CTS Cycling for Fitness

I was looking for a recovery workout, but I should have researched this before giving it a shot. It was definitely a lot tougher than the name implied. The generic format of the workout was as follows:

• Brief warmup followed by several high intensity, low RPM efforts (55-60)
• 2 X 7 minute tempo efforts with various steady state and surging efforts
• 5 minute tempo effort with 12 second sprints at the top of every minute
• 3, 2, and 1 minute high intensity efforts
• Average HR: 141 BPM for 62 minutes

Workout comments: I hurt my knee yesterday playing basketball in our first game in the Manayunk Sport and Social league. I think I hyper-extended it after sprinting after a loose ball. I sat out for a few minutes but it definitely felt OK to play on after that. I did feel some pain and soreness this morning when I put weight on it, and felt a recovery day on the bike might be in order.

The name of this workout did not convey the intensity level it contained. The variability of intensity levels throughout the longer tempo pieces kept things interesting and they were over before I knew it. Most of these intervals were focused on increasing one's ability to generate power throughout the pedal stroke. My HR was hovering around 160 BPM during the majority of the intervals, rising to match the surge intensities that were instructed. I bought this indoor training close to 5 years ago, and can honestly say I have gotten more use out of it over the past few weeks than I have since I bought it. Having these video workouts is such a convenience.