Interval Question?

Raymzor

If you do 3 twenty minute intervals in a session what time gap do you leave between them? Does the time gap between intervals impact the quality of the session? Any views or experiences appreciated. Thanks

Beasty

Depends what you're training for. I did 6 x 30s intervals with 15s between today and last week did 3 x 2 minute sessions with 20 minutes between. That's for track racing though where my main race, the 2km pursuit, takes not much more than 2m 40s. Hence the "full recovery" intervals of 2 minutes were replicating the effort of the race, whereas the "maximal effort/minimal recovery" efforts added up to not much more than race distance/time

Hence if you are looking to race over an hour, your rest periods should probably be short. If you are training for a 10km TT you should give yourself time to fully recover

crashoveroid

Raymzor wrote: »

If you do 3 twenty minute intervals in a session what time gap do you leave between them? Does the time gap between intervals impact the quality of the session? Any views or experiences appreciated. Thanks

There is no set rule here but if you want to get the best over a period of three weeks. I would shorten the recovery time each session.

Session 1
3x20 15 mins break
Session 2
3x20 10 Mins break
Session 3
3X20 5 Mins break

The main idea here is rather then just repeating the same session you change recovery time and stretching the body that little more every week.

That's my two cents i have found it works for me for tempo and threshold.

Raymzor

Thanks for your reply. I used to operate with a 10 min recovery between 20 minute intervals over a four month period, then I changed to 20 minutes recovery between intervals for the next few months with a higher effort during the interval. The rate of improvement of my FTP was much better with shorter recovery time!!
What intensity do you ride at between intervals?

crashoveroid wrote: »

There is no set rule here but if you want to get the best over a period of three weeks. I would shorten the recovery time each session.

Session 1
3x20 15 mins break
Session 2
3x20 10 Mins break
Session 3
3X20 5 Mins break

The main idea here is rather then just repeating the same session you change recovery time and stretching the body that little more every week.

That's my two cents i have found it works for me for tempo and threshold.

Raymzor

I race A4. I'm working to increase FTP.

Beasty wrote: »

Depends what you're training for. I did 6 x 30s intervals with 15s between today and last week did 3 x 2 minute sessions with 20 minutes between. That's for track racing though where my main race, the 2km pursuit, takes not much more than 2m 40s. Hence the "full recovery" intervals of 2 minutes were replicating the effort of the race, whereas the "maximal effort/minimal recovery" efforts added up to not much more than race distance/time

Hence if you are looking to race over an hour, your rest periods should probably be short. If you are training for a 10km TT you should give yourself time to fully recover

crashoveroid

Raymzor wrote: »

I race A4. I'm working to increase FTP.

If you looking to increase FTP there are three sessions i find effective.

Session 1
Is 1hr at Low to mid Tempo watts/HR with 60 to 70 RPM Z2 30 mins warm up and 30 mins low z2 on the way home.

Session 2
This would be 2x10 mins Z4 with 10/15 mins recovery. The next part is a weekly increase. You will ride these at Z5 with 10 mins recovery.

Week 1
2x5
Week 2
3x5
Week 3
4x5

Session 3
Sweetspot between Z3/Z4 good bang for your buck with these. Again i would be doing these progressively.

Week 1
2x20 15 Mins Recovery.

Week 2
2x20 10 Mins Recovery.

Week 3
3x20 10 Mins Recovery.


I hope this helps. The main thing here is increasing every week over three weeks with week 4 being an recovery week. By doing this you will get the best benefit from your training. I have been using this for the last few years and works a treat for me. Any questions let me know.