Workout: Bike Intervals

Sunday 11/16 Intervals on the Trainer, 64 minutes

"Hard Eights," with a twist

Warmup Spin 8, High Cadence, Low Resistance (same for RI's, below)
(2 gear differential to start WI)

8 min WI, 8 min RI x 2
then
8 min WI, 4 min RI, 8 min WI

WI has some structure...like this:
4 min tempo w/crescendo, gradually increasing effort
shift up 4, 2 min climb
shift down 2, 2 min hard effort (gear +2)

This was my third workout day in a row...it's been a while since I've done that. I plan to do one more tomorrow, as I am trying to get back to a 5 day week. Tuesday will definitely be a rest day due to schedule alone. Thursday may be too since I have spin class so early on Friday and can count on that being a hard workout.

Training Log: 17.3

Thursday 2/14: Hard intervals on the trainer, 60 minutes;

Spin 10, 2 x (5 x 2 min max effort, 2 min RI w/ 5 min RI in between sets), Spin 10

I took two rest days in a row this week, and it really showed. I was able to make some serious wattage today. It probably helped that I had taped the Tour of California Stage Five Time Trial to watch during the workout. I avoided all the media coverage of it yesterday too so I wouldn't know who won. Levi came through.

Training Log: 16.3

Thursday 2/14: Hard intervals on the trainer, 68 minutes; Ladders

Spin 10 warmup

2x
3 min max effort WI, 3 min RI
2 min max effort WI, 2 min RI
1 min max effort WI, 1 min RI

5 min RI between sets and 5 min spin cooldown

A heart-thumping workout for Valentine's Day! We're counting this as speedwork for this week. FIRST calls for today's interval workout to be 12 x 400 meters @ 6:35/mi pace...just over 2 minutes per quarter.

By my calculation, then, I owed the training program just about 24 minutes of suffering. This ladder workout was a nice change up from my standard set of equal intervals because as you get fatigued, the RI gets shorter and you are just short of full recovery when the next WI starts.

Did I mention that of all workouts, I hated running quarter mile intervals the most? There's something flat-out wrong about a quarter mile. It hurts way worse than other distances for some reason. Back in the day, when you failed to run one at the required pace (usually 80% of race pace, calculated as your avg. best race time in a season) you had to do that one over. Someone always seemed to be barfing during those workouts.

Training Log: 15.4

Saturday 2/9: Hard intervals on the trainer, 60 minutes
Spin 10, 2x (5 x 2 min max effort WI, 2 min RI) w/ 5 min RI between sets, spin 5

As it continues to be impossible to run outside very effectively, here is another week where intervals on the bike stands in for FIRST speed work. I may be misguided, but I think there is absolutely more benefit to doing intervals on the bike than running anyway.

I wouldn't have thought this until I started training using the bike last year. I rode for almost three months during the winter last year before I ever got out and ran. When the first 40 degree day rolled around, I laced 'em up and went for a 5k spin around the neighborhood. I was more aerobically fit than I had been in years! And at that time I still weighed about 30 lbs more than I do now.

I immediately looked back with remorse at my high-school running days and wished that I had cross-trained on a bike. I think the difference is simple: you can do more max effort work (the kind you need to boost your aerobic threshold) on a bike than you can running simply because running is biomechanically harder to do. What that means, in practical terms, is that you can suffer yourself into a deeper hole on the bike. And sufferin' is what intervals are all about.

:)

And even if interval training on the bike is the same or slightly less effective than running, it is still valuable because it reduces the risk of injury and allows me to recover from the pounding of the other run workouts.