Different Training Rides?

[momtohanna]

Awesome! thanks that helps a lot.

Miranda ~ thanks for that link ~ the chart is very helpful for getting my head around this stuff!!

[momtohanna]

I want to add intervals to my cycling workouts ~ what's the best way for a beginner to start with intervals? Speed? Going faster maybe a set speed I'm shooting for, for the intervals? or Intensity, maybe using a tougher gear to make it harder to go?

Also what's the best time frame for a beginner to start with ~ 4 min/4 min? or more or less?

I'd like to get clear on this so I can do this tomorrow and none of the websites I've seen have really helped me figure it out. Any help would be much appreciated.

[maillotpois]

This Arnie Baker ebook has great interval suggestions, routines, etc. http://www.arniebakercycling.com/books/b_hit.htm

According to Arnie, 4 minutes is a really effective interval time. It really helps to have a heart rate monitor and know how to use it (i.e., what your target zones are by something other than 220 - your age). You would do speed or harder gear or hill climb or something for 4 minutes, sufficiently hard to get you into zone 3 or 4 (probably just zone 3 for a real beginner). Without a HRM, this is an effort level at which you cannot speak, period.

[tctrek]

An interval is an amount of time where you work harder than the rest of the workout. If you don't have a heart rate monitor, it's more difficult, but you would need to be at least able to measure and describe your perceived effort.

Say, that your effort is on a scale of 1-10.
1 = super easy
2 = very easy
3 = easy
4 = slightly easy
5 = moderate
6 = slightly difficult
7 = difficult
8 = very difficult
9 = super difficult
10 - seems impossible

So, you start out warming up for say 15-20 minutes at something between 1-5. Then for 4 minutes, you increase the effort to a 7-10. Then rest for 4 minutes back down to a 3-5 perceived effort. Then go again for 4 minutes at a higher perceived effort.

The increased effort can be from resistance -- more resistance on a spinning bike or a harder gear on a road bike. Or the increase effort can be from cadence -- you can increase your rpm (rotations per minute) from say a normal cadence of 80-90 to a cadence of 100+. With increased cadence, you won't have the heavy resistance and you are working a different "system" in your body.

I also like to do Muscle Tension intervals, which last about 10 minutes each, where I put on as much resistance/gear as I can stand and try to pedal in circles at a cadence of 45-55 rpm. It's a slower cadence, but resistance is very heavy like you are climbing a mountain. Don't mash the pedals. This type of interval has helped me to build strength similar to doing squats, but I get to do it on the bike. You can do 2-3 of these intervals with 5-10 minute recovery between each one. Perceived effort is in the 6-8 range.

In almost all cases, don't start out doing intervals so hard that you go breathless. You want to sweat, work hard, really feel the difficulty without running your heart rate into a red zone.

If you really want to seriously train, I think you should get a heart rate monitor and maybe a personal trainer for at least a few sessions to help you to figure out what your heart rate zones are so that your workouts are meaningful to your body systems. We're all vastly different in what sort of effort we would need to extend in order to be doing a true "interval" training.

[Yelsel]

You can develop a good estimate of your maximum heart rate here:
http://www.howtobefit.com/determine-...heart-rate.htm. There are both submaximum and maximum tests.

The other important point is your lactate threshold (50%+ anaerobic [=no oxygen use in producing energy]). This is the point where your breathing changes, and you can no longer talk (except possibly in gasps while breathing out). This is about 8 on the perceived exertion scale. This can vary from about 75% MHR in inactive, untrained people to about 80% MHR for active people to about 85% after extensive training. This is something that training can greatly improve. I found this easiest to estimate when on a spinning bike / trainer. Joe Friel bases his zones around the lactate zone, and has tests for this in his training books.

Max heart rate is different for different activities: highest for running, intermediate for cycling, lowest for swimming. This has to do with number of muscles used, especially large ones; position of body relative to heart; and amount of cooling. Cycling is tricky because just going from the bars to the hoods will change your heart rate slightly, by about 2-3 beats, without any change in exertion - your heart will beat slightly faster to pump blood upwards. (Try this indoors on a trainer or spinning machine so that air resistance and cooling doesn't come into play).

Book resources:
* Joe Friel -- complicated to follow (includes level, time available for training, goals, weaknesses, peaking for the most important events) -- but you develop a training plan that is very individualized. The training plan essentially starts in the "off-season" in the fall, and has you peak during late spring / early summer. It is essentially a year-long plan.
* Base Building for Cyclists -- by a Joe Friel student, essentially expanding on what should be done in the off-season to build up your aerobic base.
* Sarah Bernhardt -- she just came out with a book that has training plans for people from novice to intermediate for centuries, multi-day tours, and mountain biking. These are a lot shorter, typically about 2 months. I am planning to use a modified century plan in Sept-Oct to fill in the rest of the biking season, then switch to Joe Friel to develop a year-long plan starting in the late fall.
* Sally Edwards has a lot of heart training manuals, but I have not used these so I can't comment.