Uhl in Eagle, ID – Whenever Heather and I review our power meter data after doing short intervals, we always joke that they end up looking like Bart Simpsons' head. Today I did micro-intervals which fit his cranium's outline to a T! I've read about micro-intervals as a way to keep things interesting while doing intervals, but I never tried them until today. In a nutshell, they are alternating periods of high and low wattage within an interval. The idea is to hit specific wattages during the On/Off periods so you still achieve your average power goal for that length of interval. Since I was doing Lactate Threshold (LT) intervals, I did 15 seconds at 150% of FT, then 15 seconds at 50% of FT. Theoretically, that should produce an average power right at my threshold.
I did my first interval this way and was amazed at how it helped pass the time. Having to change your effort level every 15 seconds, keeps you on your toes! I also noticed how during my "Off" periods, it was hard to ride at a power of 50% of my threshold; instead I was usually around 60%. When I was done with my first interval, I checked my average power and was shocked at how high it was! The interval didn't seem that hard, so to see if it was the micro-intervals, I did the next LT interval at a steady pace. The average wattage for the steady-state interval was 9% lower! I assume some of that difference is due to order effect—I was fresher for the first interval—but I don't think that it accounted for all of the difference. Not to mention, the second interval also felt a lot harder. So to test my theory, next time I'm going to reverse the order. If micro-intervals win out...then there'll be a lot more Barts in my future! After trying to do some sprints after those intervals, my ride was 1hr 15mins with a TSS of 89.
