| Interval Training has long been recognised as one | | | | intervals let you push your body harder which in |
| of the best components in a cycling training | | | | turn will help you boost your performance. |
| program to boost performance. If you are trying | | | | Intervals usually tend to place quite a strain on |
| to improve your strength and speed, and to a | | | | your body and as a result you should not use |
| certain extent endurance. | | | | them more than twice a week. In order to avoid |
| The man advantage of cycling intervals is that | | | | over training (which can lead to injury or chronic |
| they allow you to train at a higher intensity for | | | | exhaustion) try to only do intervals on the day |
| longer. Consider the following example: if you rode | | | | following a rest or recovery ride. Avoid them like |
| at a perceived exertion of 90% on your bike you | | | | the plague the day after a hard race or heavy |
| may be able to keep going for say 30 minutes | | | | training day. |
| before you had to slow down or stop. However | | | | There are a large variety of intervals you could |
| you could probably ride at the same intensity for | | | | performing ranging from slow / high resistance to |
| two periods of 20 minutes with a 10 minute rest | | | | high cadence / low resistance. The particular type |
| in between. | | | | of interval you choose will depend entirely on the |
| In the example above you would have ridden at | | | | type of riding you are training for and what |
| that high intensity for a total of 40 minutes if | | | | particular aspects of your cycling performance |
| using intervals, 10 minutes longer than if you had | | | | you are looking to improve. |
| ridden without using intervals. In short then | | | | |