1 minute intervals

neeb

I've just started doing 1 minute intervals once a week to try to improve in that area. I'm just doing 1 minute maximum sustainable effort, 2 minute recovery, repeat. I'm finding that I can barely do 3 of these before the power over the minute drops substantially and/or I am unable to finish the minute. If I have a 4 minute rest after the third one I can then do another at about the same power output as the first one.

In order to get better should I initially reduce the power I am aiming at, increase the rest between intervals, or reduce the interval length? I'm using a tacx fortius which gives moderately consistent, if not very accurate, power readings.

secretsqizz

Good for you!
Whats Plan B when the attack lasts 3 minutes?

amaferanga

Do them on the road. I bet you'll put out way more power and get more out of them. But unless you're racing this month I wouldn't bother.

cyco2

There are an infinite number of combinations you can do and they are all beneficial. You should try various combinations until you can successfully complete a series of them. Turbo's are excellent for doing your own thing on. What ever you do record it. Once you have worked out a sequence that takes say 10 or 15 mins. and you have become comfortable with it then add more effort time. I have used many combinations but never could do a 1 minute sprint. It's a good weapon in your armour so good luck to you.

simon_e

I'm not sure early Feb is the time for all-out intervals, unless you want to peak in March. Also it's not really sustainable if you can only barely do 3 of them. From what I've read the first interval should feel a tad too easy then it gets harder but you can complete a set of 8 or so. HIT (High Intensity Training) is useful but it sounds like you've dived in at the deep end.

If you haven't already, search this forum for 'intervals', look at threads like FAQ: increasing your base endurance/etc and Advice on interval training. See also:
http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... tine-22232
http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... ing-24170/

I'd suggest that, unless you're already in fine fettle and/or you've done a good quantity of interval training before, I'd work on manageable medium effort intervals now, perhaps 8 per session. Start with 1 min on, 1 min off twice a week (I'm assuming you do other riding too). Week two move to 2 min on, 1 min off, week three 3 on, 1 off and then 4 on, 1 off.

okgo

God you can't get away from all this 'peaking' talk on here. I do wonder what this is based on at amateur level...

neeb

Thanks for all the tips.

secretsqizz wrote:

Good for you!
Whats Plan B when the attack lasts 3 minutes?

I'm not so bad at 5mins or 20mins, it's as soon as it gets to the lower intervals that my power/weight seems to nosedive according to the chart. I thought I'd try to focus on a weakness. But yes, 3mins is something I'm also planning to try, if for no other reason than to find the cut-off point where I start to get cr*p!

Simon E wrote:

I'd suggest that, unless you're already in fine fettle and/or you've done a good quantity of interval training before, I'd work on manageable medium effort intervals now, perhaps 8 per session. Start with 1 min on, 1 min off twice a week (I'm assuming you do other riding too). Week two move to 2 min on, 1 min off, week three 3 on, 1 off and then 4 on, 1 off.

I'm living in Finland right now, so all my training is indoors at the moment unfortunately. I do 2 or 3 +/- one hour sessions during the week that usually involve something approximating 2x20min climbing simulation using the tacx RLVs at a bit above threshhold and then try to get at least one longer lower intensity session in at the weekend, but to be honest an hour and a half is about the longest I can put up with it.. Always takes me about 6 weeks in the spring to get the endurance back, but there's not much I can do about that when it's -20C outside...

I guess during the summer I pretty much do 1min intervals without thinking about it, as I am always attacking short hills at close to maximum effort.

Just thought it would be interesting to do the 1min intervals once a week on the trainer and see if I get better at them.

Alex_Simmons/RST

If recoveries are short in duration then any interval set that goes beyond a couple of minutes, no matter the duration of the efforts (seconds to minutes), will end up being a primarily aerobic development one.

One minute power is a complex beast, so in some ways if that is a specific weakness that needs addressing, then you need to consider the various energy systems involved and perhaps target the area where you are weaker. The nature of intervals performed to address that can then be tuned accordingly.

I'd suggest longer breaks between short sets of short efforts.

jgsi

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

If recoveries are short in duration then any interval set that goes beyond a couple of minutes, no matter the duration of the efforts (seconds to minutes), will end up being a primarily aerobic development one.

One minute power is a complex beast, so in some ways if that is a specific weakness that needs addressing, then you need to consider the various energy systems involved and perhaps target the area where you are weaker. The nature of intervals performed to address that can then be tuned accordingly.

I'd suggest longer breaks between short sets of short efforts.

Alex, are you of the opnion that you can increase the body's ability to store more short term ATP in the muscle?
I would have thought that such an adaptation would take quite a long time and do you think there is any actual benefit for road racing? cheers for any guidance.

Alex_Simmons/RST

JGSI wrote:

Alex, are you of the opnion that you can increase the body's ability to store more short term ATP in the muscle?
I would have thought that such an adaptation would take quite a long time and do you think there is any actual benefit for road racing? cheers for any guidance.

ATP can't be stored, so not quite sure what you're asking. ATP is constantly recycled (so much so that we process about our own body weight of the stuff every day, and more when exercising, despite us only have about 250 grams of it in total).

One can certainly increase their anaerobic work capacity (and such adaptation can be induced relatively quickly - in a matter of days to weeks of effort).

One can also increase the amount of glycogen stored in the muscles, via exercise (longer term adaptation) and exercise & dietary intake (short term adaptation via exercise induced glycogen depletion/replenishment and carbo-loading).

Both are useful for road racing, although the latter is more important and indeed can be a big determinant of performance.

jgsi

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

JGSI wrote:

Alex, are you of the opnion that you can increase the body's ability to store more short term ATP in the muscle?
I would have thought that such an adaptation would take quite a long time and do you think there is any actual benefit for road racing? cheers for any guidance.

ATP can't be stored, so not quite sure what you're asking. ATP is constantly recycled (so much so that we process about our own body weight of the stuff every day, and more when exercising, despite us only have about 250 grams of it in total).

One can certainly increase their anaerobic work capacity (and such adaptation can be induced relatively quickly - in a matter of days to weeks of effort).

One can also increase the amount of glycogen stored in the muscles, via exercise (longer term adaptation) and exercise & dietary intake (short term adaptation via exercise induced glycogen depletion/replenishment and carbo-loading).

Both are useful for road racing, although the latter is more important and indeed can be a big determinant of performance.

My bad wording, I'm afraid ...
so the increased anaerobic capacity of the stuff needs pretty hi end sort of interval training..? going towards levels 6 and 7?
I can well appreciate the usefulness of more glycogen in the muscle but does that adaptaion take place at a lower scale of 'work'?

racingcondor

You could try these from bikeforums.net as well.

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-718765.html

It's essentially a front loaded 1 minute interval set with the idea being that in race conditions you'll bed sprinting at the start of any 1 minute effort (either a bridge, initiating a break or heading for the line) and then trying to hold your speed.

Waterrockets Intervals (WRIs)
• Solid warmup
• 6 sets of:
◦ 1' interval:
Solid sprint to start off the interval, and hold max intensity until the end
◦ 5 minutes rest
• Limp home

Alex_Simmons/RST

JGSI wrote:

so the increased anaerobic capacity of the stuff needs pretty hi end sort of interval training..? going towards levels 6 and 7?

yes
high end work is needed to increase muscle high energy phosphate stores

JGSI wrote:

I can well appreciate the usefulness of more glycogen in the muscle but does that adaptaion take place at a lower scale of 'work'?

yes.
muscle glycogen stores are improved through aerobic training

See this item and click on the chart:
http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com.au/2008/ ... ining.html

neeb

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

One minute power is a complex beast, so in some ways if that is a specific weakness that needs addressing, then you need to consider the various energy systems involved and perhaps target the area where you are weaker. The nature of intervals performed to address that can then be tuned accordingly.

I'd suggest longer breaks between short sets of short efforts.

I'd guess it's the more anaerobic side of things where I'm weaker, as my sprint is bad too. I know what you mean about it being complex though. I've done 30s intervals too, and they feel more natural/self contained. With the one minute I feel as if I am doing a 30s at just slightly lower intensity for the first half minute, and then the final 30s are just trying to hold on to the target wattage and fight the overwhelming psychological urge to stop.

racingcondor wrote:

You could try these from bikeforums.net as well.

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index ... 18765.html

It's essentially a front loaded 1 minute interval set with the idea being that in race conditions you'll bed sprinting at the start of any 1 minute effort (either a bridge, initiating a break or heading for the line) and then trying to hold your speed.

Waterrockets Intervals (WRIs)
• Solid warmup
• 6 sets of:
◦ 1' interval:
Solid sprint to start off the interval, and hold max intensity until the end
◦ 5 minutes rest
• Limp home

That would be interesting to try, as I think I am already front-loading it a little. If I went harder to begin with I would certainly be forced to slow down towards the end, but maybe that's not a bad thing. What I have been doing so far is picking a target wattage that I know is right on my limit for 1 minute and trying to keep above it for the whole minute.

Alex_Simmons/RST

something to bear in mind - many of the adaptations involved at these levels are brought on pretty quickly, and are not sustained for long, or at least improvement will plateau fairly quickly when compared to adaptations that improve aerobic abilities which can be sustained for months and years on end.

jgsi

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

something to bear in mind - many of the adaptations involved at these levels are brought on pretty quickly, and are not sustained for long, or at least improvement will plateau fairly quickly when compared to adaptations that improve aerobic abilities which can be sustained for months and years on end.

cheers for the info...

robrauy

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

something to bear in mind - many of the adaptations involved at these levels are brought on pretty quickly, and are not sustained for long, or at least improvement will plateau fairly quickly when compared to adaptations that improve aerobic abilities which can be sustained for months and years on end.

Alex,

Just wondering how quickly, when you say that the adaptations are brought on quickly. eg Might it be beneficial to do an interval session of 1 or 2 minute intervals mid week if racing at the weekend ? I understand the training effects are obviously cumulative - Just curious to know how quickly I might see results, as I'm currently weak at bridging gaps as I recently found out

Alex_Simmons/RST

robrauy wrote:

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

something to bear in mind - many of the adaptations involved at these levels are brought on pretty quickly, and are not sustained for long, or at least improvement will plateau fairly quickly when compared to adaptations that improve aerobic abilities which can be sustained for months and years on end.

Alex,

Just wondering how quickly, when you say that the adaptations are brought on quickly. eg Might it be beneficial to do an interval session of 1 or 2 minute intervals mid week if racing at the weekend ? I understand the training effects are obviously cumulative - Just curious to know how quickly I might see results, as I'm currently weak at bridging gaps as I recently found out

Days to weeks.

robrauy

Great - Thanks.

neeb

Now that I know this I think what I'll do is continue doing them long enough to see what the effect is, then stop doing them until I actually have a purpose for it. It'll be good to know how I respond for future reference.

That said, given that I'm now in my mid 40s might there a benefit to doing short intense intervals now and again (even during the winter) just to potentially stave off age-related loss of fast twitch muscle fibers?

Alex_Simmons/RST

neeb wrote:

Now that I know this I think what I'll do is continue doing them long enough to see what the effect is, then stop doing them until I actually have a purpose for it. It'll be good to know how I respond for future reference.

That said, given that I'm now in my mid 40s might there a benefit to doing short intense intervals now and again (even during the winter) just to potentially stave off age-related loss of fast twitch muscle fibers?

Do a little of everything all the time.

It's when you have a high volume of such work in a training block that you need to be a little more judicious in picking your time.