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Doing 1 minute intervals improve fitness for unfit and cardiac patients. Benefits if you’re time constrained. The article does go on to say that if you can do longer efforts of 30 minutes or more, at a lower intensity, then by all means go this route.
Phys Ed: How Interval Training Can Improve Health – NYTimes.com.
More power to you.
Marc
Posted by Marc Walter as Daily read, intervals, power at 9:54 AM MST
As the article points out, if you’re aspiring for performance goals, then the talk test isn’t a way to gauge exercise intensity. Performance goals need to be met at an intensity that is higher than onset of blood lactate such as the point where maximal lactate accumulation is cleared. Here is a brief explanation.
Rethinking the Exercise ‘Talk Test’ – NYTimes.com.
More power to you.
Marc
Posted by Marc Walter as Daily read, intervals, performance, power, Threshold at 6:43 AM MST
Ha! VO2 efforts help you understand the love. When I’m having a good day these are fun 
. (Side note: that’ the last time I use an emoticon on my blog.)
Wednesday, was a so so day, lot’s of variables holding me back, mostly the lack of sleep last night. The low heart rate was either affected by the lack of sleep or maybe the fitness is improving. Also, it seemed like everyone was getting off work when I started my intervals. Along with the gusty wind and some rough pavement, the intervals are just that much harder. These require some focus. Getting buzzed by a car, during one of the intervals, kind of threw a stick in my wheels for the rest. S.O.B. !!!!!
Overall, not a bad 27 minutes at VO2. If you can get 15 to 30 minutes of VO2 work done and feel like you’ve hit the pain threshold than your on the right track physiologically.
More power to you.
Marc
Posted by Marc Walter as intervals, My training, power at 6:00 AM MST
Anyone do that workout on Thursday yet? How did it go? Let me tell you that isn’t an easy one. It sure is efficient for the indoor trainer, though, at a low duration and high intensity. 
With Thursday workout you’ll have accumulated a training stress score (TSS) of ~115. Whenever you can accumulate 100 TSS points this relates to doing a 60 min time trial physiologically. With this workout you spread out the pain and suffering of a time trial over 1 hour and 45 mins. A little better mentally than laying down the hammer for an hour, also.
If you can do 1-2 of these workouts a week you’ll have accumulated a good starting training load. Don’t forget about recovery and endurance efforts.
More power to you.
Marc
Wow! I think I just downloaded all of the Ironman, half ironman, Olympic and sprint triathlon courses in North America in 3D. Who says that indoor training is boring. Using the full and half ironman courses you can get in a great endurance ride. You’re not limited to just an endurance ride if that’s what you want. You control the pace in the 3D program.
Along with all of the coaching software and erg test protocol files, using the computrainer is a unique indoor experience. With the erg file you can design any type of workout you like. There are erg file test protocols included. Use these to see how your progress is coming along. You can program the computrainer to suit your needs. If you need your workouts designed for the computrainer this winter I can do that. I also have interval workouts, based on percentages of your FTP, that will get you going on the computrainer.
If you’re not getting the most out of your computrainer I can help you. I’ve been using the computrainer system since 1996 and know all the in’s and out’s of how it functions. It can be a little overwhelming but once you understand it is such a great tool. Want to purchase a computrainer? I can get you a good price.
Also, this December sometime, there will be a new software release. This should make the system more user friendly and add in a lot more functionality.
This winter don’t dread the trainer especially with a computrainer. It’s such a good tool you might even ride it through the summer once you find out the performance factors.
More power to you.
Marc
Posted by Marc Walter as general, intervals, power, Training at 3:28 AM MST
Interval Session Part 2
In this version of last weeks interval trainer session you can develop more of a muscular or cardio based workout. All you need to do is increase your cadence to 100+ rpm for the cardio effort or a cadence that increases heart rate from last weeks session. For the muscular effort keep your rpms less than 70. Be careful with your knees at this low of cadence.
Warm up well for 15-20 mins
Main Set: 7-8 reps at 85% of MAP x 4 sets. 1:30 on/ 1 min recoveries between reps and 3 min recoveries between sets. Recovery is at 50% of MAP.
Cool down: 10 mins
Zero excuses=consistency.
Marc
If you’re short on time here’s a zero excuses workout.
First, you’re going to have to determine your maximal aerobic power. You’ll need a power measuring device. Here is the protocol:
1. Maintain a constant workload at a constant cadence for 3 min.
2. Increase the workload by 30 W each 3 min interval. Keep the same cadence and gearing throughout this test (e.g., 90 rpm in 53×17) and future tests to maintain consistency.
3. Continue to exhaustion. Record exercise time.
Ideally, the protocol should consist of not more than 4-6 intervals. Your MAP is the final workload plus any uncompleted 3 min interval:
e.g., if your test consisted of 180, 210, 240, 270, 1.5 min @ 300, then your MAP = 270 + 30 (90 s / 180 s) = 270 + 15 = 285 W.
Interval Session
In the base phase of your training you want to do quantity type intervals. As you progress through the season you’ll want to move from these quantity type intervals to quality.
Here is a quantity type interval based on your MAP:
Warm up well for 15-20 mins
Main Set: 7-8 reps at 85% of MAP x 4 sets. 1:30 on/ 1 min recoveries between reps and 3 min recoveries between sets. Recovery is at 50% of MAP.
Cool down: 10 mins
Now, no more excuses.
Marc
I’ve been debating on the subject of high intensity training vs lower to 
moderate intensity training otherwise known as continuous training(click link training programs). There is a time and a place for both. Control the amount of intensity and you’ll be much better in the long run. High intensity interval training (HIIT) can produce to many mistakes that lead to illness, injury and burnout. Sure, the majority of athletes are time crunched. They have families, careers and other obligations. What happens to lost training time do to illness, injury and burnout?
The Pareto Principle is a good example of how to train. Spend 80% of your time below 70% max heart rate. Another way to look at it, and be on the safe side, is to take 180-age and train around this heart rate 80% of the time. How do you spend the 20%? That is the finesse part of training. There is a fine line between to much intensity.
Marc
Posted by Marc Walter as intervals, performance, power, Training at 1:36 AM MST
If you have limited time to train there is a technique that increases endurance as described by Dr. Gabe Mirkin in this article Why Sprinting Improves Endurance. This involves short, 30 second, intervals at maximum power. I mentioned, in the previous post, that I recommend this type of interval session to fine tune your criterium/cyclcross fitness. Seems like it also boosts your endurance.
If your event is anything over 1.5 to 2 hours, I would recommend still putting in time at over 1.5 hours. You still want to be specific to your event by building up time in the saddle and developing the pathways associated with longer durations.
Finally, as a beginner you should have a good base of 3-4 months before attempting these. There is a greater risk of injury if you don’t have a good base built up.
Marc
Posted by Marc Walter as intervals, power, Training at 9:56 AM MST
