Intervals, Intervals

The best part about intervals is realizing you can go much harder than you thought. About a month ago my coach sent me a new workout. The idea was to figure out how many watts I was generating at my Z4b heart rate. Z4b, for this coach, is roughly equivalent to a "hard" effort. Below it is a "moderately hard" effort, and above it is a "very hard" effort. For me the exact heart rate zone for 4b is 169-172 bpm. It's a narrow target to hit. This particular interval works like this: a 20 minute warm-up, at the end of which you bring your heart rate up to Z4B for the last five minutes. This is done on a trainer so that wind, rain, cars and inclines don't affect your wattage. The average wattage that you hit in Z4b during the warm-up is your target for your intervals. The main set of the workout is the wattage you produced during warm-up in zone 4b + 20 watts for one minute, then watts in Z4b +15 watts for one minute, then Z4b + 10 watts for one minute, then Z4b + 5 watts for one minute, then Z4b watts for one minute, then 2 minutes easy. Now repeat this interval 5 times. It's a smoke-session, as we used to say in the military. These days, that translates to me getting off the bike feeling like I just blew my legs apart, breathing hard, and feeling awesome. These things make you faster, quick. Intervals rule.

Comments

[jeff]

ZB4? I'm so confused.