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Anyone do many of the above for the more intense workouts? Do you find them beneficial or are they just too short?
Zwift has got a couple of short workouts that are quite beneficial. If you don't use Zwift you could duplicate the content.
https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/less-than-an-hour-to-burn/emilys-short-mix/
https://whatsonzwift.com/workouts/less-than-an-hour-to-burn/jons-short-mix/
You can be absolutely hammered after a 30min session, underestimate them at your peril! There are some simple examples on GCNs youtube channel if you don't want clever ERG stuff, or all the normal training apps have stuff too
It depends.
1) Do you want to improve on something that can be done in 30 minutes, which is going to restrict you to sprint intervals.
2) The number of intervals you can do increases with fitness. If an average person can do 2x20minutes at FTP in a session, then Geraint Thomas is probably doing 5 or 6 (even at his much higher FTP). Or at the other end, if a 30min session has a number of maxiumum effort sprints, then the fitter you are the less effective that becomes because the number you could have done is getting bigger and bigger. So you're not reaching that point of failure that triggers the body into doing something about it and addapting.
Which then brings you to the conflict between 1 and 2.
No point doing sprint intervals before you've done the base miles, lost the winter weight, FTP building type stuff. That sprint power will be long gone by summer. So if you're unfit enough to get a benefit from a 30min session then you're not at the stage where you would get a benefit from a 30 minute session.
the 30 min HIIT session kills me......I use Tabata timer on my android phone to keep things spot on... well worth the cost... https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.evgeniysharafan.tabatatimer&hl=en
I use Zwift racing for these type of efforts. Plenty of races in the 25-35 mins barrier and are always flat out, from the gun to the end at 95% + of MHR.
30 mins can leave you in pieces, but you have to go hard and thrash yourself.
As above, there are a couple of GCN session on YouTube of that length that were properly nasty if you did them right.
30mins including warm up and cool down?
I'm using Trainerroad and followed a plan last winter which worked and mostly improved muscular endurance. Though I felt i lost a bit of top end power. This winter Ive just not had time to commit to a plan so have been cherry picking workouts each week. Some familiar and some new, but a balance of sweetspot and VO2 max intervals. These are done in the evenings and due to time constraints most have been 45 - 60 mins but interested in hearing about what people have experience with the 30 min workouts too. Towards the end of the longer workouts I feel fine but lose focus and start thinking about other stuff I need to get done.
Looking at the calendar on TR my TSS is a little lower than this time last year but much more consistent over the weeks. At the weekend I usually get a long ride in and even in the mud I don't feel dead at the end so feel like my base has been maintained.
Towards the end of the longer workouts I feel fine but lose focus and start thinking about other stuff I need to get done.
Done an FTP test recently? Sounds like it might be a little low if you still feel fine
On Trainerroad, workouts like Birling ( https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/workouts/402803-birling ) are brutal, my legs are cooked after them and I struggle to walk up the stairs.
They definitely have benefit - if you read the TR blurb they have aerobic and anaerobic benefit, though I'm not sure that they would be great if you did nothing else.
A recent TR podcast suggested to follow a plan but to pick the minus versions to fit the time you have availble when short on time.
I know what you mean about loosing focus - even when not feeling fine with the workout I start thinking about the chores I have to do etc. The curse of a busy life!
If you've only got 30 minutes, they are better than nothing...
I used this session a lot when I was pre-Zwift, I liked it a lot.
This one is 40 minutes and is also good.
30 minute sessions can have huge benefits to all round fitness and power. A fine example is Ian To(?) He does either interval sessions on the turbo or long Z2 rides outdoors and is rather handy to be fair
I'm ending up with 30 min sessions and aside from whether its threshold or HIIT, its still 30 mins where I might otherwise be sitting on the sofa eating cake.
Emily's Short Mix is great if you know your FTP ballpark, raise it by ~20% and you will improve your 20min FTP figure if you complete the final work block before cool down.
Zwift ramp test is also a good short workout, I sometimes do it as such rather than as FTP test, as I find it flatters my FTP abilities.
Another good one is the Zwift pre training session, 35mins going through power zones if your FTP is ballpark.
I’m ending up with 30 min sessions and aside from whether its threshold or HIIT, its still 30 mins where I might otherwise be sitting on the sofa eating cake
I was going to say just this ^. I sometimes do a 30 min flat out road ride if I am pushed for time and want to do something other than sit and have a coffee and a biscuit. Not part of a structured training plan but double bonus of burning a few calories as well as the missed biscuit calories.
I can assure you, 30 minutes feels like a lifetime if you genuinely go flat out for as much of it as you can.
Short hard sessions have made a world of difference to my endurance ability.
I use the Zwift Emily/Jon workouts and rate them. Did a not bad Tour Divide on the back of those sessions. I’m becoming increasingly less convinced that the longer SSTs have as much benefit.