Originally Posted by
TheKillerPenguin
are those like 30sec on 30sec off?
There are a few varieties i do of these sorts of things and they all hurt in their own ways. The ones that feel the worst are 15/15's. Break em into sets of like 5-8min depending on your fitness and try not to die. The first set feels bad, the second set feels awful, the third set you get through because you're stubborn. If you can do more than that you are cut from a more stoic cloth than I am and I applaud the amount of self hatred you carry within.
I also do 3x12 40/20 which feel bad in their own way but it's slightly less bad because you can't manage the same type of power for the on part as the 15/15.
There's another protocol for 30/30 that sandwiches tempo between some efforts and has standalone 30sec AWC stuff for others, and has it all sandwiched between vo2 work, and that probably hurts the least of these types of things even though it puts out the highest normalized power.
Yes, 30s on 30s off, for 10 reps. I'll give the 15/15 a try. I like your idea of breaking it into more manageable chunks (5-8 minutes.) The 10 minutes was definitely puke-generating, but doing it twice or three times with less per set might be more stomach-able. I'll have to look for that other 30/30 AWC protocol.
I've actually enjoyed incorporating intervals more frequently (Fat Boys, ZeCanons, and WRIs) for the last month and a half. Structure motivates me to ride more than just heading out to hammer for whatever I feel like. Definitely seeing improvement across my range of fitness, rather than just slaving to raise my FTP.