Workout #2
- Warm up for 20 minutes at an aerobic effort
- 3 x 30 seconds all-out power production, 4:30 easy Zone 1 spinning
- 3 x 20 seconds all-out power production, 4:40 easy Zone 1 spinning
- 3 x 10 seconds all-out power production, 4:50 easy Zone 1 spinning
- Cool down with easy spinning
Workout #3
- Warm up for 20 minutes at an aerobic effort
- 3 x through:
30 seconds all-out power production, 4:30 easy Zone 1 spinning
20 seconds all-out power production, 4:40 easy Zone 1 spinning
10 seconds all-out power production, 4:50 easy Zone 1 spinning - Cool down with easy spinning
More: How to Create Your Own Interval Workouts
I designed about a dozen variations on the basic theme outlined in these three workouts. The basic theme was all-out power intervals lasting 45 seconds or less with the work-to-rest ratio between 1.0-to-5.7 and 1.0-to-29. Yes, huge rest intervals because I wanted huge power output.
He was able to deliver outstanding quality to these workouts because the rest intervals were very generous and he wasn't thrashing himself in other rides (such as a fast weekend group ride).
More: How Much Base Mileage Do You Need Before Interval Training?
Results
Ten weeks after his collision, my cyclist did an event he has done for several years. The event is long, taking him between four and four-and-a-half hours to complete. I told him to just do the ride for fun and use it as training, since the majority of his quality work had been the short interval workouts.
We were both pleasantly surprised with the results. Even though he had only three lactate-threshold workouts in the 10 weeks prior to the event and his long rides were between 1.5 and 2.25 hours long, his average power production for several time samples and average speed increased in 2007 compared to 2006.