Is there a “correct” way of progress interval training?
If I for example do 3 sweet spot intervals and want to make the training harder, should I add a fourth interval or increase the time of a each interval? Or is the total time of all intervals the important thing?
Both 
Look to add circa 5+ mins to your overall time in zone (TiZ) each workout - do this via a mix of longer intervals and more intervals to keep things ‘interesting’…but when it comes to more intervals, don’t reduce the length to less than 15 mins if doing sweet spot would be my guidance, aiming to in a block of sweet spot training take the total TiZ to around 200% of current FTP Time to Exhaustion (TTE).
Progression example I used (quite aggressive)…
I would add 2x25 in between 2x20 and 2x30, then swap 2x30 and 3x20 to allow a 3x22 in between 3x20 and 3x30. But it depends on how each person would respond to the change.
Yep, all depends on how people adapt - I was able to push more than I initially thought in the end.
I had an outline adjusted it week on week based on RPE and other metrics. The same as I would do through feedback and communication with any of my athletes
Thanks for the answers. I shall try to find something which I can handle.
I’m 70 years old, so probably I will do less aggressive intervals then you both have suggest. Currently I have done 5 minute intervals which, with my current form, is probably what I can manage to do. Maybe I’m using too high intensity setting?
These intervals are almost always below threshold, so 85-97% (sweet spot), so your interval length needs to be 10-mins or greater to be of benefit. The whole goal is to build up resistance to fatigue, which Olly mentions (TTE - time to exhaustion). Doing these at 90% will the same benefit as 100%, but with less fatigue. Start at a lower intensity, and try keep the power steady throughout (steady state efforts). Lower cadence too.
Hi,
I’m 62 but already concerned about that and found very helpful Tim Cusick (WKO4) presentation that includes a guide line of amount of intensity and progression depending of your goal. Unfortunately there is nothing related to aging but you can figure that out.
I can not attach pdf’s but follows some slides.
I hope it helps.
Regards
PS: but remember today’s mantra = Z1/Z2 so I do that only on max 20% of my “TRAINING SESSIONS” and only during BUILD fase. The rest has being the boring z1/z2 … which has worked very well compared to my past training …
Thanks for the info.
Is there a link to those PDFs you can post? Thanks
Just FYI - If you look up WKO5 Education on YouTube - they provide a link for slides below most (if not all) of the main webinars - of which the one above is one of also.
Excellent. Thank you.
@Olly_Thomas @Gerald ? re your May 20th comments. Very helpful to see this progression. I’m not sure if this question is possible to answer. How often in a week or two? that has 5 training days do you do work on these types of intervals? Not so much a question for me personally as you don’t know my state of fitness, but what might a goal be?
For me, twice a week (back to back).
One workout might be threshold (L4) and the next day a Tempo (L3) workout.
A third workout (day 3) would be an endurance ride (while slightly fatigued from these two workouts).
Then a recovery day.
2x a week is the simple answer. How that is programmed depends on the athlete and the periodisation approach and wider goals.
