I have heard and read alot about the benefits of the 2 x 20 minutes intervals at LT. MY question is what if the rider can hold LT for the complete 40 minutes without the rest period. Do you still do the 2 20 minute intervals or the solid 40 or have you miscalculated LT?
Thanks
I am not a guru by any means, but it’s my understanding you should be able to hold your threshold for longer than 40min. It just shouldn’t be pleasant. I’ve heard a lot of things thrown around; like a 40k tt, an hour effort, CP60 as benchmarks. They all have you going near an hour full out and being spent at the end.
I find it hard in non-race conditions to push that hard for to long without lossing concentration - I do most of my quality work on the turbo. I think it is just that this period should make sure that hold the quality - basically your FTP is what your own personal hour record should be and if you listen to Greame Obree talking about how he felt during his hour attempts you can understand why most like to break it down.
MY question is what if the rider can hold LT for the complete 40 minutes without the rest period. Do you still do the 2 20 minute intervals or the solid 40 or have you miscalculated LT?
If you simply can’t do 40 min of training at the chosen intensity w/o taking a break, then IMO you’re going too hard.
OTOH, if you can routinely do 40 min of training at the chosen intensity w/o wanting to take a break, then IMO you’re not going hard enough.
Another rule-of-thumb: the intensity should high enough that it becomes “annoyingly hard” to continue at that effort about halfway through the 2nd interval.