^^HR is a by-product of the leg's capabilities on the day.


As far as the whole interval thing goes, and the exacting specificity of it all, I'm not totally sold on it (besides, I can't do power/maximum intervals on my own -- too much motivation required. I need to be chasing someone, or preferably several people), in that racing or simulated racing is still way better than doing intevals on your own.. There are many instances of pros who do no specific work; they just race their arse off for a few months, then go to a track meet and win some pursuit medal. LeMond did something like that when he was young (I'll track down what it was), and how about McGee going to Atlanta a few days after the Tour and winning a sliver in the pursuit?!!!

I not gunna poo-poo the importance of precise intervals, but to keep it simple, I reckon the hard days should be really hard (and kinda long), and the easy days really easy. I can do no more than 3 hard days a week, and often, it's more like 5 a fortnight.

As far as your interval HR goes, do you know your max? In one of Carmichael's books he describes the power intervals as three minutes in zone 5 (86+% of max). So, depending on your max, 170 might be a bit low for an interval.