When to stop interval?

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Just curious how some people know when they feel it is time to stop an interval, especially the longer >20min intervals. Do go until your legs cannot hold a certain cadence, do you use perceived exertion, certain heart rate level or do you just get mentally fatigued and cannot go any more? What finally makes you throw in the towel and say, "That's long enough!"?

Jeff

Just curious how some people know when they feel it is time to stop an interval, especially the longer >20min intervals. Do go until your legs cannot hold a certain cadence, do you use perceived exertion, certain heart rate level or do you just get mentally fatigued and cannot go any more? What finally makes you throw in the towel and say, "That's long enough!"?

JeffIt depends. For repeated timed intervals like 2x20s I stop when I reach 20 minutes. When I'm trying to extend an SST effort for longer and unspecified durations like trying to stretch a 85-90% effort out past 45 minutes, an hour, 90 minutes, etc. I'll stop when it just gets too difficult to keep going. Some days that's mental and I can't keep the focus, sometimes I'm breathing like a freight train towards the end and feeling lousy, sometimes my legs just start feeling heavy and too uncomfortable to continue. I don't pay attention to HR so I don't stop intervals based on my pulse but excessive discomfort in terms of RPE is often enough to call it quits.

Most of my long intervals this winter have been on the CompuTrainer in ergo mode. That makes it pretty easy to know when you're cooked. If I can't maintain a relatively high leg speed like 80-100 rpm then the resistance climbs as the cadence drops. If I let my cadence fall off towards the end of a longer effort it suddenly gets real hard to keep going at that power level. In open loop mode or when out on the road I often call it quits when I have to back off by 10 or 20 watts from my target power on steady terrain. It's not too hard to tell when the end is coming, especially during a near maximal interval for the duration.

-Dave

Thank you for the great reply Dave and thanks for all of the awsome info you share on this forum. :)

I have 300PT and have been training consistently since December and absorbing a lot of info from this forum, I thought I was on my way to 300W when I found out my hub was out of calibration, so now I am having to go back to around 250W and start to build back up, I found it is the later parts of my intervals where I am really suffering because I thought I was past that wattage. A little depressing, but I keep telling myself I am in for the long run. ;)

Do you ever stop a interval knowing that you need to save something for tomorrows intervals?

...Do you ever stop a interval knowing that you need to save something for tomorrows intervals?That's an interesting question. Yes and no...

I work a plan that starts hard and short and drops intensity but increases duration throughout a multi day training block. So my hard short work comes early in the week and when I finish the following day will be a bit easier but a bit longer as well. Others work different plans, but with this approach I try to finish all the planned intervals during a workout regardless of how tired it makes me on the theory that getting a good workout today is better than saving for something that may or may not go well tomorrow. That coupled with the idea that tomorrow is scheduled to be a bit easier so I shouldn't have to save a lot to go longer at a lower intnesity.

But then there are those days where you really feel great and start tacking on a bit extra to the workout. Maybe an extra long effort or maybe a couple of short L6 efforts or maybe a couple of full sprints to round out a day when you feel extra snappy. I still tend to go hard when I feel strong 'cause you never know if you'll feel as good tomorrow but I'll be less inclined to add on extra stuff and compromise the following workout if I start feeling spent.

So I guess I don't save for tomorrow but instead try to lay out a weekly schedule that I have a good chance of completing as planned. I'll back off when it just isn't happening, you've gotta listen to your body and I'll add extras when I feel particularly good but won't stretch a workout unless I'm feeling pretty good because there's always tomorrow to think about.

-Dave
P.S. You should drop wattsamatta a private message. He's a friend that I raced with back in college and he's also a die hard 300PT user with similar power numbers. He's in Incline Village so you might hook up for some Mt. Rose repeats....

Makes good sense Dave, thanks again for the reply.

Mount Rose repeats, which side? ;)