Originally Posted by merlinextraligh
that's it, and how long they are depends on what you're trying to accomplish, and what part of your fitness you're trying to train.
+1
Hills are great for training, but as Merlin pointed out, the type of repeat depends on what your goal is.
Here are a couple of things I typically do:
(1) Muscular strength drills.
Ride up a gentle grade (2-4%) in a big gear but at low rpm (50-55). Start with 4 reps of 1' each and recover for 2-3'. Each week increase the rep time by 30". Every two weeks inrease the number of reps by 1.
(2) Sustainable power:
typically intervals of 15-20 minutes that are ridden below lactate threshold. Mine is 171 bpm (max of 179) and I ride these between 152 and 160 or so. I try to stay at 70+ rpm. These days I'm training with a power meter, but I figure you've got an HRM so I'll talk just about HR here.
(3) Threshold power:
These are going to be done on a similar hill as (2), but you will want to go over your LT. The intervals will typically be shorter, say 4'-10' and you will do a couple of reps. The length of the interval and the number of reps will depend in part on your fitness level and where you are in the season.
Interval type #1 is fairly easy. #2 takes some concentration if you aren't used to doing them. #3 should feel really hard. These things especially the last two will help you out immensely in improving your power output. Just start off with shorter reps and fewer of them until you get more used to these workouts. When I first started doing them last fall I thought I was going to die. They are still hard now, but are doable. Like Lemond said, it doens't get any easier, you just go faster.