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Intervals suit indoor training better than anything else, because you can hold an exact power for an exact time with no junctions or hills interrupting. Five sessions cover most needs: short sharp efforts, VO2 max work, threshold, sweet spot and over-unders.
All the sessions below assume ten to fifteen minutes of easy warm-up with a few short fast-legged bursts, and five to ten minutes easy to finish.
All percentages are of FTP, and they are a starting point rather than a prescription. If you cannot complete a session as written, the target is too high: lower it rather than abandoning the session. If you sail through it, raise it next time.
And have a fan going. Every one of these gets harder in a hot room.
15 x 30 seconds at 120-130% FTP, 30 seconds easy between. Two sets of 15 with 5 minutes easy between sets if you are feeling strong. For: top-end sharpness and the ability to recover from hard efforts. Note: turn ERG off. The trainer cannot keep up with changes this fast.
5 x 3 minutes at 110-115% FTP, 3 minutes easy between. For: raising your ceiling. The most uncomfortable session here, and the one that most needs good cooling. Note: the first one should feel almost easy. If it does not, the target is too high.
4 x 8 minutes at 98-102% FTP, 4 minutes easy between. For: raising FTP itself. Hard but controlled; you should finish each interval believing you could have done one more.
3 x 12 minutes at 88-92% FTP, 4 minutes easy between. For: the backbone of a winter. See sweet spot training.
3 x 9 minutes alternating 2 minutes at 95% and 1 minute at 105%, 5 minutes easy between. For: learning to handle surges without blowing up. Excellent preparation for riding with other people.
A simple, sustainable three-session week:
If you have four or five sessions, add easy riding rather than more hard work. The most common mistake in indoor training is that every session ends up moderately hard, because the turbo makes it so easy to push.
Two genuinely hard sessions a week is plenty for most people with jobs and families. Three is a block, not a lifestyle.
For anything three minutes or longer, yes. For 30-second efforts, no, because the trainer lags behind the changes.
Finish what you can and lower the target next time. One failed interval is information, not a disaster.
Two is a sensible maximum for most people alongside normal life. Three is a short focused block, not something to sustain.
That is the problem we are actually trying to solve. Turbo Trainer Games turns your watts into the controls of a browser game — your power flies the aircraft, climbs the mountain, pulls the sledge. Nothing to install, and it works with a smart trainer you already own.
It is in closed testing at the moment, so there is nothing to play yet. But you can put your name down.
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