I am sure many of us look away from the timer for as long as we can hoping that when we look up the interval is nearly over or more than one minute has passed.
This is a technique I came up with when listening to a TR podcast - it works well with other podcasts I listen to as well such as That Triathalon Show, OXygen Addict, SWAT Triathalon etc.
I give each of the peope on the podcast a number and count after each of their new comments. So for a TR podcast Jonathan speaks the most frequently so I mght count 10 of his interventions to 8 for Nate and maybe 4 for Chad.
Works for me.
I also have a set of ladders on the garage floor and in between some of the rungs are lots of spare golf balls. I count them from time to time.
If following a planned workout, then I visualise each interval as a part of a track in a mountain bike race, or road climb.
If its free ride, like if you are stuck in a gym due to travel, I put on a decent rock Album (Fuel - Angels and Devils) and I insert and sprint, climb, or some form of interval during every chorus or guitar solo. If its a ballard style song, then its a standing climb for the whole song.
Works well for me.
Man, you guys are way more creative than me. When I’m in a hard long interval I can’t form intelligent thoughts lol. When I have to dig deep I just think about a time I got dropped and how I wished I had worked just a little harder. Then I picture every minute in that interval increasing my FTP by .01.