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When a new client signs up for coaching with Cycle-Smart it almost never fails that they're shocked and concerned with the lack of anaerobic, high intensity intervals in their training program. In the first 12 weeks of the season the hardest interval they're asked to do (other than sprint workouts), is 8-12 beats below their lactate threshold. It takes a large amount of trust as it seems counter-intuitive; if you want to get faster, you have to train as long, hard, and often as possible, right? Trying to get them to take a new approach can be difficult.
Many of my articles on Bike.com have revolved around the importance of base training, rest, and recovery. These are the foundation and framework of deep, solid fitness, and almost always the aspects that self-coached riders overlook in their anxiousness to get to the "hard" stuff. With no base, you'll be able to do a certain volume of anaerobic work -- you'll get fast, but your fitness will have a low ceiling and a short shelf life. With a solid aerobic base, you'll be able to do a much higher volume of anaerobic work with less days of recovery in between each workout. Your fitness will reach a higher level and last longer, with much less risk of overtraining.
Most of my clients are at the point where they've finished their base work, and are ready to complete their fitness picture with the anaerobic training I've kept from them until now. It's not that they haven't been anaerobic yet; they've been racing every weekend and so, of course have done high intensity work then. Only when they've achieved all their aerobic goals, however, will I then allow them to begin specific anaerobic training during the week. There are 3 types of anaerobic intervals that I utilize: maximal, submaximal, and high. The effort is similar for all three, but the major difference is the length of each interval. Maximal efforts can be done year-round and are simply 8-15 second sprints, the details of which I outlined in a previous article.
Submax: Submax efforts begin like a sprint, but then the effort is held for 45 seconds to 2 minutes at a level below what you could do with a maximal sprinting effort. The ideal structure is to do these as 1 minute on, 1 minute off, to emphasize lactate tolerance and partial recovery between each effort. The feeling is very similar to repeated sprinting out of corners, or covering attacks and counter-attacks. These intervals should be done early in the week after full recovery from the weekend, and early in a training phase when your body is still fresh enough to handle them.
The delayed reaction of the heart to catch up to this short, anaerobic effort takes going by heart rate somewhat ineffective. A power meter is the best way to measure the effort, and perceived exertion will be just as effective as a heart rate monitor in this case. If you're doing these intervals in the context of a training race repeated short attacks or sprinting for primes is ideal.
High: High again begins like a sprint, but this time the effort is held for 2-4 minutes, with a recovery period equal to the interval or longer. The ideal interval length is 3 minutes, which helps to differentiate it from either Submax or a longer, aerobic effort. Generally, 5 minutes is about how long your body can stay anaerobic in a single effort before oxygen debt shuts it down. If you're properly warmed up, it should take about a minute to get your heart rate to or above your lactate threshold, so here you can rely on your heart rate monitor more than with the Submax.
Training in this zone is intended to increase your ability to quickly deliver oxygen to working muscles, and tolerate high lactate levels created with each effort. Mentally, it helps you become familiar with riding through the pain of being anaerobic for an extended period. The effort is similar to bridging a gap to a breakaway, or staying with the leaders or even attacking over the top of a climb. The intervals can be done on Tuesdays or Wednesdays throughout a training cycle, but again only after full recovery from the weekend. In the context of a weekly training race, taking one-lap flyers or an extended pull on the front is ideal.
In both cases, these intervals can be used to emphasize many different aspects of your form. They can be done motorpacing or in training races, on climbs or flats, or on a TT bike or with aero bars. They can also be done at high cadences to emphasize leg speed and efficiency, or at a low cadence to increase strength, both of which will increase your overall power. Which aspect you choose to emphasize will depend on your weaknesses, and what events you have coming up. The volume you do within a single workout will depend on how long you can maintain the quality of the work. When you find you can no longer raise your heart rate, or the speed or power you're generating begins to drop, you should end the session before you do any serious damage.
The most important thing to keep in mind with anaerobic work is that over doing it is the easiest way to ruin your season. Most riders can only handle 2-3 workouts of this type in a week, and that includes racing. So, if you're racing on both Saturday and Sunday your only hard workout for the week might fall on Wednesday, or you might not do it all. At this time of the year, full recovery between races and training is crucial to keeping you rolling and away from overtraining.
Adam Hodges Myerson is a cycling coach, race promoter, team manager, and USCF category 1 racer. His company is called Cycle-Smart, and he can be reached at adam@cycle-smart.com. He lives in Northampton, Mass. with his wife, Allison, and their two cats Birdie and Marie.