Originally Posted by daveryanwyoming .
Sure, a steady sustained effort at least 10 and ideally 15 to 60 minutes long where you ride hard but not so hard that you blow up and have to back off the pace before the effort is over. So IOW, a bit like a mini time trial but it can be backed off a little bit from actual race day pacing so that you can do these during normal training and perhaps do more than one interval on the same day.
These should get your breathing deeply and steadily but not gasping or ragged out of control breathing and they should require a lot of mental focus to avoid slipping back down to easier riding. The first five minutes or so usually don't feel too bad as these are steady hard efforts trying to hold relatively high average speed but not gut busting and unsustainable sprints. But the second half and especially final few minutes of each effort should take a lot of willpower to avoid slowing down or dropping off the pace, again it's not a huge sprint style burst of speed but if you pace these well those final few minutes will feel very hard and you'll want these to end but should actually be able to get to the end. It can take some time to dial in the pacing but they self correct pretty fast.
If you start too hard you'll realize within a few minutes that the pace is too hard and will have to back off to finish, if that happens start a bit easier next time. If you do them too easily you'll get to the end knowing you could have easily gone faster, if that happens try to start a bit quicker and hold a higher pace next time. Within a few sessions you should know about what you can manage and over time the speed should climb but the effort level should feel about the same as you get faster, that's what happens when you improve your fitness.
Many people do their L4 work as a set of 20 minute efforts with the classic 2x20 workout. These are good, long enough to get a solid workout and a lot of time up near Threshold pacing but short enough that most riders can learn to stay focused start to finish for each effort. But if you lack the road for exactly 20 minutes you can do lots of variations but try to make these at least 12 if not 15 minutes long each with 10 minutes being the absolute minimum for these efforts and longer is usually better. So you could do something like 3x15 minutes or even work up to 4x15 minutes or perhaps 1x30 or 2x30 or a single 45 or even 60 minute effort but in all cases these are steady hard but not quite maximal efforts for the duration. The rest period between each interval is not critical but most riders take 5 to even 10 minutes between efforts to drink from the bottles, regroup a bit mentally and then start the next effort.
These can be done on flat roads, on hills or with some effort on rolling terrain but that requires a lot more attention to shifting and keeping the pressure on the pedals continuously as you don't want gaps and breaks where you coast or recover for too long during these efforts. Keep them continuous and sustained as much as possible but if forced to, a few seconds of backing off for corners and traffic and such here and there won't kill the effort but keep any such interruptions short as in less than 20 to 30 seconds. If there are too many longer interruptions then try to find better roads for doing these efforts or do them indoors on a trainer as many folks do.
So steady hard and sustained solo efforts that are relatively long as in 10 to 60 minutes each and ridden hard but usually not quite at your absolute limit so that you can actually do the work on normal training days when you're not 100%. When in doubt or when just figuring out the pacing start them a tad easier so you actually finish each effort over time you can pick up the intensity and sooner or later you'll try for too much and won't be able to hold the effort level, that's how you'll learn your best pacing for future efforts.
Do a lot of these on the days when you're feeling fresher and want to work harder and your bike speeds and sustainable power will improve. Don't try to do these every day as they're pretty hard but a couple days a week with some of these efforts is pretty typical for folks working on Threshold power.
Good luck,
-Dave
I took 3rd in the crit from a 5 man break, but felt like **** most of the race. I nearly dropped myself after a couple early attacks. Right now my cardio feels great, but my legs just keep loading up like crazy!! Anyway I decided I have not done enough racing to peak, so I started a bit of buildig after Battenkill and am trying to maintain CTL for the next week at least. I just wish I could find my legs,and am wondering what I should fill in beyond my racing to get them to flush?
