Is there a way to add some endurance work before the higher intensity intervals in a workout? I’ve heard that once you kick in the anaerobic energy systems it takes a bit to clear out the stress and get back to training the endurance energy system. So it would seem that if I wanted to add 15-30 min of endurance work to lengthen the overall workout I would get better results by front loading the endurance work, rather than trying to add it on the back end.
Also, when I take these training rides on the road when it warms up, I will have 18min or so of riding before I get past the stoplights to my training loop where I can start the intervals. It seems I need a way to start the workout in warm up mode then manually trigger the first interval when I get to my loop.
For an indoor workout you can use the extend warm up feature in the app and add as much time as you want. You can also adjust the intensity level to whatever you want during the warm up. Just turn it back to 100% when the intervals start.
For outdoor workouts I don’t do a ton of them so I am not sure if every workout is set up this way, but for the few I have done if you run the workout on your Garmin you have to hit the lap button to start the first interval after the warm up. You can essentially warm up as long as you want.
Thanks! I assumed those buttons only extended the end of the workout. I see now they increase whatever interval you are in. Perfect.
And that makes sense for the Garmin-run workouts. I’ve done all the workouts inside on the app since I got TR in November so haven’t explored that yet.
“On Garmin and Hammerhead head units, your warmup won’t end until you hit lap , and we recommend riding this warmup until you have reached the spot where you want to do your intervals, then hitting lap to start the main workout.”
Do whatever you want, if doing endurance before the ride lets you get more volume in and does not compromise the intervals that seems like a good way to set things up.
All I wanted to point out with my first comment was doing z2 first rather than after intervals does not matter.
I think if you’re talking about only adding 15-30 minutes of endurance work I wouldn’t over think it. I’d be more apt to putting it at the front as an extended “warm up” but that’s personal preference. My typical mid week interval ride is around 2-ish hours, and I usually do 30 mins of warmup out to the spot and 30 mins of zone 2 on the way back home. Riding more before and/or after is great!
FWIW, world tour pros are doing intervals at the front of a long ride, end of a long ride, and just spread throughout. If one is a better method than the other, even the worlds best don’t agree on which one that is!