#hiitblr

Last night I did the Kinetics “Rivet” session. It is my most common HIIT routine. I like that it is programmed and I don’t have to think.  Before I upgraded my Kinetics App I had another HIIT session programmed that I got from a combination of GCN videos and published studies.  That got destroyed with the newer App which also seems to prevent me from programming my own.  It was better.

There is a recent study which basically confirms other work saying that intervals at a modest percentage over your FTP with rest at a percentage under FTP are not as good as much harder efforts.  My old session was like that.

The idea is to push as hard as you can.  Not some number calculated from some place.  Pushing absolutely as hard as you can.  It is easier to do in a way as there is no arbitrary limit it is your body’s red line.  As the session goes on the pushes get weaker, but as hard as you can is as hard as you can.

So this new study used trained cyclists and they used one of two methods.  The first was really very similar to the Kinetics method.  The second was rapid short 30 second efforts AHAYCG with 15 second rests.  Repeat 4 times rest for a few minutes then repeat the intervals, rest, one more repeat, then cool down.

The rest can vary. In the study it was 15 seconds in my old routine it was 30 seconds.  GCN had a video with that Simon fellow that had varying rests that got shorter as the session went on.

They describe the benefit as your muscles dealing better with lactic acid and stuff like that.

Anyway apparently the all out method had a 5% improvement in speed and strength over the more conventional one.  In my old program I was hitting 700 to 800 Watts at peak.  Hey I was not holding that for 30 seconds that was a peak, but the average over the push was say 70% of that or 400ish.  I think it worked better. The “rivet” session is under 300 Watts max.

So the problem is building my own session into a routine that is easy to follow when I am cross eyed and almost falling over.  My old Kinetics app let me do that, but the new one wants me to pay a subscription.  Actually there are a few available, but they all want me to pay something.

I guess I will write something down and see if I can follow it and record the session with the Kinetics App. 

In the summer outside I do a few things on rides that would benefit from hard 30 second pushes.  I sprint over these small bridges and shorter hills.  There is a particular one where I stand up and sprint.  Last weekend I was out and I could not hold the effort to the top on that one.  I know I can do better than that because I have. I think I get that from my outside riding.  Lets see if my inside riding can help with that.

It is dark when I get home now and we are in the monsoon season.  Being confined to indoor riding is not so bad, but it really limits the distances.  A 16 km ride outside is halfway to a short loop.  Inside it is a contest of will.

I did 16.7 km (equivalent) on the Green Monster.  10 minute warm up. 30 minute HIIT as per the GCN video.  I did a PB for peak power at 723Watts.  By peak that is for a VERY  short time.  Yet it is better than I have done before.

I have found that in HIIT runs each subsequent push is less than earlier ones.  That makes sense as if you are pushing “as hard as you can” you are not saving anything.  If a PB happens it is on the first pull.  As was this one.

Once or twice I have tried to hold back to make big pushes in the middle of a HIIT set, but that is a struggle and the peaks are lower.  You are getting tired which is the point. 

After I was done and had a rest, cooled down and hydrated I felt good. It is just like banging your head against the wall. Feels good when you stop.  After an hour rest, I found climbing the stairs in my house was a noticeable effort.  I guess it worked. 

Nov 30 2016.

I hope it is not surprising that I have only done a bit of indoor riding in the last week. I am new to the grampa thing it takes some time with the visiting and stuff. I have been continuing the 8 x 30 session of HIIT sessions for the biking.  It has been interesting that I seem to be getting worse lately.  My last report my FFF was 4.94 in the 8x30.

Since last report I have done 3 more identical sessions but my FFF have all been over 5 with the last 5.33.  The average and peak power as measured by the Green Monster were all about the same.  Basically it was more stressful for me to hold the speeds I had before. I could hit and hold the speeds for the required times, it was just harder to do.

Part of it may be I have been doing this after dinner.  My body is working to digest food and this bike thing is extra to that.  My heart rate was 9 beats per minute higher which is not that much actually.   I wait an hour so I no longer feel full.  Then I gear up and ride nowhere.  Actually I do not eat that much that I feel full after dinner. ( except for Thanksgiving and Xmas I stuff myself )  I think that 4.94 was before dinner.  I should try to test that.

Anyway I ordered this dongle for the Green Monster ( Kurt Kinetics Road Machine ) that transmits power numbers and stuff to smart phone and tablet apps.  There are a few video game type training tools out there and this dongle works with a couple of those.  The compatible app also promises training routines and stuff.   The main reason is my wife can then put her bike in the machine and get power and heart rate stuff on her phone.  My bike computer does not work on her bike.  She has a nice smart phone and a tablet.

I have a spreadsheet where I input the speeds on the monster and it gives me the Watts.  Those are the numbers I quote to you fine people.

This dongle is coming from Probikekit out of the UK.   They often have great discounts and in this case 50% compared to local dealers.  It is even just a bit cheaper than Kurt Kinetics sells it off their website even taking the exchange rate into account.  It should not cost much as it is a magnet and a small lump with a transmitter and a dumb computer on a chip in it.  They call it the inRide.  I am hoping that this makes to process more engaging to my wife and maybe to my daughter. 

The adverts for the apps look like fun.  You can race people or just ride up the Alps. It should be distracting.  There are training routines.

There are quite a few of these video game trainers.  Some have motors in the trainer that simulate downhill runs as well as provide resistance for the rest of the ride.  Those can be very expensive.  Personally I prefer to invest in the outside world riding equipment.  The inRide dongle was a cheap addition to the machine I already have.  If you need motivation or just want to get ready to ride in a warm safe place it is not a bad scheme.

Way back when I bought my aluminum bike I knew shit about this stuff.  I went for relatively short rides but I had purchased an inexpensive Mag trainer.  I did training rides where I found my max heart rate and totaled up several hours.  When a friend invited me to go out on a ride I said “Sure!”  I thought I was ready. Ha ha ha.  I was poorly prepared for outside, I lived, though I felt like I was dying.  But it was the entry to this adventure.  I did not quit, I am doing OK.

HIIT sessions are fast and good for you.  Science has confirmed the benefits and if you have time issues this is a solution.  At least one exercise machine company touts their device for that purpose.  Of course the ads are full of truths stretched so hard they can’t really be called true anymore.  The Bowflex Max will not let a skinny girl burn a thousand calories an hour (for an hour).  And as I have said before it cost much more than a good bike.  Bikes are better.

I rigged a sling thing to hold my tablet on the handlebars and let the skinny person from GCN nag and rant.  I could have turned the sound off but there was a bit of music.  The graphic timers were the thing I paid attention to.

Our Thanksgiving is coming up and I will not ride this Sunday.  I also need to do shopping and stuff for the holiday so Saturday is booked too.  Thus Tuesday and Thursday after dinner will be HIIT times. 

In the old days cars could get “an Italian tune up” which was just go out and drive hard and fast to blow the carbon out of the cylinders and let the machine run.  For a lot of cars it actually worked.  So HIITs are like that for a human body. The body likes to go hard.  It is built for it.  It can take a bit of time to fully benefit, but just starting and holding on will drive back the threat of Diabetes and High Blood pressure.  It took me a few years to get here from a potato.

Last night was 8 times 30 second AHAICG with  a max of just shy of 600 watts for the best run.  Last spring I was doing runs like that to 700 watts.  Once I exceeded 800, but that was a single all out push.  I can expect to improve.  Even though I am still fit from the past year’s rides, HIITs are a bit different.  I have to get HIIT FIT.  This does not run up big mileage but I am not working on distance this year.  I just want to keep what I got.

I experimented with my HIIT plan last night.

A few days ago I did a long steady effort and towards the middle I did one brutally hard push and hit a crazy power number.  So I thought what if I did really short pushes of much higher effort in the HIIT session.  The longer the interval the less power you can put out on average or peak.  The flip of that is how hard can you go if you ignore the time and just push as hard as possible for a peak?

I warmed up for 5 minutes and then pushed really hard ignoring the clock.  I was able to put out more watts, but nothing like the other day.  658 Watts compared to 550 ish in other HIIT sessions or the 828 Watts big number.  It was much more than my previous HIIT session yet much less than that single effort.

I tried 7 times.  Each one was about 650 or so.  The second to last was the same as the first.  Curious.  That crazy number from before was after 40 minutes of a steady relatively hardish effort.  I was fully Aerobic and fully warmed up.  Then I did ONE really maximum push.  I notice my legs feel different over the first half hour or so.  Was it because I was fully warmed up as opposed to not quite?  27% stronger is a lot.  Again I was ignoring the clock.  My pulls last night were between 10 and 15 seconds.  That big one was just under ten seconds

I wonder if I should try short “maximum” pulls as a strength thing or stick to the 30 second pulls.  I suppose I could try a long warm up then try again to see what happens.  Pro Riders will warm up on trainers for almost an hour before time trials.  The Human body is an interesting thing.

Nevertheless my FFF is still trending down. 5.3 last night which is the lowest for any kind of indoor session this year.  I hit 5.28 on an easy ride out to YVR a week ago.  Last year I was down to 5.02ish for hiit sessions in March.