So I've been doing tons of endurance cycling.. (not like 100 miles, check my logs for details)
Today I really felt like I wasn't getting anywhere doing this anymore.. (I probably was, but I slowed waaay down.)

So I figured I would shorten my distance to only 18 miles, but do it HIIT style.

Feels great. I feel like I accomplished something today, and I now plan on mixing it in every 3rd day or so with my endurance cycling.

Here's my logs thus far:

http://sweb.uky.edu/~sdgrea0/activity

So I've been doing tons of endurance cycling.. (not like 100 miles, check my logs for details)
Today I really felt like I wasn't getting anywhere doing this anymore.. (I probably was, but I slowed waaay down.)

So I figured I would shorten my distance to only 18 miles, but do it HIIT style.

Feels great. I feel like I accomplished something today, and I now plan on mixing it in every 3rd day or so with my endurance cycling.

Here's my logs thus far:

http://sweb.uky.edu/~sdgrea0/activity


Rooster, how are you doing HIIT on the bike while tackling the hills? Just curious... I'm cycling too but have notcied that my weight loss has pretty much stopped and want to mix it up a bit and the HIIT idea sounds good. but have never done HIIT...

Any pointers?

I cycle 6 days a week, Long ride on Sunday of about 40 miles (64km), recovery ride on Monday and Tuesday of about 15-20miles and just go all out after warm up for about 20 miles on Wed-Sat with Thurs as an off day...right now I average about 16mph (26kph)...the area that I cycle is hill-y...

I want to try HIIT but I want to do a mix of it with HIIT on 3 days and endurance on 3 days...I'm still trying to get to my goal of a metric century this season!... :)

Thanks,
blueorder

Just before I hit a hill, I'm high gear, low RPM.. heartrate is mid-range.. I hit the hill hard and then drop about 2 gears and go into a sprint.
This throws your heartrate up VERY fast. I check the time on my calculator, and time out one minute of sprint.

Then I sit, drop another 2 gears, and go about 120 RPM's. I let my heartrate drop a little. After 3 minutes (if the hill is long enough) I'll sprint again, and to train hill endurance, I'll raise to a high gear in the last stretch before I peak the hill. This is something I've done for a while though to build up my climbing.

Sprinting for 10 seconds, sitting for 5, sprinting for 10, (rinse, repeat)
is another thing I do on the flat stretches. This builds the thighs well too because of the constant stand/sitting, and increases the heart-rate quite a bit.

After each sprint, I relax and go high rpm/low gear.

My distance today (if you'll notice) was only 17.85 miles (though I put it in KM on the page)
My total time today was 53 minutes, so I'm averaging 19 mph for the entire distance. 16 mph is very good, and the only way to increase that is by sprinting and training yourself for/in higher gears.

Edit: And when I say sprint, I mean standing.. if that wasn't clear. :)

Just before I hit a hill, I'm high gear, low RPM.. heartrate is mid-range.. I hit the hill hard and then drop about 2 gears and go into a sprint.
This throws your heartrate up VERY fast. I check the time on my calculator, and time out one minute of sprint.

Then I sit, drop another 2 gears, and go about 120 RPM's. I let my heartrate drop a little. After 3 minutes (if the hill is long enough) I'll sprint again, and to train hill endurance, I'll raise to a high gear in the last stretch before I peak the hill. This is something I've done for a while though to build up my climbing.

Sprinting for 10 seconds, sitting for 5, sprinting for 10, (rinse, repeat)
is another thing I do on the flat stretches. This builds the thighs well too because of the constant stand/sitting, and increases the heart-rate quite a bit.

After each sprint, I relax and go high rpm/low gear.

My distance today (if you'll notice) was only 17.85 miles (though I put it in KM on the page)
My total time today was 53 minutes, so I'm averaging 19 mph for the entire distance. 16 mph is very good, and the only way to increase that is by sprinting and training yourself for/in higher gears.


Thanks for the reply...my area is hilly but the hills are somewhat short...I'll try your climbing technique today on my ride this afternoon and see how it goes (along with the sprints on the flats)...my first day doing interval sprints...wish me luck :)

The way that I climb now, when I ride for distance, is that I build some speed coming into the hill and then once I hit it I gear down to keep spinning at about 90 rpm while sitting and then once I'm about two thirds of the way up it I gear up twice (or once, depending on fatigue), stand and power my way through...

On hills that are not that steep I just roll or mash my way over it...

Good luck :tu:

I'm lucky because I live in Bavaria which is right next to the Alps (I'm only 70 km from Austria) and the area I cycle has lots of nice mountains to climb (which I have and do climb often)

These huge hills have really allowed me to train my muscles on them.

Here's one thing I did which you might like to try..
There's an area that I cycle into/out of every trip, called "The Devil's Ditch"

It's a valley that goes between two towns, and is one heck of a climb out of it.. and extremely fun going into it.. (hence why my top speeds are insane on almost all my trips)

About June 12th or so, I was cruising in the valley, and had met another cyclist on the road. This guy was a machine, but I was able to keep up with him!

So I got all big-headed thinking that I was a really bad-ass cyclist because he wasn't gaining on me, but I wasn't gaining on him. He was about 20 meters ahead.

So anyways, we come up to the base of the hill climbing out of the Devil's Ditch.

This guy stands up, and starts sprinting. Well my big-headedness said I could do the same, so I stood up and started sprinting. I made it abouut 300 meters (maybe less) before I was about to die.

From that day on, I made it a point to be able to climb the ENTIRE WAY out of the valley standing.

I can now do that. And I've been able to do it for about month now. It's a great way to impress people driving by in cars (they look at you like you're a madman climbing out of this valley standing) and I often pass other cyclists now. :) It's a GREAT feeling.

So what I recommend, is bike around and find a nice LOOOOOONG hill.. maybe about 12% grade (Devil's Ditch varies from 9% to 14% and is about 1 mile long) and make it a point to bust your ass up the hill standing the entire way.

Don't kill yourself.. just know when you're feeling your heart about to explode and your face feels like it's got a bomb inside, let up, sit down and climb slowly again.

you'll get there. :) And your thighs will become absolute machines.

Good luck! :gl: