Adding intervals

[quixoticgeek]

Is there any major reason why it would be a bad idea to do a 1 hour HIIT workout, which covers about 23-25km, then extending it with another 30km or so over the next 90 mins?

J

[simonp]

Is there any major reason why it would be a bad idea to do a 1 hour HIIT workout, which covers about 23-25km, then extending it with another 30km or so over the next 90 mins?

J

That’s a lot of HIIT volume. I think you risk overtraining.

[quixoticgeek]

Oh, I've written that really badly. My bad.

What I meant was, do a 1 hour HIIT session (3x 10x 40/20, 10 min easy between sets), then add on another 90 minutes or so of just riding my bike and enjoying the sunshine. Basically out for an hour, then about 90 minutes to make the return trip.

J

[Pedal Castro]

Is there any major reason why it would be a bad idea to do a 1 hour HIIT workout, which covers about 23-25km, then extending it with another 30km or so over the next 90 mins?

J

It depends on what your intervals are, what intensity the extra 30km will be and what you have planned for the following day. For example, one of my sessions is 20' warm up,  2 sets of 10x 10" flat out with 50" recoveries followed by 2-3 hours in zone 1. Another day is 4x10' in the morning with 3-4 hours zone 1 in the afternoon because it takes more time for me to recover from 4x10' and I'd usually have a rest day following. Different things work for different people so try it and see how it works for you.

[quixoticgeek]

It depends on what your intervals are, what intensity the extra 30km will be and what you have planned for the following day. For example, one of my sessions is 20' warm up,  2 sets of 10x 10" flat out with 50" recoveries followed by 2-3 hours in zone 1. Another day is 4x10' in the morning with 3-4 hours zone 1 in the afternoon because it takes more time for me to recover from 4x10' and I'd usually have a rest day following. Different things work for different people so try it and see how it works for you.

Cool, the reaction isn't "that'll do you damage!". I always have at least 1 rest day after a HIIT session. Shall give it a try.

J

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

I'm not a big fan of HIIT intervals, but a while back I wanted to improve my time trialling technique.  Entering lots of events was difficult, primarily because of the time taken to and from the event.  However, one of my local roads, the A287 had two roundabouts exactly 6.25 miles apart, which meant 4 laps was 50 miles.  (It was a bit of a testing event as at one end there was a 2km average 5% climb with a max gradient of 8% - but that was good for my technique and probably counted for an extended high intensity interval).

Relevant to the OP, I found that the 6 miles (10km) from the end of my route back home was just perfect for removing tension in the legs.  Longer distances I found as being counterproductive (I've cycled 13 miles back from a 100 mile TT and that wasn't fun).  Therefore if I was going to add distance to my ride with intensity I'd probably do that beforehand rather than afterwards.

Another correlation - CC Basingstoke Club runs tend to start civilised and then, about 10 - 15 miles from home the hammer goes down (as we all know the way back) and we get a high intensity work out (on last Sunday's effort my Garmin showed 25 minutes total zone 5).  I certainly wouldn't have wanted to add any distance after that.

Hope this helps

[simonp]

Oh, I've written that really badly. My bad.

What I meant was, do a 1 hour HIIT session (3x 10x 40/20, 10 min easy between sets), then add on another 90 minutes or so of just riding my bike and enjoying the sunshine. Basically out for an hour, then about 90 minutes to make the return trip.

J

I wasn't sure which interpretation to take so I picked one. I've done at least one workout in TR which has a similar pattern though not as long - a 90m total where the first hour is warmup then some VO2max intervals then there's half an hour of easy riding.

I this can have benefits for aerobic base fitness; doing the easy bit at the end when already depleted by the intervals might have some training benefit. Overall training stress has to be taken into account to ensure you're not overdoing it.

[Phil W]

Will the extra 90 minutes be necessary to get back or can that be shortened if need be?  You haven't said what intensity you intend the work intervals to be at but if it is anything like VO2 Max and above you will likely be whacked by the end (if not before).  Is it likely that the thought of an extra 90 minutes riding will mean you do not hit the intensity you intend to target?  Presumably you will also do a warm up before the intervals so you will actually be out for longer?

Personally I would use a bit of low intensity steady riding as warm up, do the intervals, and try and arrange it so (at the end of the intervals)  I am no more than 15-20 mins easy riding from home for a cool down.  That way you can hit your target intensities / pace without worrying about how much riding there is to do after your hour of pain and you get enough time to flush the body of lactate etc.

[citoyen]

Am I missing something here? If you can maintain the I for a 60-minute+ IT session, then surely it’s more L to M than H?

[citoyen]

Anyway, to actually answer the question... when I was doing triathlon training a few years ago, I was having high intensity circuit training sessions with a coach once a week then riding 20km home afterwards.

I could only ever manage the ride home at a very gentle pace but it was a good warm down/active recovery.

[quixoticgeek]

Am I missing something here? If you can maintain the I for a 60-minute+ IT session, then surely it’s more L to M than H?

I thought I was supposed to maintain the I for 40 seconds, of every minute, for 10 minutes, then gently pedal for 10 minutes, then do it again. My current HIIT workout looks something like:

10-15 mins warm up, to get out the city to some 'quiet' roads. 10 x 40 seconds high, 20 seconds low, 10 minutes easy pedalling, 10 x 40 seconds high, 20 seconds low, 10 mins easy pedalling, 10 x 40 seconds high, 20 seconds low, 15-30 mins gentle pedalling to get home as I realise I'm faster this time than last, so I'm further away from home than planned, curse that the wind has moved, and ride home.

J

[citoyen]

10-15 mins warm up, to get out the city to some 'quiet' roads. 10 x 40 seconds high, 20 seconds low, 10 minutes easy pedalling, 10 x 40 seconds high, 20 seconds low, 10 mins easy pedalling, 10 x 40 seconds high, 20 seconds low, 15-30 mins gentle pedalling to get home as I realise I'm faster this time than last, so I'm further away from home than planned, curse that the wind has moved, and ride home.

Ah! OK, that answers my question - yes, I was missing something. I misunderstood your post as saying you were doing 10-mins at high intensity, didn't get the 40/20 bit. 

You're probably OK riding home as long as you don't try to push it above a 'recovery' level of effort, but tbh, only you can really answer that question yourself.

[Phil W]

This might interest you.

https://www.velociouscyclingadventures.com/optimized-intervals-for-cyclists