I don't race or anything, but I think I can ride pretty fast and am pretty competitive, so I thought I would give some interval work a try today, just to prove how tough I am.

I did 2" on as hard as I could maintain, 2" rest 6x with a 5" rest in the middle and I felt like falling over and puking at the end. The last one hurt a lot more than the first one, but I think my power was way less. I also timed it poorly, so I ended up 10 miles away from home when I finished. I don't see myself doing it again without some new found motivation. Racers must be crazy or really masochistic.

Oh, and just to give some purpose to this post. I am wondering if I might have exercise induced asthma. For about an hour afterwards, if I tried to take a deep breath, I would get this feeling deep in the back of my throat and cough for a bit. I didn't have any trouble breathing normally. Just deep breaths would make me cough. This only ever happens after hard exercise. Anybody know?

It doesn't get easier, but you DO get used to it.

I used to cough a lot when I started intervals too. Bear with it and try again. Seriously.

Chris Carmichael once told me that intervals, if done right, are NOT fun and simple hurt. However, you do get faster and stronger.

You WILL NOT enjoy the journey, but rather the end result.... kinda the opposite of a fairy tale, but it is what it is... torture.

I don't think there is anywhere in my city I can bike hard for 2 minutes without hitting a stop light

Short sprint intervals light to light.

I used to think the same thing myself!... Until I did my first group ride!!
and intervals are not supposed to be fun!

And that's what sucks. I drove 20 minutes out of town this morning to find flat, open roads with little traffic. It's my new intervals locale. Keep searching.

What is a pretty typical interval sequence? 2" felt a bit on the long side. I could feel myself sliding off at the end of each one.

There are all different sorts of intervals to target different goals.
Short intervals for sprinting. Longer intervals for more endurance.
My favorite is a pyramid interval.
1X1
2X2
3X3
4X4
5X5
4X4
3X3
2X2
1X1

Do you do a set each week, or what?

I'm not training at the moment due to a variety of reasons.
When I am interval training I will do this once a week and in a few more days a different type of intervals.
I do not race so I just wing it for fun.

if you want to ride fast, especially in a group, intervals are mandatory. if you aren't suffering, you're not doing them correctly.

it's your choice. be a cyclist, or be a bike rider.

Intervals are awesome. I have to admit that it's nearly impossible for me to do them regularly unless I have a target race of some sort to keep the motivation, but they give clear benefits in your high-end speed. (Not so much in your uber-long distance endurance.)

You should seriously consider doing intervals on your bike trainer. Yes, it sounds horrible, but you can hammer intervals until you're nearly blacking out because you don't have to worry about cars, or even staying upright. A lot of pro coaches recommend their cyclists to do their intervals on a trainer because of these reasons, even if the weather is perfect outdoors. I've found that regular indoor sessions are really useful, particularly if you have a bike computer and HRM, since you can also get controlled data on your conditioning, which is hard to do when you're on the street dealing with so many variables.

IMHO Doesn't sound like asthma. Asthma would feel more like you couldn't take in enough air and you would most likely wheeze as you air ways tightened up. It may have been exercise induced reflux. when you put more than normal physical exertion on your self like todays interval, you probably had acid reflux a bit even if you didn't sense or taste but aspirated some stomach acid into lunfs. that will make you cough with deep breath and feel irritation in throat. I know cause i suffer from it occasionally, asthma from exercise in cold as well. If you ate to close to a ride maybe too.

I do intervals on thursday mornings and tabata intervals tuesdays and thursdays after the gym on the stationary bike. I like the pain and sweat so I enjoy intervals (perhaps not while doing them).

Intervals increase your pain tolerance. As a result they tend to make reading BF tolerable.

They are supposed to hurt. The person a while back who asked if you "enjoy" training obviously doesn't do intervals.

I wouldn't go that far.

For being your first time, perhaps you bit off more than you can chew by starting with 2 minute intervals. Try starting with 30 second intervals, then work your way up to longer durations.

One can enjoy inflicting pain on themselves...after it is over.

Actually I would go the other way. The shorter they are, they more painful they are, if you do them right. Long intervals are more about pacing and pental toughness. Short intervals are like poking your eye out with a stick...

Also, OP, I just noticed a notational issue. The " means seconds and ' means minutes. So 2" intervals means 2 seconds, which I don't think is what you meant...

I have a giant callus on my pental after too many intervals.

Interval training doesn't just mean maximal all-out, puking efforts. It really means training your body to work at different power and heart-rate zones to develop your overall fitness.

For example, the most effective intervals are probably "sweet spot" zone training intervals which are somewhat below lactate threshold (and won't cause you to puke or to suffer to an extreme degree).

If someone is really interested in developing a complete training program, you really need to first learn how to establish your training zones and then how to set up an interval program based on these zones. If you just go out and do a few all-out efforts on occassion, you won't receive the maximal benefit (and you probably won't enjoy it very much).

A good place to start to learn some of this would be to spend $17 and study this book. https://www.amazon.com/Training-Racin...8295531&sr=8-1 Even if you never buy a powermeter and only use a cheap heartrate monitor, this book will teach you how to set up a very effective (and enjoyable) training regimen.

Oh man. There it is. Ding ding.

I've been trying harder to get outta the saddle and heave a bit and break 50kph on flat then sustain the high 40s. Man, suffering is the word. Kill my liver, kill my calves. Kill it all to gain. I'm entering that phase where I become a cyclist I guess and I see/feel the suffering that you mention of. OOF.