OK, its summer class exam time and that combined with work means little time for riding during the day. But it also means that I can pump out some quick trainer sessions. So, plan my trainer session for tonight. I’ve been doing a lot of running lately, but very little cycling. I’m looking to stay on for 1 to 1.5 hours.
Spinervals “Have Mercy” dvd.
1.5 hours of 100+rpm… No music, No TV, No Reading.
1 min w/u
3 x 29 min LT intervals w/ 1 min easy spin in between
I like the other guy’s suggestion of no tv and no music…perhaps you should turn out the lights also.
I’ll also put on a blindfold and some earplugs.
You could do it naked.
I do all my trainer sessions naked and in front of my window.
what’s your goal? blow off steam?
My basic goal is to just get in a quick workout. I find that typically, 1 hour on the trainer feels like 2 on the road. I have lots of studying to do tonight for finals next week, so I’m just trying to cram in some bike time. Presently I’m working on building up my base for running. My cycling base is pretty decent, as I find that my average pace over 56 miles is very close to my avg pace for 15. So, I’m thinking I could use some power and speed work. Something to get some lactic acid into my legs.
ok. here’s an idea. fwiw whoever says no tunes smokes crack 
15 min easy warm-up. get some mod-hard/hard efforts in there (no longer than 10 - 15 sec). Also some one-legged drills. Start w/ the ‘worse’ leg (you’ll know what I mean) go until you can’t lift your leg anymore, then switch. Notice how difficult it is to clip in (b/c your leg lifts off), and how much smoother your pedal stroke feels. I think it helps - ymmv. do each leg twice or 3 x.
if you don’t do it much, you could do hard intervals of 3-min duration. kick down the gear, and push hard from the get-go. Watch your cadence - if your cadence decreases, you need to spin a harder gear for wattage to stay the same (duh).
I’m assuming you don’t have a powermeter, so you have to go by feel. if you have a rear-wheel odometer, make sure the distance covered stays similar on each attempt. You need to be pretty much exhausted at the end of each attempt.
after 3 min, spin VERY easy until you feel like you can do another attempt. 3 - 5 min? depends on you.
do another 3-min interval
another easy spin (will get longer, adjust as needed)
repeat for a total of 4 intervals.
spin ez for 10 min, mod-hard for 10, ez for 10, done!
16:00 warmup spin, easy gear, get cadence to ‘sweet spot’
2:00 break
10:00 tempo. Up one/two gears from spin and increase cadence by 5-10 revs
2:00 break
6:00 ramping. Keep cadence at 95rpm. Start at warmup spin gearing and go up one gear every two min, keeping cadence at 95. Goal here is to hit LT
2:00 break
2x2:00 105rpm power drills. Hit LT by 1:00
2:00 break
That’s the warmup, now comes the fun:
4 sets of 2 3:00 repeats with 1:00 rest between repeats and 6:00 between sets. You should be at LT after 1:00 and way over LT by the end. Keep those legs moving during the 1:00 RI or you’ll hate life when the second repeat comes up.
This will run over the 1.5 hours, but you will definatly feel good when done.
I’ve been doing these since Thanksgiving every week (2-3x/week during the cold) with my coach, doing the same warmup with different sets of power intervals.