Okay, so lets hear about those intervals !

kopride

You're so ready for the Power Tap. Wait till you track a couple of group rides in your ride files and then maintain the group pace about 10-15 watts above normal pace. Then, after they suck on your wheel dying for the better part of the ride, you can really hurt them with that last mile. Of course, it completely violates all group etiquite and probably isn't great training for you if you do it consistently, but it cannot help but give you some perverse pleasure, if you do it once or twice. If you do it a third time on the same ride, though, you are officially a dick.

Felt_Rider

I think I got a warning before Saturday's ride
It was a subtle statement. Like, "do think you can control yourself this time."

I justified it well before the end and gave them a warning that I was going to take off and "empty the tank" before the end. They tried to drop me first on a hill descent because I am still nursing a separated shoulder and still am skittish descending, but once it flattened out all rules and etiquite were thrown out.

Of course I would not try that with any of you guys.

rmur17

aye- and that's a sure sign of doing too many intervals, aka, high-intensity this time of year (assume no racing until April or so) .

I'm just a pure TT'r so the interval for me is what comes after warmup and before cooldown. Steady-state baby .

__________________
rmur

frenchyge

So the ladies aren't making fun of you anymore? Congrats!

Felt_Rider

Only lagging behind a couple of "Racer Chicks" in our local rides, but the view ain't bad so maybe I won't improve so quickly


Joke - Since Lucy isn't here maybe I can get away with that comment

kopride

The infamous "clam shot" can be a great motivator during a standing hill climb.

frenchyge

Ugh.... I knew I shouldn't have left that door open.

kopride

Boys will be boys. As penance, I promise that I will stay ahead

As for the original question, for me it has been a winter so far of 2 x 20s, with some longer intervals (30-50) thrown in for fun. Once we get closer to summer, I like two sets of alternating over/under FTP intervals (2 minute 90% under) and (1 minute 115%+) each interval of about 15 minutes. I do some escalating hill intervals of about (5 x 5 minutes each, last two minutes out of the saddle). I also like 2 or 3 interval pyramids separated with equal rest periods going from 30 seconds to 3 minutes and back down, all out (60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 150, etc). I also like to do "commerical" intervals on longer tempo rides where I throw on a TV show and then do a 115% interval during every commercial.

edd

Fitness gained indoor is certainly very valuable and if you are training smart even be better than the road rides

http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/defau...llstory&id=5392

From the Zone 3 thread. The thing is, if you're training smart, your fitness gains will be exceedingly good. That said, back on the road, first real hill, specificity of the training is not there.

kopride

What? A Watt is a Watt. Do your typical hills outdoors with a PM and then run some hill intervals using the same power levels. You could also calculate the watts used with your cyclocomputer and some knowlege of grade, and then use some conversion.

You certainly don't learn how to handle a bike indoors, or some of the other techinical aspects of cycling, but you can do hill specific training indoors.

edd

Yeah, I'm going to have to work on that steady state suff for sure. But I don't do too many intervals, 70 % of my ride time is base work at the mo. Not racing, ride all year round, cut back in volume over Christmas.

edd

sure, is it as good ? If you had the option would you do them outdoors ?

A watt is watt is interesting point, power production is only one side of the coin, adaptation is the other.

daveryanwyoming

Sure, there's mental elements to climbing and practice helps you choose appropriate gears, know how and when to stand or sit and other specific skills. But kopride's right, a watt is a watt is a watt. What sort of adaptations are you talking about?

edd

You pretty well answered your own question. There are other subtleties to metabolic pathways.

Not wanting to start an argument here. If you can't ride a hill due to weather or whatever, you do what you can, well structured indoor stuff may very well be better than less structured road rides.

When LA wanted to win the TDF, he went there, trained on the actual hills he'd be competing on.

The point I was alluring too, ( back to the theme of this thread) … is choosing what intervals we do on a trainer and what ones we do on the road, assuming we have some choices.