First time doing intervals

[serpico7]

After warming up for a bit, I did 1:2:5:2:1 intervals. My recovery time between each was enormous - I waited until it got down to ~60-65% of max, but the darn HR just didn't want to go down quickly.

On the first interval, I hit a new HR high; not sure what it was - just had the screen showing %HR, and once I went over 100% (of manually entered max HR), it just showed "HI". Nice.

But on the subsequent intervals, I couldn't get over 98%, and on the last one, only got to 96%. Does that mean my muscular endurance and strength aren't high enough to really push my HR repeatedly? I guess it could be a mindset issue, but I really was trying to get to 100% of max HR, despite my legs' protest. How critical is it that HR reaches max HR by the end of the interval?

[DannoXYZ]

Don't worry about maxing out HR so much, short intervals are really about stressing the muscles. As your muscles get stronger over time, you'll be able to max out HR easily at will. Just be sure to ride the intervals hard enough that you're completely spent with nothing left at the end. Practice pacing yourself so that you can do the intervals at a steady pace the entire time and still blow up at the very end.

[RiPHRaPH]

just keep doing them. don't overanalyze, don't write about every interval. Just do them

[tlc]

All my riding is intervals - I ride as hard as I can until I can't, chug along at a snail's pace for a while, then repeat. Gradually the intervals between snail's-paces are getting longer... :D

[DannoXYZ]

All my riding is intervals - I ride as hard as I can until I can't, chug along at a snail's pace for a while, then repeat. Gradually the intervals between snail's-paces are getting longer... :DEXACTLY, pretty soon you'll be able to string those 25-28mph intervals together until it's continuous and that's your new average speed!!! :)