Ahhhh…Intervals!!!

I’ve always wondering how folks new to running or cycling feel about intervals. Having been doing them for 20 years, they’ve just become part of my life.  Not that I look foward to them, it just feels weird if I’m not doing them. 400s, 800s, 1000s, doesn’t matter to me. I just know it’s the only way to get faster.

The bread and butter intervals for me on the bike are threshold intervals.  These involve an effort at threshold power for time periods of appoximately 10-20 minutes with about half that for rest in between each one.  I compare these to doing mile repeats on the track.

Here’s an example of an interval sessions I did tonight on the Computrainer (it’s hard to several  uninterrupted miles in Chicago to ride nonstop). After a good warm-up, each interval is 9 minutes with about 3 minutes rest inbetween. Another common workout is 2×15 minute or 2×20 minute intervals.  I’ll also do VO2max or hill repeats, but not until I get near target races. They hurt like hell, but the effort pays off if you get faster!

intervals

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