9:00AM in the spin room for around 2 hours. For the next month I’m going to be moving slowly towards shorter and more intense interval sets. The program for this week is:
[list]
[]30 min warm-up with foot speed drills and some one legged pedalling
[] 20 minutes as hard as possible
[] 5 minutes rest
[] 5 minutes as hard as possible
[] 3 minutes rest
[] 4 minutes as hard as possible
[] 3 minutes rest
[] 3 minutes as hard as possible
[] 3 minutes rest
[] 2 minutes as hard as possible
[] 3 minutes rest
[] 1 minute as hard as possible
[] 3 minutes rest
[] 15 minutes cool down with some fast pedalling
Thanks for the input guys!
@Dennis: on = hard as possible given the time of interval
off = spinning, stand up a little bit, take a drink etc
@Eric: My goal is to get better at holding a high pace for longer periods of time (which is my weakness as most of you have seen), that’s why I was only giving myself 1 minute’s worth of rest (the logic- or illogic - being that should I train through fatigue, I’d be able to overcome it when the need arose).
@Justin- I ride base occasionally (ride time is limited by other obligations though). I’m guessing there is no substitute for base miles? According to some websites out there, harder rides can do more for you in less time than riding at a base pace. But hey, what do they know right?
Thanks for posting workout
I’ll be doing this at home if no one signs up…
Could I get someone’s opinion on this workout?
Warm-up
19 on
1 off
19 on
1 off
10 on
1 off
3 on
1 off
2 on
1 off
1 on
1 off
Cool-down
all depends what “on” and “off” entail
off the bike eating doritos
and on the couch eating doritos?
Wow. Planning workouts 11 months in advance. That’s obsessive.
Haha yeah I’m just that keen.
So I’ll check in the morning but no signups = no me.
@ Dhruv: I think you need to ask yourself what the goal of that workout is - what are you trying to work on? You should always have a clear objective in mind when you start a workout, and understand how it fits into the bigger picture of your season goals etc. My first impression is that there is not nearly enough rest for the later intervals to be of any real usefulness. Also what dennis said. Unless you are a computer, there is more to life than 0 and 1.
More importantly Dhruv, do whatever you want. It’s also good to throw away the interval mentality once and a while and just put some time on the bike
I would dump the 19 on, 1 off (minutes, I assume), especially if it’s 19 minutes “as hard as possible”. It’s just undoable, and then you’ve got shorter intervals after that! The powerwatts way was OK, with a gradually harder 20 minutes as a warm-up, and then shorter intervals (or 1 big 20 min all out interval).
For me, you’re either doing intervals (intensity or technique (one-leg, high rpm, low smooth rpm))/hard riding or recovery riding. Riding “in between”, especially on the trainer, is a waste of time. And some people don’t have time to do recovery rides on the bike (I include myself).
It’s been shown countless times that be shortening your intervals, you can do a much higher volume at peak intensity. On a spin bike, I do 10sec on-10sec off, 2-3 sets of 25 reps depending on how I feel and you get to keep pretty good fitness over the winter.
Sprint workouts are also a great bang for your buck.
I have a nice article with Lemond about this published in 2008 in Procycling. Email me if you’re interested
Dhruv, sign up for Toguri and you’ll learn how to make realistic intervals
i’m with mat. I think you’ll get dunked on half way through the second “on” and not be training effectively (granted you’re doing all out TT style). The workout today was already quite a stretch, but doable, as the rest becomes sufficient during the shorter intervals. 1’ is just not enough for that sort of intensity.
@Mat- When I say “as hard as possible”, I account for the length of the interval (i.e. “AHAP for 2 mins > AHAP for 19”), but I will take your suggestion to incorporate sprint workouts (looking forward to doing them on rollers lol) Just link me to that article over FB or something if possible 
@Keith- I hope I resolved one of the issues, that the intensity in the 20 minute interval is more of a really high tempo, not burning myself out. After the second 19’ interval, that’s when I need shorter, more intense intervals because I just don’t have it to go for that long anymore- so you’re correct (Y)
@Dennis- I don’t even have the right pedals brah 
please correct me if i’m wrong, but in order for interval training to be fully effective, all “on” pieces should be max effort, then all off are complete rest (very gentle spinning).
Naturally on a 1’ max you can sustain higher watts than the 20’ max , but the effort should still be full gas leaving you roasted at the end of the piece. Then you need to add rest so you can do the remainder of the intervals, but not so much that your HR drops way below z2. I’ve always trained this way (rowing background) and like it. Please add your thoughts if it’s different as I’d like to hear it.
10s on
604 790s off
i expect to place top 15 in giro
If you can bike for that long in one session David I would suggest RAAM instead of the Giro.
168hr workout. Not bad.
more importantly, if you can’t recover to zone2 after that long you should see a cardiologist