Intervals

So what's your method... and can you cite scientific studies? It seems like everyone's in agreement on the benefits of intervals, but everyone has a different way of doing them. And, do you do intervals differently on the bike vs. running vs. any other sport?

- Intensity of intervals: definitely anaerobic, but how hard? Current race pace? Target race pace? All-out sprint? Something in between?

- Duration of intervals: mostly 30 seconds to 2 minutes, but I think I've seen people talk about "intervals" up to 10 minutes.

- Intensity of recovery periods: this is mostly an issue for me running, because there's a minimum intensity needed to keep up even a slow jog, and when I'm in deep oxygen debt from a sprint interval, my heart rate may only drop by 15 bpm during recovery. Should I try to maintain a heart rate in, say, zone 2 or lower, even if it means walking? Or just recover by maintaining an easy pace, even if my heart rate stays high?

- Duration of recovery periods: anything from half the duration of the interval, to three times as long?

- And one thing I don't think I've ever really seen discussed: is there a certain number of intervals one should aim for? Do you progress by increasing the intensity, increasing the duration, shortening the recovery, or adding more intervals?

I think this is why I haven't done intervals yet...they seem a bit complicated. I'm thinking about trying some but I think I'll just do 20 second sprints followed by 40 seconds of easy/recovery pedaling. I can't answer any of your questions...sorry, but I'm looking forward to others answers.

This is the best article I've found to answer your question:
http://www.trifuel.com/training/bike...scientific-way

I'm linking instead of quoting because it's kind of long. I hope it helps.

That is great. I have done HIIT on the treadmill and know how to do that, but have struggled with figuring out the same work outs for the bike. This will be very helpful.

Barbara

I have used intervals on the bike in a hit and miss way over the past year.

I have made a committment to myself to get into serious and specific training to improve my time trialling...

So I am getting up early on Tuesdays and Thursdays to make sure i get specific rides in and don't flag them at the end of the day when i am tired from work.

I am doing "power" intervals on Tuesdays - 3 minutes at my lactate threshold and then let my heart rate drop, and then another 3 minutes. I am slowly increasing the length of the interval and the number of intervals.

On Thursdays I am doing hill intervals... climbing a hill on my aeros in the big chain ring...

I have a TT in two weeks - I'll let you know if they have worked at all...