Getting to grips with interval training. Tuesday is intervals day according to Boot Camp. One straightforward approach to this is to do a warm up ride to Alloa and then do the interval sprints on the way back which is gently uphill. It's easy to control the heart rate because the surface is smooth. It takes about 40 minutes to warm up and I get one 5 minute interval in before the turn around. 5 minutes seems like a very long time when you're trying to maintain your heart-rate at 85-90% of the maximum. For me this is around 172-180 bpm.
The intervals on the way home are really tough: 5 mins on, 2 mins off to get the HR back down. The theory is that intervals make you faster and increase the anaerobic threshold. All the time I'm thinking that I don't need to be fast for a race like the Transalp, but it would be a handy attribute nonethless and there is the enticing possibility of finishing in 18th place rather than 19th in an SXC race to motivate me onwards through the pain.
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