intervals
trickydisco
Posts: 173
What's your favourite/preferred intervals to sort you out for cross?
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Comments
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Short ones
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Always best to mix it up-don't just repeat the same session.
I alternate between
downward spirals- 2 sets
15 secs on/ 15 secs off 10 min x 3
1 minute intervals- 3 sets of 10 mins
unders/overs for 10 mins 3 sets0 -
During CX season, on a weekly basis I will structure like this:
Monday - rest*
Tuesday - CX protocol**
Wednesday - Vo2 max intervals (5x5, or 5x3+5x2, or 10x1 or other)
Thursday - threshold intervals or SST
Friday - rest
Weekend - races
* rest doesn't mean no riding, but it will be recovery/endurance riding if there is any
** CX protocol stolen off a TP website - I tend to either add more reps, or reduce resting periods to graduate the training load
“Sprints Galore” Workout: Part 1, the “Tabata Protocol”:
8 x 20 second all-out sprints, with 10-second recovery. Ignore heart rate, power, and everything else, trust me on this.
Recover 10-15 minutes.
For the next 30 minutes: 15 x 10-second all-out sprints every 1:50 minutes. Don’t coast in between, put enough power into the pedals so that your power meter registers your existence (Endurance power level at 65-75% of FTP. If not using power meter, then go by feel and try and keep your legs moving, just no coasting). Follow this pattern for the entire 30 minutes.
10-15 minutes of recovery
No, we’re still not done. Here’s Part 2: 5-minutes at threshold power immediately followed by 5x30 second all-out sprints, with 30 seconds’ rest between all sprints. You can coast between sprints...but would you do that if it were the last lap and you were being chased? This workout will teach you how to handle all the sprints in a cyclocross race, and then finish the last lap hard and sprint for the finish. Yes, your legs will be empty, but then again they will be even more empty at the end of the cyclocross race
I periodize in a 4 week cycle, with 3 weeks of gradually increasing training load followed by a week of rest/unstructured riding. I try to enter races with positive TSB, but this means dropping CTL, so some weeks I will sacrifice race performance for a training over-reach.0 -
Ahh tabata intervals are the devil
Did them quite a few years ago and haven't done them since
Tbh i cannot see how you can do anything apart from fall off the bike after tabata. They were never intended to do anything after as you empty everything. To then do 15x10 sprints for 30 minutes then 5 minutes at threshold power then followed by 5 x 30 all out sprints is insane0 -
It's a 150 TSS workout lasting about 90 minutes. By comparison a cross race crams about 200 TSS into an hour. So not insane
It's very effective in tuning your ability to sprint repeatedly, which is probably the most useful fitness parameter for cross. More so than a large FTP or isolated sprint power.0 -
3x10mins of 15 on 15 off used through out the season and twice a week with the build up to the world champs which put me in some fantastic form.
40 mins of 20 sec Z5/6 then 40sec Z2/3 is another one I used as well.
you don't need to focus on FTP as such, ( sweet spot with micro burst every few minutes are good) focus should be more so on shorter efforts, 20secs-1min and lots of them in a session.I do science, sometimes.0 -
VamP wrote:By comparison a cross race crams about 200 TSS into an hour.
Really?
You understand what TSS is?
http://support.trainingpeaks.com/athlete-edition/training-stress-scores.aspx#TSS0 -
How much running are you guys working into your training programs? I'm wondering whether I should go and run up and down some hills (or maybe put together a short run up/ride down loop)...Pannier, 120rpm.0
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Personally I do one or two 30-40 minute runs at this time of year, but mostly so I am not sore post race just from running a bit. I've also had a long heavy year of training so its just to give the body an alternative. I race CX as my winter training to keep a little intensity in the legs, and just commute singlespeed during the week. If you were racing CX seriously I'm not sure there is a need to be doing a big volume of running, but definitely integrate it into your sessions as if it were in a race.
The 30-30-30 structure is a good example.
Pick an area to train in where you can put down lots of power on the bike for 30seconds, dismount and run with the bike for 30 seconds remount and recover for 30 seconds back to to the start line for 1 interval.0 -
barry_kellett99 wrote:VamP wrote:By comparison a cross race crams about 200 TSS into an hour.
Really?
You understand what TSS is?
http://support.trainingpeaks.com/athlete-edition/training-stress-scores.aspx#TSS
Well that definition seems pretty damning, and you have little appreciation for poetic license it seems
I have been using the GC equivalent and my race data file gives me Bikescore of 211. That includes warmups too, so if you are going to be pedantic about it is more like two hours, but the bulk of the 211 comes from the race.
The point of course is that the work out is less strenuous than the race. The workout of course also includes warm ups and warm downs, so if you want to be pedantic about that I might have to reduce the 150 TSS in 90 minutes too.0 -
I only use the aerolab part of GC, so I'm not that familiar with BikeScore, but if it really does work the same as TSS are you sure you have your threshold power set correctly in GC?VamP wrote:I have been using the GC equivalent and my race data file gives me Bikescore of 211. That includes warmups too, so if you are going to be pedantic about it is more like two hours, but the bulk of the 211 comes from the race.Pannier, 120rpm.0 -
TGOTB wrote:
I only use the aerolab part of GC, so I'm not that familiar with BikeScore, but if it really does work the same as TSS are you sure you have your threshold power set correctly in GC?VamP wrote:I have been using the GC equivalent and my race data file gives me Bikescore of 211. That includes warmups too, so if you are going to be pedantic about it is more like two hours, but the bulk of the 211 comes from the race.
That is another factor, as I have recently adjusted FTP upwards, but TBH it's mainly just my exaggeration about it all happening in an hour. That part was not the point of the story. The comparison between the workout and the race was the point, and the TSS values as recorded (in the same week, with same FTP settings) stand. The time period does not stand.
Hopefully we've settled that now 0 -
VamP wrote:barry_kellett99 wrote:VamP wrote:By comparison a cross race crams about 200 TSS into an hour.
Really?
You understand what TSS is?
http://support.trainingpeaks.com/athlete-edition/training-stress-scores.aspx#TSS
Well that definition seems pretty damning, and you have little appreciation for poetic license it seems
I have been using the GC equivalent and my race data file gives me Bikescore of 211. That includes warmups too, so if you are going to be pedantic about it is more like two hours, but the bulk of the 211 comes from the race.
The point of course is that the work out is less strenuous than the race. The workout of course also includes warm ups and warm downs, so if you want to be pedantic about that I might have to reduce the 150 TSS in 90 minutes too.
Its hardly being pedantic?
If you are getting over 100TSS for an hours ride you know something is wrong.
I don't see any reason for poetic license when you are trying to measure the TSS of a ride?0 -
The short answer is that I wasn't measuring the TSS of a ride, I was relating a story.
The long answer includes that I was being fuzzy with the timeline, and unaware of the TSS definition, or the fact that it might matter to the point in hand. As explained, I hope ad nauseum by now, I use Bikescore, and it's really just a number. I was also probably underestimating my FTP, as I re-measured since and it has gone up.
None of which makes a blind bit of difference to the fact that the workout I was referring to is less strenuous than an hour long cross race (plus the necessary).0
