Crunch time cyclist program confusion

bearwi11z

I have been doing the new century program and currently on week 8, but am a little confused with the over unders in this session for this week.
The session is as follows
60 - 90 min. EM with 4x 2min. PI(2min. RBI) : Rest 8min; 4x 3min. OU (2U,1O)(3min. RBI)
I understand the beginning, that's straight forward, but its the over unders in the second half of the workou that I'm not to sure about.
Does it mean a 3minute interval of 2U/1O, followed by 3mins at Z2 to recover, for 4sets?
For me it doesn't sound like too much stress with the rest in between each individual O/U, or is it meant not
to be stressful?
I probably get more stress from doing another set of PI, or a do the O/U as a 12min set of 4x 2U/1O, without the 3min RBI.

Any thoughts would be gratefully appreciated from this feed.

daniel_b

I also struggled with this book in the first instance, and misunderstood exactly this, as I was brand new to structured training.

Yes it means the 3 minute sessions are comprised of 2 minutes under threshold, 1 minute over, and then 3 minutes rest before repeating the same thing 3 more times.

These workouts are very well thought out, and meant to generate results, so personally I would stick to the prescribed workout, but if you are feeling really strong, then maybe adapt it, or on the fly perhaps - are you carrying it out indoors on a turbo or outside?

bearwi11z

Thanks for the reply @daniel_b.
How did you find this workout effective for you with the rest in between the O/U? Did you feel you had to increase the intensity of the O/U or raise the power of the rest?
Also I am carrying these session out on the watt bike.
Thanks

daniel_b

I found them spot on I have to be honest, and don't use them anymore, as I have migrated to TrainerRoad which has similar workouts for the turbo.

It's very tempting to make workouts harder, but there is a vast amount of research that goes into these plans, so I'd suggest to you to try it for the full 6 or 8 week block, and see how you come out of it.

When I have upped intensities before, it has some times upped my ftp in bigger jumps, but then I'll find I can't complete an entire training block at the higher ftp.

I either then get demoralised due to failing workouts, and/or bury myself and suffer from training burnout - neither of which are a good outcome.

If you are on limited time, as we pretty much all are, I'd say trust the science, and you'll see gradual but steady increases in fitness that you are more likely to be able to maintain.

bearwi11z

Great advice @daniel_b, I will definitely take it on board. I appreciate your time to reply to my post. 👍🏻

MidlandsGrimpeur2

Yes, Dan has given you good advice there.

As a general point on intervals, I would stick to the rest periods in between intervals as well. A session that looks easy on paper and has large rest intervals (3 or 5min) may seem lacking in intensity but these things are often worked out to the nth degree.

I used to make the mistake of shortening rest periods, thinking that back to back harder intervals with shorter recovery was somehow going to make the session more beneficial i.e. higher intensity meaning better fitness. In truth it just makes you knackered more quickly!

I am now more sceptical of super hard sessions when I see them in training plans. I think that a session that looks like a killer on paper is often too hard in practice. An interval session should look challenging but manageable, with plenty of sufficient recovery/easy spinning built into it.

bearwi11z

I think with my query above, my issue was that in the TCC, I was already performing a session of over unders that involved 3sets at 9min (2min under/ 1min over) with 6min RBI, so I didn’t understand why would I perform 4 sets of 3min (2min under/ 1min over) with a 3min RBI at the same intensity?
I came across this in the book and May think the 1min over maybe at Power interval effort.
Thoughts?

bearwi11z

bearwi11z

I think the only reason there must be a rest in between each 3minute set of O/U is that there is an increase in effort/power for the 1 minute Over.
I’l try it. 👍🏻