First time doing intervals
 

If riding a bike was just about intervals I would seriously sell my bike. They are horrible! I was only doing 20 sec intervals and I was suffering. But I did beat my virtual partner by .10 miles.

I was doing it on a 2% grade avg. Using 34/23 and 34/25 mainly. Intervals in the drops suck more. Almost pulled a calf muscle. Any tips, corrections, questions?

ride in a higher gear. i dont no maybe your intervals were hig cadence ones, but doing sprints in the 34/25 on a 2% grade is not very useful.

In the racing thread is a sticky about workouts. You'll see some posts about intervals.

Intervals hurt, but if done right, they will really help make you faster. Allow yourself at least a day or two to recover, though. Improvement is just as dependent on proper recovery as it is hard work.

20 sec intervals? I did some 15 second stomps for a block a few months back and they were one of the least suffering intervals I've done, but actually quite rewarding. And I was in a huge gear, for me at least, going from 50rpms to 100-110rpms. Sure the muscles hurt a bit, but nothing like some of the other intervals that make the body feel like it's going to quit. Were you winding out the gear, or just increasing the effort and maintaining comfortable cadence? I could see it being painful if you were doing anaerobic workout and doing those 20s back to back without much of a rest.

try one minute intervals. They make me want to sell my soul, much less my bike.

dont view less time as easier. think of it this way you could have 30 second sprint intervals (30 seconds on 30 seconds off) with say almost max power or you could have 2x20 min intervals at 95% ftp. they both hurt, just in different ways

yeah im going to read that thoroughly before attempting them again. i only had an hour to ride today and while i was starting to roll out of the house i decided i should attempt intervals. have read here and there about other people doing intervals and ive done intervals from football practice when i was in high school. figured they could be similar. i never really attempted to use the big chain ring. i was just pedaling on a gear where i was working semi hard (140 bpm avg) to maintain a cadence of 90-100. then i shifted down to a harder gear and started spinning. for 20 sec, rest, spin, rest, spin, etc.

the route is 4 miles and 400 ft of climbing, luckily no stop signs or lights for those 4 miles. so im going to start using this road as my training course from now on.

If you just started doing them I would focus more on threshold intervals like 2x20's.

intervals aren't fun. being a faster rider as a result, is. however as the end of the season approaches, i've been slacking and instead rebuilding a cycling base chipped away by a new baby.

Make sure you are warmed up properly, then after your session warm down. This gives you time to ease the pain.