Who does interval training ? Do you do them every other ride ? 4 times a week ? Do you do them on an incline ? What distance ? Counting pedal stokes ? How many reps ? Good benefits ? TIA
I do intervals when training on my road bike. Generally do half of my route to Seal Beach as a warm up, and then do intervals on the way back. I don't drop a lot of science, just pick a landmark in the distance and then go all out until I pass it. Then warm down for a bit, and then start all over. My route has some hills, so I use them to my advantage. The benefits are definitely noticeable when MTBing.
interval training increases your anaerobic and aerobic capacity. repeating high level of exercise with rest in between the repeats, your muscles improve their resistance to fatigue. this kind of training also teaches your body to recover quicker from high levels of exertion. i quick example of this would be to ride in heae rate zone of 4 for 1 minute and then take it easy in zone 3 for a couple of minutes to recover. then, back to zone 4 for a minute, then rest again for 3 minutes. etc. on a climb...take it easy and spin for a few minutes and then shift for a harder ratio and hammer. rest again and recover....then hammer again.
On occasion I do intervals at Del Cerro to make the boring fireroad climb a bit less boring. Not sure how much it has helped though.
I do two types of interval training. The first type helps with endurance. On longer rides (2-5 hours) I’ll try to ride for 10-15 minutes near max heart rate, then back off for 5 minutes to bring down the heart rate to near resting, and then do it all over again. There is a local trail loop that works perfect for this. The second type of interval helps with sprinting strength and sprint recovery. This has been very beneficial for the short 2 hour XC races I’ve been doing this year. On long climbs I’ll keep my heart rate at 10 to 20% of max. Then redline for 30 seconds and continue to climb at the same 10-20% pace for 5 minutes. Do it again and again. It’s quite painful. I’ll do this only once or twice a week. I guess because of my age (45), warm up is getting really important. It seems to take me 45 minutes to warm up before I can do anything. During warm up I keep my heart rate between 20 to 30% of max. No intervals.
I don't really "train" anymore, but interval training is an awesome way to increase your anaerobic threshold. You can also bust plateaus pretty quickly using intervals. :beer: I would recommend doing intervals based on time or RPE (rate of perceived exertion on a scale of 1-10... is super easy, 10 is extremely difficult...in other words, if you think you're gonna die, it's time to stop). Maybe something like 2 minute sprints (working 9 or 10 out of 10), followed by 2-3 mins of moderate intensity (active recovery...maybe working 5 out of 10). You can do them on flats to work both seated sprints and standing sprints, or blitz a seated climb.
Maybe it's obvious from the other comments, but you definitely have a heart rate monitor for this type of training. My personal preference is to do intervals on hills. Pushing myself that hard on flats by myself is really hard mentally. So the trick is to find the right kind of hill that is convenient and the right length. Books I have read talk about 2-8 minutes at/near threshold, usually laddering up (2, then 4 then 6 then 8 minutes) I think it is beneficial. I also think road riding (on MTB or road bike) is very beneficial for endurance, since there is no resting. I've found that a heart monitor is essential for that.
Doing interval training has changed me as a rider....for the better. I've been working with a coach for about a year now, and HR Intervals are one of the main tenants of the program. There are many different kinds - most common being hill climbing intervals. Get on Blackstar - warm up for 20min., hammer for 3 min, bringing your HR up between 170-180 (depending on your max HR rate or lactic threshold), then cool down for 1:30, repeat. I usually do about 6 or 7 of those before I get to Beek's Place. You need to figure out what your lactic threshold is first, so that you can properly set your zones. Send me a private message if you're interested and I can explain more. Over time, your ability to endure long, hard efforts will become easier - and especially your ability to recover quickly. Blackstar, Maple Springs, Harding are all great HR interval routes.
I am doing them now on the stationary bike in the community gym here at my complex. I do a 1 hour workout that burns about 500 calories depending how hard I push myself. I will kick up the level and do sprints throughout the hour to push myself. Seems to be working well because they are getting easier now. Then I usually jump in the tread mill for an 1-2 mile run to burn some more but no intervals im not the best runner
gets the heart rate up then gives it recovery time to go down and then brings it up again. Sounds like intervals. :?:
i should really be doing intervals -- just hard to be motivated. if anybody wants to go out an practice 'em, i'm all up for it ...
intervals will make you faster but if you get burned out they can make you slower. Just make sure your haveing fun and push yourself.
