Saturday, November 13, 2010

Interval Training

About two years ago I had a coach call me with some questions regarding the USA Cycling coaches program. At the end of the conversation he left me an interesting comment. He must have been talking to some athletes that I was coaching or had coached and he told me that having them do intervals in December is wrong unless these athletes have races in January. I thanked him for the advice and chose not to get into a lengthy discussion with him regarding how wrong he was.

I have to think that that belief comes from a lack of understanding of what constitutes an interval. An interval can be off the charts difficult or also quite easy. This time of the year I do, and I recommend, some high cadence work of 1,2,3 minutes at 120+ rpm (pretty easy) and some slow cadence, big gear seated climbs of 4-6 minutes (pretty hard). I don't have any pressing events on the calendar but I also don't believe in losing fitness, especially as a master age athlete. The recent 20k indoor tt is about as hard as I will go and I will take plenty of rest after that event. Am I doing 60 and 90 minute steady state and tempos? No Am I doing 3,4, and 5 minute ower intervals? Not yet. My goal, and the goal I have for my athletes, is start their really intense interval training in January. I want them to start these not from a low level of fitness but from a really great base that allows them to attack the efforts and ideally go further with their power than the previous January. Keeping them fresh through November and December with some intervals is fine.

I also recommend plenty of really easy days on the trainer pushing low watts. These are great recovery rides. Some riders have a hard time doing this. They think every ride should have some difficulty to it. I do find these rides easier to do inside where there is no temptation to take the hills hard or catch other riders. And for those who think there should be no intervals this time of year I'd have to say that most of the weekend group rides end up being interval workouts so be cautious on those. The training goal of the group may not be your training goal for that week.

If you pace yourself properly through the fall and early winter you can maintain your fitness through the harsh winter and be ready or some serious improvement with your racing in the spring.

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