This is great. THank you!
Hi @BikerBocker here are a few of my favorite intervals that are similar, on the shorter duration side.
Already some excellent advice in this thread from others.
Ultimate
3 sets of 3x 40/20 (rest 2m between sets)
3 sets of 3x 30/30 (rest 2m between sets)
3 sets of 3x 20/40 (rest 2m between sets
Ulimate Plus
9x 30/30 - 1m rest
8x 25/35 - 2m rest
7x 20/40 - 3m rest
6x 15/45 - done
I generally prescribe these by feeling, with the goal of all intervals of the same duration maximal but as equal as possible.
I learn a lot about the high-end fitness state as well as the mental state of my athlete at a certain time, especially when they perform these intervals often.
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This is great. Thanks Steve!
And, iām sure you do learn a lot. I somewhat think i have decent anaerobic capacity but not as good aerobic capacity, in comparison to another similarly trained athlete. I used to be pretty dece at the 800, good at the 16, and then just okay at the 32 on up. These are the kind of workouts where (at least in the beginning) i think iāll be flying when iām fresh, really, really, really struggling if iām ground down and all the AC is gone.
Since I heard Dr. Seiler talking about Ronnestadās 30/15 study, Iāve been doing those, along with 40/20s. The advantage for me is my very short attention span; Iām able to focus on 40 seconds rather than five minutes!
The discussion throughout this thread has been a) the intensity of the work (what percentage of FTP/AT do you ride at) b) what is the heart rate response to the intervals, and c) what SHOULD the heart rate response be. Does that seem like a fair assessment?
I do these as a cyclist and give them to my athletes as a coach. We also do traditional 5x5 Trevor intervals, but I give them the option of doing them in smaller blocks.
My thinking is that there are several ways of doing these. First, as an aerobic capacity or threshold kind of work where the work intensity is about 105-110 percent of FTP. I tend to do these for a longer period of time to mimic the longer threshold-type workouts. I also try to make the rest a little harder so, in essence, the sessions become over/unders.
Second, doing them as VO2max efforts with up to 150 percent of FTP. The rest intervals are easy easy pedaling.
However, I donāt want these to be Anaerobic Capacity or Neuromuscular efforts. As I understand the research, these short hard intervals can lead pretty quickly to a peak form.
I want to build VO2 max doing these efforts so they have to be hard, but not so hard that the form gets built quickly.
What are your thoughts on using the short intervals for threshold, VO2max, and AC work, all with different intensities?