Training & Nutrition - Intervals Question

Ok, so I'm doing my commute home yesterday and I got to thinking about intervals. I'm planning to incorporate some of them into my rides in hopes of improving my overall average speed.

A question I came up with that I didn't know the answer to is what are the real differences between these two sets of intervals.

Set 1 - start at 150 bpm, increase to 170 and hold for 30 seconds, recover to 150 and repeat.

Set 2 - start at 140 bpm, increase to 170 and hold for 30 seconds, recover to 140 and repeat.

Now the obvious difference is in the recovery. Allowing your HR to drop to 140 will take longer than dropping to 150. Are there other differences I'm overlooking? Does anyone have any 'beginner' interval workouts you'd like to share?

Zack
maybe I should just enjoy the scenery on the ride home instead of thinking about training questions :)

If you're looking for variety, why not just get a book on interval training exercises and use them instead? You'll get variety, and you'll also get some training sessions created by professionals who know what they're doing.

As I don't know what your heart rate percentages mean, it would be difficult for me to comment on what's hard or what's easy for you to drop.

In my case, when I do intervals, for the recovery, my heart rate drops like a stone- the 10 beat difference wouldn't take any extra time. My challenge usually is not letting it drop below the heart rate I've chosen at my recovery, since I can drop like 40- 50 beats within the first minute. And my intervals would tend to be longer than 30 seconds too- they are usually several minutes long with a short recovery (depending on how high I took my heart rate and how long I held it at that higher heart rate). I would hazard a guess and say if you're doing 30 sec intensity efforts, the recovery shouldn't take you that long, and it shouldn't be that difficult to drop it to the 150 or the 140 recovery effort.

I always recommend the Sally Edwards/Sally Reed books for people who want structured, challenging intervals- "The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Outdoor and Indoor Cyclists". You can also get the Heart Rate Monitor Workbook for Indoor Cyclists" and modify it for outdoor use.

I know Chris Carmichael has a book on interval training he wrote a few years ago too. I really can't remember the name of the book, but if you jump on amazon.com, I'm sure you can find it. I want to say he teamed up with Ed Burke to write the book, but don't quote me on that. I haven't looked at that book for a couple of years now, but I did like how he structured the book into different training intensities.

I guess you could just enjoy the scenery.... but nah! Where's the fun in that? ;)

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
[B]If you're looking for variety, why not just get a book on interval training exercises and use them instead? You'll get variety, and you'll also get some training sessions created by professionals who know what they're doing.


I have a couple of books that have some interval workouts in them. I just don't recall anyone every discussing the type of question I originally posted. I'll go back and skim through the chapters to see if anything jumps out at me.



As I don't know what your heart rate percentages mean, it would be difficult for me to comment on what's hard or what's easy for you to drop.


Those were just numbers I picked out of the air. They could be any numbers where there's a 20 - 30 bpm (or greater) spread.



In my case, when I do intervals, for the recovery, my heart rate drops like a stone- the 10 beat difference wouldn't take any extra time.


Can I borrow your heart :) Since I haven't done any structured intervals I'll give it a try and see how fast or slowly my HR recovers.



And my intervals would tend to be longer than 30 seconds too- they are usually several minutes long with a short recovery (depending on how high I took my heart rate and how long I held it at that higher heart rate).
[/qoute]

I agree, most intervals would last longer than 30 seconds. Most of the ones I've seen start with 2 or 3 minute "on" sessions followed by a recovery period.

[quote]
"The Heart Rate Monitor Book for Outdoor and Indoor Cyclists".


I have it. Also "Smart Cycling" is another good book. I bought it at Fubar5's recommendation.



I guess you could just enjoy the scenery.... but nah! Where's the fun in that? ;)

Enjoying the scenery is for recovery days :)

Thanks for the input Koffee.

Zack

There's not much difference! But, IMO, neither is a very good interval... too high a recovery HR. Two main points to intervals... training your body for above average intensity (be that aerobic, anaerobic, etc.), and training your body to recover! It depends on your max HR, but I would expect you'd want to get your HR lower during the recovery phase. For example, my max HR is right around 180. Between intervals, I let it drop to ~120 (it won't go much lower unless I just stop pedaling).

Training response can be highly individual. That said, I've found the perfect intervals *for me*.

I've seen them termed "30/30 intervals" and a set is as follows:

30 seconds of near maximal, ~30mph for me on the road
30 seconds recovery, dropping to the small chainring and spinning
<repeat 3 or 4 times>

Rest 4 or 5 minutes between sets, and repeat them until you feel the work interval quality (i.e. speed) dropping off. If you're knackered, you've overdone it. Your legs and lungs will certainly feel the burn doing these, especially on the 4th (or more) rep. Heartrate isn't such a good indicator on short work intervals, although I do see my HR climb into the 170s and stay there for the majority of the rest intervals too.

I use this shorthand in my training diary, which tracks repetitions and sets: [(30/30) x 4 reps] x 5 sets

I think these intervals really work well since they target the lactic acid system (during both work and rest interval), without totally blasting you like the longer 3 or 4 minute high intensity intervals do. I find that if I add up all the work interval durations, I get in a lot of high quality riding doing the 30/30's. At a lower *perceived* effort, and I usually feel surprisingly fresh the next day.

Combining my Tuesday 30/30 workout with a tempo ride (usually a long climb at sub-threshold intensity) on Thursdays, and separated by recovery or endurance rides in between, keep me ready and primed for racing on the weekends.

Works well for me, but as always YMMV..

Ron in Boise:beer:

Arghh. Can't edit my previous message.

Ron made me realize I'd left out a significant detail... the HR drop I was describing was during a 4 or 5 minute recovery.

Now, if you can get it to drop that much in 30 seconds... :beer:!