Training & Nutrition - For all you interval freaks...

Just sorta came up with a new tempo workout that I found to be interesting....kinda happened on the fly while I was on the trainer this afternoon. I probably wouldn't recommend it for those who are new to intervals and/or who don't have the base in to do it, but I'm also sure that for many, it shouldn't be too difficult. Considering I did an hour of somewhat intense (but short) anaerobic intervals yesterday, I found this to be a bit of a workout (and I love intervals).....it's hard, but not so hard that you can't maintain it. I would recommend this be done on the trainer.

The key is to maintain between 5-7% below your lactate threshold during the interval. The recover periods should be an easy spin with little resistance.

5 min warmup
25 min tempo
5 min recovery
20 min tempo
5 min recovery
15 min tempo
5 min recovery
10 min tempo
5 min recovery
5 min tempo (go slightly harder in this one, due to the "short" duration - I did around 1.5 mph faster)
5 min cooldown

Total ride time is 1 hour 45 min.

Let me know what you think. I think tomorrow is recovery ride day for me.....

Just remember that interval training will boost your lactose tolerance by increasing blood flow to the muscles, but it primarily focuses on fast-twitch muscle fibers.

The best plan would be to alternate interval training with endurance training on different days separated by a day of rest.

Sounds like fun.

Crashvector you mean lactate not lactose (a milk sugar)

Just remember that interval training will boost your *lactate threshold* by increasing blood flow to the muscles, but it primarily focuses on fast-twitch muscle fibers.

Depends on the type of intervals you do in regards to what types of muscles you recruit.....I wasn't doing any hard, sprint type efforts.


The best plan would be to alternate interval training with endurance training on different days separated by a day of rest.

Or if you're trying to "shock" your body, mixing things up (provided you recover properly) from time to time doesn't hurt.

I did an active recovery today consisting of walking and shooting a basksetball around with my gf's son.....my arms got more of a workout than my legs. My legs feel good today, actually.....really good. Tomorrow will be a rest day, and I'm thinking long ride on Tuesday if the weather cooperates.

Just remember that interval training will boost your lactose tolerance by increasing blood flow to the muscles, but it primarily focuses on fast-twitch muscle fibers.

The best plan would be to alternate interval training with endurance training on different days separated by a day of rest.He's really doing tempo workouts below LT, so it's not using many of the fast-twitch muscles. That workout looks pretty good. If he really was doing anaerobic intervals, they'd be above LT and he wouldn't be able to hold them for much more than 5 minutes as HR steadily climbs will eventually hit max-HR. Those actually build muscle-strength and power as opposed to increasing aerobic capacity.

He's really doing tempo workouts below LT, so it's not using many of the fast-twitch muscles. That workout looks pretty good. If he really was doing anaerobic intervals, they'd be above LT and he wouldn't be able to hold them for much more than 5 minutes as HR steadily climbs will eventually hit max-HR. Those actually build muscle-strength and power as opposed to increasing aerobic capacity.

Yep, that's exactly what I was doing. While I had originally not planned on doing anything resembling an interval on that particular day, it just sorta "happened", and about a half hour into it is when I thought of the format and figured it would be a really good aerobic workout.

My heartrate did not climb above 88% of my MHR.....during the intervals, I stayed mostly between 84-87% of MHR. Once I start hitting 93-94% MHR, life starts to suck a lot.

So much for today being a day off - did my first outside ride of the year today since it was really nice out, and wrote about it in another thread in the T&N Forum.

Why not skip the recovery intervals and go for 75-90 min straight? At tempo, the recovery periods are not necessary. You could get 15 min more training time at tempo pace and still finish your workout in less time. One of my favourite workouts is 90-100 min at ~92% 1 hr power (roughly 85% max heart rate, in my case). Just make sure you have 2 water bottles if you try it. I would do the longer intervals, (i.e. 20 min) at 100-105% of 1 hr power (roughly 90% max heart rate, for me), and limit it to 40-60 min total work time.

sounds like a fun stab at a fat burning workout,
but your recovery periods are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long.

if you suggest the tempo being 5% BLT, then the droppage of the HR
is gonna screw with the overall program. all rest periods should be
1 minute MAX. otherwise, there is some junk miles in your program.

rest for 5 minutes would be good for 100% all-out brain-cooking
efforts at maximum load for 2 minutes, or 5 minutes. not for BLT training....


yes I am not BS'ing...too much recovery time.

good, but not great.

Looks like fun, as fun as intervals can be anyway. The only thing that I question is your warm up. It looks pretty short. If I were you I would lengthen that at least ten to fifteen minutes. That's just me though.