Warming up for hard intervals on turbo

andyeb
andyeb Posts: 407
edited June 2013 in Training, fitness and health
At the moment I'm working at raising my anaerobic threshold, doing an hour of 6m on (at 90% MHR), 4m off (back down to 65% MHR), so 6 hard intervals in all, followed by a 10 min cool down. My AT is currently 85% MHR - that's the maximum effort I can sustain for an hour.

I'm consistently finding the first interval the hardest to get through and I think the problem may be my warmup.

At the moment I do 10-20 mins, starting off in an easy gear, gradually pick up the cadence, then move up a few gears and finally up a notch of resistance or two, to bring my heart rate up to 70-75%, then go into the first interval.

The other day, I saw an interview with the Sky team trainer on YouTube and it sounds like their warm up routine for races is quite involved, including some short but hard efforts.

What's most appropriate warm up for interval training on the turbo? I guess it's going to be a balance between getting sufficiently warmed up, but not burning too many matches before going into the workout proper.

Comments

  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Are you sure those figures are correct?? 75% MHR is basic level 1 pace - it's more normal to be able to sustain something like 85-90% MHR (which is probably a closer approximation of threshold for most people) for an hour.
  • mentalalex
    mentalalex Posts: 266
    As used by BC and team SKY

    pn12st01-warmup.jpg
    I do science, sometimes.
  • mentalalex
    mentalalex Posts: 266
    being properly warmed up is very important, and length of warm up can vary.

    when i was racing cross i could be warming up for 30 mins or more.
    tends to be 20-25 minutes for MTB events, and i also use the same race warm up for turbo warm up.

    here's a TP file of my warm up at a race at the weekend

    http://tpks.ws/4BgY
    I do science, sometimes.
  • andyeb
    andyeb Posts: 407
    Imposter wrote:
    Are you sure those figures are correct?? 75% MHR is basic level 1 pace - it's more normal to be able to sustain something like 85-90% MHR (which is probably a closer approximation of threshold for most people) for an hour.

    You are quite right- my AT is 85% (175 BPM), not 75%. I will edit the original post.
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    Just have a look at some of the turbo workouts on Trainer Road to see how the warmups are structured.

    Warmups prior to races though can pay dividends .. it is planning your pre race routine to get 1 done is the problem.. well it is for me.
  • Tom Dean
    Tom Dean Posts: 1,723
    andyeb wrote:
    I'm consistently finding the first interval the hardest to get through and I think the problem may be my warmup.
    Possibly your warmup is a factor, although what you are doing sounds reasonable. What this highlights to me is the problem with trying to pace intervals of this length with HR. If you want to work around threshold, longer efforts (e.g. 2x20) might be better.
  • andyeb
    andyeb Posts: 407
    Tom Dean wrote:
    andyeb wrote:
    I'm consistently finding the first interval the hardest to get through and I think the problem may be my warmup.
    Possibly your warmup is a factor, although what you are doing sounds reasonable. What this highlights to me is the problem with trying to pace intervals of this length with HR. If you want to work around threshold, longer efforts (e.g. 2x20) might be better.

    Thanks Tom. I'm also doing 2x 20 efforts, as a separate workout, but at a slightly lower intensity.

    For the shorter efforts, I know (from previous workouts) approximately what speed and resistance setting will get my HR up to the required level. So I set that up at the beginning of the interval and then slightly adjust effort to keep HR constant once it has got to the required level. Typically I have to back off very slightly back off on the effort as the interval progresses, as my HR creeps up - I understand that's fairly normal when working above your AT.
  • jgsi
    jgsi Posts: 5,062
    andyeb wrote:
    Tom Dean wrote:
    andyeb wrote:
    I Typically I have to back off very slightly back off on the effort as the interval progresses, as my HR creeps up - I understand that's fairly normal when working above your AT.

    Then possibly, your actual power is dropping off as the interval progresses if you try to keep HR 'constant'.
    Working with just HR is where perceived exertion can be useful - because if there is no need to back off, why back off?
  • ronnierocket
    ronnierocket Posts: 172
    The warm up within my Sufferfest Angels video (main bit is 1 minute full on followed by 1 minute rest * 15) is about 8 minutes long. 4/5 minutes at 4 out of 10 effort, ramps up to 7/10 then finishes with about 30 seconds of 9/10.

    See strava below

    http://app.strava.com/activities/49207936
  • SBezza
    SBezza Posts: 2,173
    First interval can actually feel one of the hardest one's as you are shocking the body at first with the effort. 2nd and 3rd ones are normally the easiest on feel, and others after as fatigue sets in can feel very hard.

    You say you do a 10-20 min warm up, that is quite a difference in time, stick to one method that feels works for you, it is far easier to monitor progression and ease of the intervals if you stick to one routine for them. Also HR is a bit of a limiter for such short intervals, it will not respond quick enough in such a short interval, well not quickly enough to gauge intensity by. Are you doing them on a turbo, if so try and see if you can use rear wheel speed, and make sure the setup is the same each time.

    For 90% of MHR I would think 20 min intervals are the way to go, 6 mins is more Vo2Max interval length and would be done even harder.

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