What Short Training Sessions?

WisePranker
WisePranker Posts: 823
edited September 2011 in Training, fitness and health
I try to get out for a couple of decent length rides a couple of times a week and I can also usually fit in another one or two short rides, usually for about an hour or so.

What's the best type of training to do in a one hour session to make the most of it?

Currently I tend to just go out for a ride for an hour with no specific aim in mind. There's no decent hills(that I know of!) that I can get to and back within an hour so hill reps are out of the question.

Comments

  • ut_och_cykla
    ut_och_cykla Posts: 1,594
    2 x 20 would be my recommendation. Lots of explanations as to how on here & elsewhere on internet.
  • danowat
    danowat Posts: 2,877
    2 x 20 or 5 x 5 can be done easily in an hour inc warm up and cool down.
  • BeaconRuth
    BeaconRuth Posts: 2,086
    WisePranker wrote:
    What's the best type of training to do in a one hour session to make the most of it?
    Hard training. :D

    Ruth
    http://www.rutheyles.co.uk/
  • amaferanga
    amaferanga Posts: 6,789
    danowat wrote:
    2 x 20 or 5 x 5 can be done easily in an hour inc warm up and cool down.

    Only if you can do them from very close to home though. To get to a suitable bit of road and back means a 5x5 takes me 2 hours.
    More problems but still living....
  • danowat
    danowat Posts: 2,877
    amaferanga wrote:
    danowat wrote:
    2 x 20 or 5 x 5 can be done easily in an hour inc warm up and cool down.

    Only if you can do them from very close to home though. To get to a suitable bit of road and back means a 5x5 takes me 2 hours.

    Good point, I am lucky that I have a 20 mile stretch of uninterrupted road (it makes up part of a couple of local TT courses), on my doorstep.
  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    Or hop on the turbo
    It's a Lifestyle! -+-+- Coggan Training Levels
  • Ron Stuart
    Ron Stuart Posts: 1,242
    Well run spin classes there far less boring than the turbo and challenging as you do it with others and you don't have to clean the bike after you have finished only wipe it down as it should be wet with sweat. You should be burning between 700 & 800 cals in an hour.:lol:
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    1 hour of very hard tempo, find it easier to do out on the road then find a suitable road to do intervals on. With intervals you don't really want to be slowing for junctions etc, so finding a road where you can do 20 mins can be hard.

    If you have a turbo then intervals on this can be very good, and you can easily monitor progress even without a powermeter on a turbo, unlike the road.
  • WisePranker
    WisePranker Posts: 823
    I've found a hill nearby that I can use for training, it's a few miles away so that'll be a good warm up getting there.

    The hill itself climbs approximately 50 metres in just under half a mile and the road to loop back round to the bottom again is about a mile.

    What's the best way to use the hill for training? Is is just a case of keeping doing reps up the hill for as long as I can or is there more to it than that?
  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    Depends. What are you trying to achieve? (ie what are you actually training for? Specific event or just general fitness?).

    For Level 5 / VO2 max intervals I'd say your hill is a bit short - reckon it'll take around 2-3 minutes to climb. I've found that long steady drags (especially if there's normally a headwind) are better for this length of interval.

    But if it's all you've got, then ride it flat out, recover for 3-5 mins with very easy riding and then go again from the bottom. Depending on how long it takes to ride the hill, 5-7 repeats will probably be enough to leave you feeling pretty leggy.
    It's a Lifestyle! -+-+- Coggan Training Levels

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