Anaerobic Interval Training
How to set up a program specific to your fitness level!

• Increase climbing speed
• Improve power at lactate threshold
• Raise VO2-Max

It's still winter, but you're thinking about those upcoming rides and races. Much as you hate riding on the trainer, you're ready to hit it and get in shape. You don't have a lot of time. You need the maximum benefit, investing the least amount of time.

Interval workouts are proven to be the fastest, most time-effective way of getting faster. Intervals raise your lactate threshold, improve lactate clearance and lactate tolerance, improve sustained power, and can raise your muscle oxygen consumption (VO2-max), vastly improving your speed. That's fact.

But how long do you work out? How hard? Everywhere you look, there's the same vague, useless answer. "It depends on your existing fitness level, age, and genetic composition." A pre-packaged workout may be too hard for you, causing muscle breakdown without improving fitness. Or it may be too easy for your current fitness level, and you can actually lose fitness while you're dutifully doing workouts.

Here's a scientific method of matching interval workouts to your current aerobic fitness and strength level. Ideally, you'll do the testing and training with a power meter such as a Powertap, but the instructions show how you can do it without. But be warned: getting the maximum training value from interval workouts does NOT feel good. You will suffer.

Determining the effort level and time for your intervals
(1) Determine AIP (Anaerobic Interval Power). On your trainer, warm up for 10 minutes. Then do a GXT (Graded Exercise Test) using the power meter. Try to stay in the 85-95 rpm zone for cadence, dropping into higher gearing as you increase wattage. Note the power during the minute where you couldn't continue. This will be your Anaerobic Interval Power (AIP).
(1-Alternate) Determining workout intensity without a power meter. Warm up, then (assuming you're on a road bike) pop the gearing into big ring on the front, big cog on the back. Hit a cadence of 90 rpm. Each minute, drop down 1 cog. When you're no longer able to continue, note the gear on the rear. Using this gear at a 90 rpm cadence will approximate your AIP.
(1-Part B) Determine AIG (Anaerobic Interval Gearing). Note the gear combination at which you had to stop. This will be the gear combination in which you'll do the "work phase" of your interval sets.
(2) Take a day to rest.
(3) Determine your TTF (Time To Failure) at AIP. Warm up for 10 minutes, then drop into the gear combination in which you hit your AIP in the GXT. Push up to the wattage that you determined to be your AIP. (If you're doing it without a power meter, hit a cadence of 90 while in your AIG gear). Keep going until you absolutely, positively cannot maintain the power any longer. This is your TTF, the Time To Failure at Anaerobic Interval Power.
(4) Determine your AIT (Anaerobic Interval Time). Multiply your TTF at AIP by 60%. This is the amount of time you'll spend in the work phase of your intervals. You'll spend two AITs as a rest period, pedaling lightly to recover in a very easy gear, between each interval.
(5) Set up your training plan. Each training session will consist of a warmup, then intervals. Each interval is hard pedaling at the AIP (or approximating it with a 90 cadence at AIG gearing), keeping it up for your AIT. You then pedal lightly for 2 AITs, then go into the next interval. The interval set should be followed by at least 10 minutes of cool-down pedaling. Get a recovery drink into you as quickly as you've caught your breath from the interval set. Start with 2 intervals in each set. Do one set twice a week. Add an extra interval to the workout each week, if tolerated, up to 8 total intervals in a set.
(6) Retest and reset your AIP and AIT every 2 months.

Note:  The TTF at your AIP will be a bit longer than the time you'd find on your Power Profile (PP) graph. That's because during PP testing, you have to pedal based on your guess of what power you can keep up over a given time. So it frequently falls a bit under what you really could do. The TTF measures how long you really CAN hold that power.

Sample:
 - John does a GXT. As he reaches 360 watts, he gives out after 15 seconds. His AIP will be 360 watts.
 - He notes that his trainer was on medium. He was in the big ring in front, gear 7 in back. He'll match these settings for his interval workouts. His AIG is 7.
 - Two days later, John puts the trainer on medium, warms up, then hits the Big/7 combo. Pedaling at close to 90 rpm, he holds his effort level as near to 360 as possible. He gives out at 3 minutes, 12 seconds. His TTF is 192 seconds.
 - John multiplies 192 by 60%. His AIT will be 115 seconds. He rounds it to exactly 2 minutes for simplicity. His rest time will be 4 minutes.
 - John's workout plan is as follows: