Originally posted by J-MAT
Ric, Maarten:
Like I said, I'm not a kilo rider, and I don't ride on the track. I said these were kilo-type efforts.
I've said before they are very demanding, by far the hardest intervals you can do. I said to do 5-10 minutes of recovery to start, not that it was the proper recovery for an established kilo rider. It takes time to get your gears dialed in, meaning the first efforts won't as taxing as they will be once you know what you are doing, making shorter recoveries acceptable.
When I first started doing them, I had to quit after 50-60 seconds, it was impossible to continue. I've come close to collapsing on the bike, suffered from brief disorientation, and felt like puking several times. That's why I said to find a quiet section of road, away from traffic. If you collapse on your bike, you won't get run over.
Kilo riders shut down (as well they should) after 1 km since they are only concerned with the kilo itself. Why would they even try to keep going???
On the other hand, I'm a road rider. My intensity is often high enough in the first 45-55 seconds to hit max heart rate, I'm not sure how I could push harder. In time, you will be able to hold a higher pace after the first 60 seconds. The worst I fade to now after 60 seconds is 22-23 mph, far above 10 mph, and I can recover enough in the next few minutes to start going 25-26+ mph in the fifth minute.
These intervals come from the coach of a female world TT champ and the current American hour record holder. They are very effective if you can do them.