sstang13

I was reading The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton, and he talked about how he trained using intervals that consisted of '40-20s'. 40 seconds going as hard as you can, 20 second rest. Now, I know those things are great for those short climbs, and power to get through them. But I want to train for my overall power (how I like to put it, "going harder for longer"). So I was wondering, what can I do that would be like intervals, but instead of just those short burts of power, I would like to get stronger to be able to get faster, for long rides, not short climbs. Right now, I can hang on to some decently fast groups, but I can pull for only about 1 min and then my legs would be destroyed for the rest of the ride, I'd even struggle to hang on the back sometimes.

I'm 16 years old, and I'll probably be getting an indoor trainer on Saturday as I have no time to ride with the darkness coming so soon and I'm just usually busy during the day, it would be much easier to get on my bike at night. I know this is long and very run-on, sorry about that, I'm a bad writer, but what do you recommened for me to be able to ride faster for longer? And please don't say "just ride", I know that, but are there anything like intervals or certain workouts on the trainer I can do to see gains faster than just riding? Thanks in advance.

Carbonfiberboy 

Have a look here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ut-recipe-book

As you could see by Hamilton's accomplishments, 40-20 workouts didn't only make him stronger for short periods. Intervals from 40 seconds to 1.5 minutes are very good for developing power. Getting stronger will enable you to pull at some large fraction of your current effort, thus sparing you.

When you take the front, the most important thing is to keep the pace steady, just as it was. Only pull for as long as is reasonable for you, then come off. Don't pull as long as the last guy. Ride your ride. If the other riders are experienced, they'll understand and honor you for it. OTOH, don't take short pulls, rest up, and then attack the group. They'll slaughter you.

If a paceline is going any distance, more riders are better. A dropped rider is lost to the group. So the group is better off not dropping you. OTOH, they're not going to slow the line for you. If you are really getting whipped, when a rider comes back, drop a bike length off and let them come in front of you. When you feel able, stop doing that, work up through the line, and take your pull. That last rider can act as a guard, too, and prevent riders from outside the group from joining it. Some groups on charity rides set up like that on purpose.

sstang13

That's a great thread, but I don't have a cadence or HR monitor so a lot of those workouts are hard to do, plus I have no clue how to do some of them (confusing). But no doubt I'll be trying those 40-20s and for sure some longer 1-5 minute intervals so that I can be able to get stronger for things like harder/longer pulls and surges.

That's true, a lot of times I like to tell myself they were born like that and I'll never get anywhere close to where they are now/were D:

Thanks for the advice, and helping me to avoid getting slaughtered, I probably would've made that mistake one day of not pulling then attacking...

Carbonfiberboy 

20 minute lactate threshold (LT) intervals are the base of interval training. LT is where you are almost, but not quite panting. Harder efforts will have you panting by the end of the interval, but not at the start. It's important to hold the same effort for the whole duration of the interval, and to stop doing them when you can't hold the same effort you were making on the 1st and 2nd interval. So it takes a bit of practice to figure out what those efforts feel like, with or without a heart rate monitor.

sstang13

So basically ride at my FTP for 20 mins, or like a 20 min TT? And I'd have to ride a couple times to find out what my FTP is or how hard I can ride for 20 mins so that at the end I would basically be as tired as I would be during a normal workout (ie. out of breath, heart beating out of my chest, legs screming...all that great stuff )

Carbonfiberboy 

The usual thing is to do two 20' LT intervals with 5 minutes cool-down between. See the sticky at the top of this forum. Yes, it takes practice to figure out what that should feel like. Don't forget recovery - actually the most important part. It is said that one should ride either much harder than seems reasonable or much easier than seems reasonable.

ericm979

The 20 min interval should feel too easy at the beginning and rather difficult for the last few minutes.

sstang13

Ahh, that makes a lot of sense. I'll definitely be doing that over the winter. Thanks a lot for clearing that up guys!