waterrockets 

As I sit here at my desk, in my kit, I am shaking and nauseous from my refined 1-minute interval workout.

I had always done 1-minute intervals to cover as much real-estate as possible, going out at less than full-power, and managing to be completely dead after 60 seconds. This amounted to a lot of good, high-quality suffering, and has been the core of my fitness.

Well, looking to improve the workout (seemed to be getting too routine), my primary training partner and I experimented with various modifications, trying to get to the highest HR possible during the 1-minute interval. We tried riding up to LT, then doing an interval. Seemed harder, but pretty impure, as you couldn't really give it everything for the last 60 seconds. We tried a couple variations on this, and never settled on what we would consider a "higher quality" interval.

Today, we figured it out: 100% sprint for 60 seconds. Seriously. You have to let go of the "real estate" metric, because you're going to be crawling at the end -- this is not how to go fast -- this is how to go HARD. While it's impossible to maintain sprint power that long, you can certainly maintain sprint effort -- if you're just a little twisted.

When I could previously only get 1 or 2 beats over LTHR in one minute, today I got 10 beats over it. In 60 seconds. Five times! And this is starting from a full recovery (110-120bpm for me).

So, go out explosive at the beginning, like a normal 200m sprint. Then just don't let up. Your power and speed will drop, but your HR will continue to climb. Keep the effort to 100%. Do not pace yourself even a little bit. Every single pedal stroke is taken as a single explosive unit. Make sure to fully recover between these intervals, or you'll lose any hope of quality. I haven't suffered in an interval workout like this in 15 years.

While I can usually eek out 7 or 8 intervals, I had to stop at 5. I had reached the point where my HR declined at the end. Teardown complete.

Another interesting outcome is that this workout completely exaggerates your weaknesses if you do them with your usual training partner. I usually fade a bit in an interval, and he starts to close on me. Today, he caught me and stormed by me at 45 seconds. I had no response other than to try to complete my last 20 pedal strokes without crying.

Man, I earned my Oreos today.

Phantoj

Thanks for this... due to your postings, I have been trying to do some 1-min intervals, but afterwards it always feels like I really didn't suffer enough. I will increase the intensity!

hiromian

Sprint intervals have made a huge dent in my finishing capability at the local industrial Crit. Not just using your strength to sprint, but using your gears, body position, cadence,everything. Even toss in the bike throw at the end. This has taught me how to handle the bike in a sprint and improve my out of saddle cadance. I started at 15 second sprints a couple of weeks ago and inceased to 45 s. this week I want to get up to a minuet. I use markers on the road to shoot for, like telephone poles. The work out is great but the capability learned to apply to a real race sprint is the real benifit.

dmac

google search "tabata protocol".
plenty of suffering.
link to example interval workout:
https://spokepost.com/news/?articleID=1746&catViewAll=4

Ghostman

Seems like a pretty time efficient workout also.

How much recovery do you take between the 1 minute efforts?

Also, do you think that this improves your, say, 20 minute power?

ericcox

My legs hurt just reading this.

Serious question -- I think I learned intervals differently than some others here. My collegiate coach had us do many different types of intervals based on HR zones. What you just described, she called LT (Lactic Threshhold intervals). My rule of thumb when doing these was if you could walk when you finished the set, you didn't do it right. I usually did them on my trainer.

My favorite intervals were hill intervals that took you right up to, but not over LT.

All of this was about 7-8 years ago, before power training became so accessible. I am not actively training now, but may actually try a race or two next year. Which intervals work best for others?

edited for clarification

smoke

you're trying to kill me, aren't you?

if i die doing one of your interval workouts, Will G gets my stereo

waterrockets 

Yeah, sprint workouts are great, but they are a separate workout from these 1-minute intervals. The key to what I'm doing different is to ignore the landmarks and serve only your suffering. Don't concern yourself with speed or distance at all.

For sprints, yeah, pick a finish line and drive all the way to it - then throw the bike. Get a training partner who can keep up or beat you, and sprint against him or her when possible. Do some drag races and some leadouts. It's great tactical practice on top of the training.

dmotoguy

these sound like exactly what I need right now..

You have inspired me.. I'll do these after work, I need to raise my 1-min power and train myself to suffer harder at the end of a race..

Fig335

I've read about that. Someone posted this a while ago. It says 20 seconds at 170% of your VO2max and 10 second recovery for aslong as you can stay above 85rpm. How do you figure out what intensity is 170% of your VO2max?

Doggus

What exactly is full recovery? A percentage of MHR?

waterrockets 

with this really high intensity stuff, it's a bit of a misnomer to say "full recovery." I'm not sure I'll be ready for another one next week

Essentially, ride like you're next to a 3-year-old who just got off her training wheels. Do that until your HR doesn't go down any more. Your legs may still feel like poo. You can take as much time as you need, but keep your legs moving, and once your HR stops dropping, you can probably pick it up slightly just to work the acid out a little faster. Maybe crank it up to 8-year-old kid on a banana-seat bike pace.

This is a progressive teardown, so the idea is really to debilitate yourself a little more with each interval. Certainly you're not going to recover from that. But, when you get to the point that another minute of rest isn't going to help, it's time to get going again. Your recovery HR may go up with each successive interval based on how much you've terrorized your legs.

I rarely take longer than 4 minutes for any kind of interval.

ratebeer

Without VO2max results and an ergometer, and possibly even with, you can still derive great benefits from the workout by simply picking the right gear and spinning it as hard as you can while still being able to complete the workout. It will probably take some learning in either case.

I'm a big fan of the 20 second interval and research comparing durations versus benefits suggests it's a winner. There is fine print however, and individual variation and training goals should factor heavily into your interval training program regardless of what was found in the lab.

sogood

L7 neuromuscular power for 20s all out. But with your extension to 1min all out, that by default lowers it into L6 anaerobic interval. They are training different performance parameters.

JPradun

Just an FYI, there is a problem with the way you are doing the interval because it isn't working what you think it is working. You can still get a lot more out of it.

I'll reply tomorrow when I have a lot more time.

James

mollusk

I am trying to do some different types of sprints/intervals lately and I am open to suggestions. I don't have a power meter so I base intensities on speed. It is pretty flat around here and I try to do these when the wind isn't blowing very much so speed does give an indication of intensity. Also, I am no racer so what I do will probably sounds a bit lame.

The sprint type intervals I do I start really slow, typically 12 mph, and sprint for 10 seconds. Then I ride at 18 to 20 mph to recover for a minute, drop back down to 12 mph and repeat. The first couple I can get up to 31 mph, but on the fifth one I am lucky to reach 29 mph. I find that I recover quite easily from these and can ride home at a reasonable clip after I am done. I'll do two sets of these. The next day my legs might be a little sore but other than that I don't feel any after effects. It seems like I am stressing out the force that my legs can generate more than any heart/lung capacity. I also have come to realize that my bike isn't nearly as stiff as I thought it was. Perhaps some weight work would be a better method.

With "conventional" 1-minute intervals I accelerate pretty quickly to 30/31 mph and hold that for a minute. Then I slow down to 18 mph for a minute and repeat. I do 5 of these per set and ride easy for about fifteen minutes between sets. After two sets of these I crawl home. Everything hurts after doing these. I think taht I get more out of these than any other type of interval session.

I also do 2x20 intervals. I have no problem maintaining 24+ mph for the first 20 minute interval although I am just starting to feel those little pre-cramp muscle twinges, but after "noodling" around at 18 mph for 20 minutes before the second set it is really hard to get the effort level (speed) back up. The first couple of minutes hurt pretty bad, but then it seems to get easier. Is this common?

sogood

My understanding is, with those high level intervals L5-L7, you just have to put out a level of exertion and sustain for a fixed time duration and be dead at the end of each. So no absolutely need for a PM, although would make life easier as you don't have to trial and error the level of exertion. And the time periods correlate with particular power levels eg. 20-30s = L7, 1-3mins = L6, 5-8mins =L5.

2x20 SST is harder to judge without a PM. But can be done with benefits if one is not that critical.

waterrockets 

Yeah, I'm not trying to combine the two workouts. I will always do my 20s sprints, and I will always do my 1 minute intervals (on different days). The 20 second sprints are valuable for building the explosiveness and pure leg strength. The 1-minute intervals are a CYA for a plethora race situations, and generally build great cycling intensity.

I'm interested to see what you're thinking. There's no way I'm going to get a higher HR in just 60 seconds. For anything longer than 60 seconds ending with a higher HR, my weekly training races cover it (manage to get to MHR a couple times/race). I'll still be doing longer intervals in other workouts. As far as the systems developed with this 1-minute interval, I'm going to be increasing time to fatigue for my legs for a given power level, increasing power at LT, and teaching myself how to deal with this new level of suffering.

The difference for me amounts to doing a 1-minute time-trial vs. maximum power output for every pedal stroke. The latter results in a steady decrease in speed (thus power) after 15s, but the HR continues to climb for the whole 60 seconds. The former is a steady increase in HR and a flat speed after 15s -- but with a 7-10% lower HR peak.

Doggus

Is it tomorrow yet? Some of us live on this stuff you know.

labrat_62

wow, now this i have to try, and hope i can do 3 without dieing

dutret

I am far from an expert on such things but why full recovery and a full minute?

Your 20sec interval will be better for strength. If you are not trying to do strength intervals why worry about full recovery. It seems like less recovery will allow you to stress anaerobic systems more which would seem to be the point of this workout.

VegaVixen

I'm assuming that you're high-intensity all the way in the same gear since you aren't worried about speed but effort, and that you don't gear down with each interval. What gear are you pushing during these high-intensity intervals?

waterrockets 

If you don't recover, your legs won't be strong enough to get your HR up for the next interval.

A lot of my intervals start at the bottoms of hills, but some don't, so the gear varies. On flat ground, I'm going to be doing 35-38mph before I start to fade, so I'm accelerating in a 53-16 or 53-15, then upshifting to maybe a 53-13 to get in a groove. As I faded, I was downshifting whenever I felt bogged down. The speed drops pretty considerably, so my 38mph gear feels pretty silly at 22

It's amazing how tough it is to think about shifting 45s into the interval.

VegaVixen

Thanks for the response. And it's amazing one can think at all when with an oxygen deficit at that point!

ImprezaDrvr

The Tabata stuff has gotten my speed up this season. I still need to bring in some sprint work to be able to close a race out, but the Tabata model has worked for me. I'm riding with the A+ guys in the Tuesday night rides on the flats, which I've never done. I also lost a lot of my base with the icy weather we had here through February and March and the Tabata protocol has helped to bring power on quickly.

YMMV, of course.