I have some bike races coming up and wanted to get a little work on the pointier end of the power curve. I feel like 60 second intervals would be good.
How many should I do? I feel like I’ve seen 20x is a good number?
Recovery interval? Is it constant, or would I do like 4 sets of 5, with a longer rest between sets?
Target % of FTP?
Also, what about a max power workout?
In the past I’ve done 7 x 10 seconds a max effort with 20 seconds recovery. So the workout part of this is pretty short. Don’t remember where I got this, not sure its the best way to do it.
So far this year I’ve done:
2x20 minutes, with 2 minutes recovery. Done this workout three times. Made large improvements 2nd and 3rd workouts
3x ~8 minutes, I have a category 3 climb that takes me about 8-8:30. Go harder on this, but recovery is longer, ends up being about 8 minutes. Did this for the second time last week, decent numbers like 5 W/kg.
Depends on what you’re looking to achieve. IMO if you’re looking at near-maximal efforts 20x60sec would be too much to keep the intensity of all the reps sufficiently high, and in this case quality is far more important than quantity. Along the same lines, the amount of recovery should be adequate that you’re able to hit all the reps without significant degradation -typically that’s around 4x the length of the work interval. My coach likes to give me 12x40 second efforts with 3:20 recovery at the start of the season, which gets a lot nastier than it sounds if you truly let it rip.
On the other hand, a 20x60 structure might be better suited to a 1min on/1 min off style v02max workout, which is an entirely different ballgame. There you’re looking at accumulating as much time as possible at v02max, where the intensity would be slightly above what you would hold for a 3-5 minute interval and the recoveries proportionally shorter in order to keep your breathing rate high.
As flubber says, 20x60sec doesn’t sound like a max power session to me, it sounds like an FTP or VO2max session.
You can’t do 60sec 20 times at a high proportion of your 60 sec max power which I would think is what you should be attempting.
Personally, I reckon I’d struggle to do more than 5 or 6 high quality reps and I’d need several minutes recovery between them.
I suppose the important thing is what do you mean by pointy end?
My sprint power is in the region of 400%FTP. I think I can do about 220%FTP for a standalone minute maximum, and I’d be pushed to hit 200% every time for 5 or 6 x1min repeats.
I don’t do any dedicated structured sprint training, and I’m not sure what that traditionally consists of, but I can’t imagine my top end would be dramatically helped by operating for long periods at half that power. So, if you mean sprinting, which is the actual pointy end, then surely something more like 10 x 10sec on 3mins would be more appropriate?
On the other hand, perhaps you just mean VO2max level power? Perhaps to improve ability to surge for a few minutes to close gaps, attack short hills, make breaks, and recover from same without grinding to a halt… For that I’d be doing 6 to 8 intervals between 2.5 and 5mins in duration on 3 to 6 mins of recovery. I usually go for the intervals of 2.5 or 3mins on about 4mins of recovery at about 120%FTP. I’ve tried 5x5min intervals at ~110-112% and hated them. They might be beneficial but it’s the point of maximum unpleasantness for me and I choose not to indulge in stuff I don’t either enjoy or find satisfying.
As the others have said, there are many ways to do 1min (or short intervals) to achieve different things.
If you’re really looking to complete a max power session then you would be looking at 10-12 reps with around 5mins rest in between. These should absolutely break your legs if done correctly to make it a true max power type session. You should feel your legs explode around 40-50s in each rep and then you hang on.
You can also do these slightly differently for more strength/ efficiency focus on muscle recruitment, depending on what you want.
Alternatively, you might want to do short 1 or 2min intervals to simulate repeated attacks/ general group dynamics in bike racing, so you can go and then go again, where you structure them more with shorter rest, simple e.g.
4x
5x 2min Hard (+1-2mins easy)
with 5-10mins easy between each set
Normally the first type of session would be done early in the year and the second type closer to race season as race specific preparation. Many variations on these. Then there’s the sprints sessions that you mentioned, which are again a different type of session, so it all depends what you’re aiming for with each of these.
I have some bike races coming up and wanted to get a little work on the pointier end of the power curve. I feel like 60 second intervals would be good.
Just me, but I like doing “peak and fade” intervals to simulate the attacks. It’s VO2 stuff but for the first 20 to 30 seconds of each 3min set you surge as if you’re trying to break free and get a gap. Then you “hold” at just under your normal 3min VO2 power for rest of the set.
So for me that might be:
-20 to 30sec at 550w
-2min 30sec at 320w (possibly tapering to less during ending of sets)
I feel like that’s a “real world” way to train that.
I’ve never been in a race or weeknight worlds where I gave it 1min “all out” like for a KOM. You’re usually already fatigued enough you’re not going to hit your real 1min PR power.
If I’m going after some KOM’s, I’ll fart around in Z1 to get there…give it whatever I think I can do for a minute for the KOM try knowing I have two or three other KOM’s to try for that day. That’s how I train “1min power”. Sometimes even with a break at the local cafe’ or bottle shop for an hour.
for me… training 60" intervals is max 3 sets in an hour with the remaining 57 minutes literally barely pedaling (40-50w)
That’s about the only way I can go that deep for a real 1minmax
First, I agree with what the others have said about shorter, harder and fewer efforts for your goal.
BUT YOUR 20x60 seconds is a great workout for sitting in a group or general Tri fitness. Allow 1-2 min recovery.
First, I agree with what the others have said about shorter, harder and fewer efforts for your goal.
BUT YOUR 20x60 seconds is a great workout for sitting in a group or general Tri fitness. Allow 1-2 min recovery.
I used to regularly do 30x1min at 115-125%FTP with 1min recoveries at ~45%FTP. I’d sometimes rise to 130%FTP or more for the last few if I had the legs.
I found it a good session. More enjoyable than say 2x20@FTP and similar sort of stress overall. But it’s not really for top end, more of an FTP session with perhaps some impact on VO2max.
30s on, 30s off - Repeat ad nauseam will do more for your 1 min power than training 1 min intervals directly.
I do 3 *10 min sets and typically see a 25% rise in 1 min peak power over 4-5 weeks. I have a 1 min climb that I test on and knock a couple seconds off each week.
20 flat out 1 minute efforts is 20 minutes at somewhere around 160-170% of your FTP. Way too much when you consider a 20 minute FTP test is 20 minutes at ~105% of your theoretical FTP and if it isn’t a near death experience you didn’t go nearly hard enough.
I do 2 or 3, 1-minute effort rides before my sort of peak TT time. My 1-minute effort ride is a 2.5ish mile loop I ride that has a couple climbs and my absolute best 1-minute power output is right around 500 watts and my FTP isin the 280-290. I try to hold in the low 400 watt range for each effort. and given that 2 out of three sections are on 5-6% grades, I have a few minutes (~3-4) between each effort. I never do this workout if I am tired and I try to do 3 laps (9 intervals). Most of the time I can finish, but I don’t worry if I can only finish 7 or so efforts. So I guess if you wanted to do it on a trainer it would be 9x1 min at 140% with 4-5 min of super easy (~40% FTP). Stop if you can’t hold above 130% FTP.
First, I agree with what the others have said about shorter, harder and fewer efforts for your goal.
BUT YOUR 20x60 seconds is a great workout for sitting in a group or general Tri fitness. Allow 1-2 min recovery.
Thanks, this is what I want. The max power workout was something different, I wasn’t looking to do 20x1 minute at max 1 minute effort. I was looking for the right rest interval and %FTP target for a 20x1 minute workout.
I guess I will shoot for about 135% of FTP and see how it goes.
First, I agree with what the others have said about shorter, harder and fewer efforts for your goal.
BUT YOUR 20x60 seconds is a great workout for sitting in a group or general Tri fitness. Allow 1-2 min recovery.
I used to regularly do 30x1min at 115-125%FTP with 1min recoveries at ~45%FTP. I’d sometimes rise to 130%FTP or more for the last few if I had the legs.
I found it a good session. More enjoyable than say 2x20@FTP and similar sort of stress overall. But it’s not really for top end, more of an FTP session with perhaps some impact on VO2max.
I guess it depends on what zone you typically train for and how you meter your effort.
I don’t find 2 x20 min to be that bad. The first 20 minutes is never going to be really hard (just focused, so you keep the pace where it needs to be) and it seems like if you pace it right, only the last 10 minutes starts to really ramp up the difficulty and you end up with about 5 minutes where it is really hard. Maybe I am not doing it hard enough, but I always try to err on the side of going slightly too easy to prevent getting too cooked. Especially now that I am in the back half of my 40s and its a little slower to recover.
20 x 60 seconds actually seemed fairly difficult today, but I really haven’t been working that part of my power curve at all, so it was a bit of a shock to the system. But good workout, I liked the feel of it and opening up the legs a bit felt like good work to get race ready.
First, I agree with what the others have said about shorter, harder and fewer efforts for your goal.
BUT YOUR 20x60 seconds is a great workout for sitting in a group or general Tri fitness. Allow 1-2 min recovery.
I used to regularly do 30x1min at 115-125%FTP with 1min recoveries at ~45%FTP. I’d sometimes rise to 130%FTP or more for the last few if I had the legs.
I found it a good session. More enjoyable than say 2x20@FTP and similar sort of stress overall. But it’s not really for top end, more of an FTP session with perhaps some impact on VO2max.
I guess it depends on what zone you typically train for and how you meter your effort.
I don’t find 2 x20 min to be that bad. The first 20 minutes is never going to be really hard (just focused, so you keep the pace where it needs to be) and it seems like if you pace it right, only the last 10 minutes starts to really ramp up the difficulty and you end up with about 5 minutes where it is really hard. Maybe I am not doing it hard enough, but I always try to err on the side of going slightly too easy to prevent getting too cooked. Especially now that I am in the back half of my 40s and its a little slower to recover.
20 x 60 seconds actually seemed fairly difficult today, but I really haven’t been working that part of my power curve at all, so it was a bit of a shock to the system. But good workout, I liked the feel of it and opening up the legs a bit felt like good work to get race ready.
I didn’t say I find 2x20min awful. I do find it somewhat tedious sometimes. 30x1min is more stimulating, not more comfortable.