Day 58\ Interval Training

Having for the past 6 weeks concentrated on getting into the habit of exercising again and, almost more importantly, making records of what i'm doing i'm now ready to kick on a bit with the introduction of some Interval Training. Very briefly Interval Training is comprised of short bouts of high intensity work interspersed with brief periods of recovery, the volume of work done and ratio of work to rest will determine what adaptations to training are obtained and when they are completed in the training calender.


When performing intervals cyclists have traditionally used Heart Rate information to determine training intensity. This has shifted in recent years to Power Output. As i have not had any testing done as yet and am reliant on a Heart Rate Monitor and will be using an old spinning bike for my Intervals i will be using the age old method of 'can i feel captain lactic?' and 'am i breathing out my arse yet?' to determine my work intensities. 


So tuesday sessions will comprise of the following for the next few weeks


17mins (6km) warmup
5x(4mins high intensity + 2min low intensity)
5 min cool down

'This program is supposed to increase your maximum oxygen consumption. It gives you 20 minutes at very high oxygen consumption, but it is not designed to be ridden to complete exhaustion. Your VO2 max may gain improvements even at a more comfortable pace. It is, however, still important to push yourself very hard during the intervals. In the resting periods you should maintain intensity at about 60% of VO2 max.' Says the man in the white jacked....