After a bit of advice on how I could possibly structure a short, on road interval session - a sort of go hard and go home quickly sort of workout.
I'm wanting to add a bit more intensity into the mix with my riding, however I have a few things I need to work around, namely:
- It needs to be on the road as I don't have an indoor trainer, which is obviously a good way to get out hard and fast sorts of sessions. I'll probably end up getting one, but my current apartment situation doesn't quite lend itself to the optimal setup and I'm still not 100% decided as to what I'd like (fluid, direct drive, smart trainer, etc). I think I'd rather hold of a little longer, perhaps until next winter when I have a better idea of what I really want to use the trainer for.
- I'm on the lower north shore of Sydney, which means I'm really, really inhibited when it comes to lengthy, flat stretches of road without either a decent roller or traffic light to get in the way. This means the traditional style 2 x 20mins sub threshold, or 2 x 12 mins threshold intervals are basically impossible to perform. I'm probably looking at maybe 4-5 minute intervals max before I hit a set of traffic lights.
- I'd like to use one of my weekday rides to perform this workout, so it needs to be around 60-75 mins in duration, as I need to do it before I go to work. This means I need to do it in my local area as opposed to transporting the bike elsewhere.
- I am going to use one of my weekend rides, where I can dedicate more time on one of these days to tackle some longer intervals in a more suitable location.
- I only train with cadence and heart rate, no power meter, so I'd expect to use RPE as my main metric?
As far as what I'm looking to achieve it's mixing things up to add more variety. Most of my riding is easy paced, with some harder efforts thrown in up rolling hills or just putting the hammer down while mixing it up in traffic or on a suitable piece of road. I'm new to cycling so at the moment simply riding more brings benefits enough. I'm doing an Olympic distance triathlon (40km bike) at the end of this year with some mates for a laugh and am doing a lot of running and swimming as well (my background is running). I understand to throw down a good bike split it's very much increasing your efficiency at threshold effort, hence the desire to mix things up with more intensity.
Does anyone have any good suggestions as to some sessions I could do out on the road in these sorts of conditions, or should I just go and buy a trainer? Thanks all!
Interval Training Suggestions
- JdM
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- Alex Simmons/RST
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Re: Interval Training Suggestions
Postby Alex Simmons/RST » Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:35 am
Just pick your favourite local hills route with the least stops and hit the hills hard. If you have a good 3-5 minute long hill, you can do repeats and better if there is a loop so you get maybe 5-10 minutes between each effort.
- JdM
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Re: Interval Training Suggestions
Postby JdM » Tue Jun 30, 2015 1:59 pm
Thanks Alex - I can certainly get myself onto a few different loops which will give me some solid hills to attack.
If it was an hour long session, would we be taking about 3-5 efforts dependent on how long the hills are? I'm assuming the longer the hill, the longer recovery should be?
If it was an hour long session, would we be taking about 3-5 efforts dependent on how long the hills are? I'm assuming the longer the hill, the longer recovery should be?
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- Alex Simmons/RST
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Re: Interval Training Suggestions
Postby Alex Simmons/RST » Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:59 pm
The harder you ride it the longer the recovery needs to be. But if the recovery is short, then you'll ultimately be forced to go a bit slower anyway. Both are fine for general aerobic conditioning, just a different twist.JdM wrote:Thanks Alex - I can certainly get myself onto a few different loops which will give me some solid hills to attack.
If it was an hour long session, would we be taking about 3-5 efforts dependent on how long the hills are? I'm assuming the longer the hill, the longer recovery should be?
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Re: Interval Training Suggestions
Postby Discodan » Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:44 am
I'm not an expert but this may be in line with what you're looking for. It's not a quick ride, you'd need a couple of hours, but have a look at this loop. It's Akuna with a few hill repeats thrown in but gives you 5 x 10 min hill climbs which will really improve your threshold riding. I find a combination of more general endurance training and some intervals in one ride is a great workout. You can obviously add more or less repeats in there
https://www.strava.com/activities/331755036" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.strava.com/activities/331755036" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
- JdM
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- Location: Sydney, NSW
Re: Interval Training Suggestions
Postby JdM » Mon Jul 06, 2015 11:57 am
Cheers mate, nice one, that's an awesome looking hit out. I'm certainly familiar with those roads, probably my favourite part of Sydney to go riding.
I'll certainly have a crack at something like that on a weekend morning, but it's not doable on a weekday morning before work!
I'll certainly have a crack at something like that on a weekend morning, but it's not doable on a weekday morning before work!
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