While i suspect this is an HTFU issue…
Do they ever get better or are you always miserable?
(My mind is blown by the mental toughness of people that are doing this 5 times a week)
They suck. Grit teeth. Contorted facial expression. I often find myself staring straight down then I remember I should probably not get used to that because I may fall back to it on the road someday.
I watch TV when on the trainer. It’s the only way you could get me on the trainer in the first place. I can’t remember what was on during the interval!
While i suspect this is an HTFU issue…
Do they ever get better or are you always miserable?
(My mind is blown by the mental toughness of people that are doing this 5 times a week)
I really like them but prefer 3 X 20 with 5 minutes easy in between.
The secrets are :
-
Great fans
-
Great fitting bike. I believe bike fit issues really rear their ugly head on the trainer.
-
Great music.
YMMV,
Hugh
I guess I’m fortunate and have a quiet 18min hill about 25 mins ride from my front door, or a quiet 10min hill about 15 mins from my front door. They suck a hell of a lot less when doing them outside, in fact, I almost look forward to those sessions. I tend to avoid the trainer at all costs for the reasons you have just described!
I guess I’m fortunate and have a quiet 18min hill about 25 mins ride from my front door, or a quiet 10min hill about 15 mins from my front door. They suck a hell of a lot less when doing them outside, in fact, I almost look forward to those sessions. I tend to avoid the trainer at all costs for the reasons you have just described!
Hill climb as an interval is obviously far preferable from an enjoyment perspective but it’s not physiologically or psychologically the same as doing sustained threshold power intervals on a flat road or on a trainer.
I love climbing and I can attest that the strongest I ever was in my life was when I had a 15-20 minute sustained climb out my back door and I could do dozens of repeats on it on weeknights, but while helpful that style of riding alone is not sufficient for maximum performance in a 20k-40k TT setting. You have to grind out the flat intervals to nail the cadence and pacing.
As to the OP’s question. 2x20’s definitely get psychologically easier after you have done enough of them in a given season but I find that I have to rebuild my tolerance for them almost from scratch each year if you take any sort of sustained break from doing them.
At 95% they shouldn’t be too bad after a couple tries.
Race day is quite enjoyable when you 2x20 5x/week 
.
chris froome says the sky mantra is ’ train hard, race easy.’
getting the 95% right is pretty key - because if its really 98% (or more) they feel a lot tougher.
also - if doing many times per week - i’m a big believer in mixing it up - so maybe 2x20 at 92% but with 130% 15 sec surges every 2 mins (or any slight variation to keep the mind working while the pain does its thing).
If it doesn’t suck… your FTP is set too low.
While i suspect this is an HTFU issue…
Do they ever get better or are you always miserable?
(My mind is blown by the mental toughness of people that are doing this 5 times a week)
Nobody does that workout five days a week. 2x20 at 85-90% FTP five days a week? Sure. Not 95%
I am of the opinion that something as hard as you are describing on the trainer is just too much unless it is for specific reasons and for a short period of time.
Outdoors, especially on a climb 2x20 @ 95% isn’t that hard, but on a trainer, I’ll pass.
- More caffeine.
-Scott
While i suspect this is an HTFU issue…
Do they ever get better or are you always miserable?
(My mind is blown by the mental toughness of people that are doing this 5 times a week)
Nobody does that workout five days a week. 2x20 at 85-90% FTP five days a week? Sure. Not 95%
I am of the opinion that something as hard as you are describing on the trainer is just too much unless it is for specific reasons and for a short period of time.
Outdoors, especially on a climb 2x20 @ 95% isn’t that hard, but on a trainer, I’ll pass.
My thoughts exactly. Huge difference between 85-90% (tempo) and 95% (basically threshold). 2x20 @ 95% five times a week would crush me in short order.
Of course it hurts.
The trick is not minding that it hurts . . . .
I find sufferfest helps with this perfectly!
While i suspect this is an HTFU issue…
Do they ever get better or are you always miserable?
(My mind is blown by the mental toughness of people that are doing this 5 times a week)
Nobody does that workout five days a week. 2x20 at 85-90% FTP five days a week? Sure. Not 95%
I am of the opinion that something as hard as you are describing on the trainer is just too much unless it is for specific reasons and for a short period of time.
Outdoors, especially on a climb 2x20 @ 95% isn’t that hard, but on a trainer, I’ll pass.
Kevin,
IIRC aren’t you one of those masochistic folks that does not use a fan when on the trainer? In my experience great fans make a huge difference once one exceeds 85%
Hugh
Hugh
Proper pacing for my 2x20 means that the last 5 minutes of the 1st 20 sucks, the last 10 of the 2nd has me hating life. Once a week is enough for me. Done properly, they should always suck. I think it was LeMond who said “It never gets easier, you just go faster.”
I can’t do it. Mentally weak I guess. I could do 1x40 @ 95% outside much easier than even 1x20 @ 95% indoors. I have no excuses either. Heck, the Kickr when at static watts is not as hard as outside and I still fail at it. Massive interactive media room with a monster screen does not help.
While i suspect this is an HTFU issue…
Do they ever get better or are you always miserable?
(My mind is blown by the mental toughness of people that are doing this 5 times a week)
Nobody does that workout five days a week. 2x20 at 85-90% FTP five days a week? Sure. Not 95%
I am of the opinion that something as hard as you are describing on the trainer is just too much unless it is for specific reasons and for a short period of time.
Outdoors, especially on a climb 2x20 @ 95% isn’t that hard, but on a trainer, I’ll pass.
Kevin,
IIRC aren’t you one of those masochistic folks that does not use a fan when on the trainer? In my experience great fans make a huge difference once one exceeds 85%
Hugh
Hugh
No. I have two fans and I’m in my garage. The temperature mid winter in my garage is often in the low 40’s to upper 30’s. There are days that I wear shoe covers on the trainer. Temperature is not an issue. For what I’m doing I just don’t see the need to do something like 2x20’ @ 95%.
The best way for 2 x 20 @ 95% not to suck is to improve your FTP by 5% and not increase the wattage of your intervals
I almost never do intervals at levels 95% or higher. I have improve a ton by not riding that hard. N=1.
and here I did 5x15 at 101% on the trainer this past weekend(varied from 97-105 and I quit pedaling for 1-2min between as in, off the bike) if I am going to ride the trainer, it is going to be as short as possible and 75min in total was enough. even at pretrough ftp those would still be 95%
ok, maybe I can bump ftp back up a bit from the trough of the summer(guessing hct has rebounded). the season sucked