One of my Favorite Workouts - 20/20s

I wasn't able to be get on the bike for 4 days due to business travel.  Actually, I did ride the Lifecycle bike at the hotel.  You know the one with the seat that is more appropriate for a John Deer Tractor.  I mean c'mon - really?  It's so wide, I had to sit all the way at the tip so my legs wouldn't rub.  Clearly a cyclist isn't leading the product management effort for this thing.  "Comfort Curve Seat" - Ha! I ride on 160 gram seats that are far more comfortable.

Anyways, I was looking forward to getting home and burning some kcals outside in the fresh air.  Well, that didn't happen - MORE SNOW :-0.  3-4" Friday night and another 4" as I write.  So.... back on that damned trainer for one of my favorite workouts, 20/20s. 

I like this workout a lot because time flies and it is very painful (in a good way).  If you haven't done them before work into them with shorter intervals first and longer rest between intervals (BI).

20/20 Workout

* 10-15 min warm up
* 5 min interval x 4.  Each interval starts with 20 seconds hard effort (well above your Functional Threshold or maximum sustainable effort for 20 minutes- i.e. push very hard) followed by 20 seconds easy effort and so on until the 5 minutes is up
* 5 min EE - ~ 60% of max 
* 10-min warm down

This workout is effective because it forces you to ride well past your sustainable limit and over time forcing your body to adapt. Ultimately, it should help to increase your Functional Threshold Limit)

Throw this into your training mix once or twice a week and I guarantee you'll be faster.