Today, on internet we have abundance of training programs for all categories of cyclists- professional, amateur and beginners. I do not know under which category do I fall. This is unlike 17 years back when I started cycling. Interval training is one of the most popular and talked about.
The rationale of interval training is appealing to any cyclist but no easy to implement it. For instance 5 intervals of 2 minutes each may be equivalent to a 100 km ride. Two years back when I re-started cycling, I was 17 years older and was not going to be easy for me to attain a level that will help me complete 100 km cycling race. I rode some 6000 km in 280 outings but could not implement the interval training regime. Max intervals that I lasted were 2 and that too were not at the threshold levels. Somewhere in my mind I had the notion of substituting my failure at interval training by riding long distances and still manage to get the benefits, if any.
However, this seems to be changing now. I am more convinced about interval training post riding on trainer I bought. Over the last one month I am slowly adapting to the interval training method. Post a 10 minute warm-up, I increase the resistance level to 4 on the trainer and switch to heavy gears on the cycle. I focus on maintaining the cadence above 90 for 2 minutes. Such repetitions are interspersed between 1 – 2 minutes of relaxed ride when the resistance level is restored to level 1 and lighted of the gears on the cycle.
I have already downloaded a couple of interval training programs and expect to go full on interval training before I hit the roads post first rains of monsoon.
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