Simple Bike Interval Workout

So having spent countless hours on an indoor bike trainer while training for my Half Ironman, it became necessary that I come up with some sort of interval workouts to break the monotony of these bike rides.  One of my go-to favorites that I use is a 15 minute cycle that I break into 3 different 5 minute intervals.  Sometimes folks have a tendency to over-complicate interval workouts, so my intent was to develope a simple and easy to remember interval workout that is effective and challenging.  It works like this....

If you have aerobars, you're golden....if not, well you gotta figure out something to do during one of the 5 minute intervals sections (maybe one-leg pedaling drills???).  I begin in a moderate gear that I can comfortably ride a few hours in.  I start my first 5 minute interval in the "hoods' of my road bike bars or simply riding in an upright position.  I hold it steady and maintain a comfortable cadence (keep in mind that this will be the recovery segment in subsequent 15 minute cycles).  After 5 minutes, I drop into my lowest gear, drop into my aerobars and hammer it out for 5 minutes.  I would say give this an 85-95 % of max effort here.  You want to start sweating at this point.  After 5 minutes in the aerobars, I shift up one gear, stand up and count 30 revolutions with one leg (60 total revs) the sit down, while riding in my "drop" bars.  When the next minute pops up, stand up again for 30 revs one-leg (60 total), then back down.  When the 3rd minute of this interval comes around....you got it, back up to standing then down.  Again I hammer the standing segment of this interval.  Really focus on getting a nice burn then use the sitting portion of the interval to recover slightly until the next minute comes around.  Then after 5 minutes, you're 15 minutes into the workout, go back to your upright "hoods" position and kick it up a couple gears and recover for 5 minutes.  I use this opportunity to take in fluid or depending on how long I go, take in calories.  I typically do 4 cycles of this, so my workout is an hour. 

You can also take this workout to the streets if you want to, just keep in mind the terrain.  I use it a lot at a local velodrome we have in my town which is flat and fast.  You can basically come up with any variation of mini-intervals to fill 5 minute spots of the 15 minute cycle.  The thing that I like about the above intervals is that I spend an equal amount of time in all positions of my road bike with clip-on aerobars....meaning 5 minutes in the hoods, 5 in aero, then 5 in the drops....then repeating every 15 minutes for the duration of my exercise.

Just remember:

1X5 Upright (Hoods)
1X5 Aero (Low gear and Hammer it out!!!!)
1X5 Drop Bars (On every 1 minute, stand up for 60 total revolutions, then sit back down in the drops)

Repeat cycles to equal desired length of workout. EX: 4 cycles= 1 hour workout

So give it a try and add some interval training to your cycling.  I think you'll quickly see both the physical and mental gains you can make from this type of training!