I know there's the Training Routines thread, but I wanted to create a separate thread to discuss various intervals, their intended purpose and provide a more detailed discussion of the intensity of the efforts. As part of this thread, I think it may be useful to discuss what to do if the prescribed efforts are too easy or too hard.

Microburts
Purpose: Train the body for sporadic hard efforts, e.g. cyclocross or crits
Typical Session: 4 sets of [ 10x (15s@>60% above LT\15s@Z1)] with 5 min rest interval between sets
Description of effort: "On" efforts should be a burst but kept at an intensity that can be performed for all four sets. I believe average power for each set should be around 100% of LT.
Target RPE: ??

Sample efforts:
Set #1


Set #2


Set #3


Set #4



Based on my old training plan, I originally had these down as Z6 for the work interval, but that'd be 360w to 450w. While performing the above, with a target of 400w, RPE was around 6/7. It wasn't until the end of the 3rd set that I began bumping it up to 450w and then the last set I targeted 500w. 500w would be >60% of FTP and that felt like a more appropriate RPE of 8/9.

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Current Stable. The Snob Machine | The Classic

The Ex's. Litespeed Siena: 6.21kg | Parlee Z5 SLi: 5.9kg | Litespeed Xicon: 5.76kg | Colnago C59: 5.7kg | Cervelo R5ca: 5.09kg | Fuji Altamira SE - 6.2kg | Scott Foil - 6.2kg | Evo - 5.18kg

Strava

I'm a sucker for boring old 2x20s and 6x3s. I used to do something very similar to this: 30/30/30: 30 reps of 30s on, 30s off. "on" would be at 500W which is low Z6 for me.

Out of interest, is anyone using XERT (https://www.xertonline.com) either for prescription of or analysis of their intervals? I've been using it since it was in early beta and I've just paid up for premium but I'm still not totally sure how to get the most out of it. Seems like an interesting concept but something that might take a bit more time to understand and benefit from.

I was early to the Xert program, but to be honest I've never devoted a ton of time to it. I'm back and forth right now about whether I want to pay for it or not. I do think they have some interesting ideas, especially regarding planning workouts, but anything with a fee makes me hesitant.

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"Deserve's got nothing to do with it." William Munny

@boysa, I'm pretty much the same. Decided to give it 1 year and see what happens so I paid up a few days ago and I guess it's on me now to make sure i get some value from it.

There are really interesting ideas there, like this "2x20" sweetspot workout in 30minutes, i just haven't really taken the time to break away from my boring standard diet of 2x20s to see what they can do for me.

Bill Black's Hour of Power

1x60 at 85-90% of FTP with 30 sec surges (115-120% FTP) every 2 or 3 minutes.

Something different to try from 2x20s. Alex Simmons also describes it here: http://alex-cycle.blogspot.ca/2009/02/hop-to-it.html.

Another one I like is 40/20s.

3x 10' (40" ON @ 125-135% FTP/20" OFF @ 55-75%) 4' RBI

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"Deserve's got nothing to do with it." William Munny

I've done 30s/30s [on/off]x7...10, 2 to 3 sets, the "on" portion @ 150% FTP.
[40s/20s]x10 @ 130% FTP is another of my favourites, but this year, even though my FTP has largely remained unchanged, I struggled to push more than 5 per set.

Ever since I started these 2 seasons ago, I managed to push my FTP up to 3...4% higher compared to time when I didn't do them, but no other major gains observed. OTOH, this year, with another newcomer in my family, sleep quality has certainly come down for me (for obvious reasons), so this might at least partially explain the lack of fitness at the very upper zones compared to previous year.

Thanks everyone, can you add what the perceived effort should be as well as what the interval targets? That'll help people decide what intervals they want to do.

For perceived effort as an example on 4x10', usually rpe starts at 5/6 and ends up at 8/9 for the last one.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

_________________
Current Stable. The Snob Machine | The Classic

The Ex's. Litespeed Siena: 6.21kg | Parlee Z5 SLi: 5.9kg | Litespeed Xicon: 5.76kg | Colnago C59: 5.7kg | Cervelo R5ca: 5.09kg | Fuji Altamira SE - 6.2kg | Scott Foil - 6.2kg | Evo - 5.18kg

Strava

Perceived effort? Ha, I try not to think about it. They're intervals, they're hard, they're going to hurt. If they don't, you're doing something wrong.

But in truth, I think PE is good for assessing your form. If you are targeting the wattage, and hit the numbers, you can judge how you are doing by how bad they hurt compared to previous efforts. If you can't hit the targets, or finish the workout, then you know something is off.

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"Deserve's got nothing to do with it." William Munny

Are there any studies about interval training specificity?

I'm under the impression that even very short intervals (measured in seconds) will improve your power over 1h.

Yes, including/explaining the purpose of the described intervals would be really nice...

Yeah, plus not all intervals have to be full gas. I was doing 4x10 minute intervals at I think Z4 during the build period. I think the goal is to workout that power zone without as much stress on the body.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

_________________
Current Stable. The Snob Machine | The Classic

The Ex's. Litespeed Siena: 6.21kg | Parlee Z5 SLi: 5.9kg | Litespeed Xicon: 5.76kg | Colnago C59: 5.7kg | Cervelo R5ca: 5.09kg | Fuji Altamira SE - 6.2kg | Scott Foil - 6.2kg | Evo - 5.18kg

Strava