Indoor Cycling Week 3

Day 1
Today was the day to bring on the pain.  The intervals we were performing were called High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT.  With this sort of training, we are performing a "microburst" of activity followed by a very short recovery.

After the usual warm up and ramp up to get our heart rate going, we dived into these intervals.  They were only 15 seconds each at 150% of our Functional Threshold Power (FTP value calculated at first class).  After each we'd easy spin for 15 seconds.  Repeat this sixteen times for a set, then perform the set 3 times (with cool down in between).

I had a rough estimate of my FTP based on my heart rate.  The problem here is, how do you get to 150% of your FTP in only 15 seconds?  It takes a little while for your heart to fire up like that!  So instead I just threw every intensity I had at it.  I started standing up to pedal for every other peak, in order to make it even more difficult.

Day 2
 This was another new interval called a Sprint-erval.  First, a warm up with a bit of sprinting in it.  For a set you had to do 200% of your FTP for 15 seconds, then easy spin for 45 seconds.  This is repeated 3 times.  Finally, a sustained effort of 4 minutes for 90% of your FTP.  This set was performed five times.

Its very hard to get that heart rate up in 15 seconds.  I put everything on with the most resistance, stand on the pedals and power down as hard as I can.  I managed to stand for every sprint session.

Day 3
Unfortunately I got off to a bad start.  I was almost at class when I realized I had forgotten my phone.  All my sensors rely on my phone; without it I have no idea of my heart rate or cadence.  These have gotten very important in class.  I had to head back, get my phone and head to class again.  It made me 15 minutes late but I arrived in the midst of the first interval.

Today was a day I will refer to as Sprints and Sprint-ervals.

The first set of intervals consisted of a hard (200%FTP) effort for 15 seconds followed by a 45 second recovery.  Then a sustained effort of 4 minutes.  This was repeated three times.  At the end of the third set there was also a 30 second sprint effort.  For the sprints I was standing up to pedal and I did the sustained effort from the drop position.

The second set of intervals were hard sprints.  You start at 200% FTP for 15 seconds, easy spin for 15 seconds,   Repeat sixteen times for a set.  We did that set three times.  I didn't bother standing for any of these sprints; there was so much shifting I felt more comfortable with my hands on the brake hoods.  My chain managed to drop twice doing these.