doing work outs at ~ TT effort for one to four intervals of 15 to 30-mins is a great way of boosting your aerobic fitness and increasing your sustainable power.

Sparknote_s, see my previous post: no one can suggest what sort of intensity to do your intervals at without knowing what type of intervals you need to do -- i.e., type of cyclist, goals, etc.

Ric

ric_stern/RST said:

Just to clarify, the main definition of LT (lactate threshold) is the work rate that is required to elicit a 1 mmol/L increase in lactate over exercise baseline levels - this would be 2.xx mmol/L. Work rate is measured in power output (watts - W) in cycling and velocity in running (km/hr, m/s). The other common definition is the work rate required to elicit a fixed level of 2.5 mmol/L.

Ric, I have done testing at a sports laboratory for several years. My baseline level is consistently within the 0.6-0.8mmol/L range. The threshold power (and HR) that is beeing reported to me is always the values at lactate level 2.3mmol/L (which is 1.5-1.7mmol/L above my baseline levels).

Using your first definition, my threshold would be significantly lower than the one beeing reported to me (at around 1.6-1.8mmol/L), using your second definition it would be a little bit higher (at 2.5mmol/L, not 2.3mmol/L).

Do you have any tips as to how my results compare to the common definitions that you refer to? Is my laboratory using an "uncommon" definition? Could it have something to do with the way lactate is measured?

When I do the testing I always get all results from the test. Do you think I could use that data and find my "real" threshold according to the definitions you refer to?

Thanks for any comments you might have!