It’s awesome that we can push our workouts to our head-units so they can be executed outside, however, living in the city, it’s often difficult to nail the intervals just as prescribed. Therefore, I think it would be super helpful if the outdoor workout descriptions were written a bit looser so the important aspects of the session are emphasized and the lesser important parts are explained as well.
For example, I picture something like this:
Warmup: Before you start your first interval, warm-up for at least 15min, trying to stay in Z-1/2 with two or three efforts in Z-4/5 lasting between 30-90 seconds. Feel free to extend this warm-up for up to an hour but try to keep the majority of it in Z-1/2
Main Block: The goal of this session is to get 3X 15min at 95-98% FTP with at least 8min RBI but if it’s not feasible to start the next interval after 8min, that’s OK, so long as you complete the 3X 15min throughout your ride with enough recovery to be ready for the next interval. If you encounter a Stop sign or traffic where you have to let up during an interval, that is OK but try to minimize interruptions as steady pressure is what will create gains.
or
This is a VO2 session where the cadence between work and recovery is critical, so find a section of road where you can complete the intervals as close to prescribed as possible. In this session, you want to do 5X 1min on at 120% FTP followed by 45sec at 50% FTP, then take at least a 4min recovery before repeating. You want to do this 3X. The main block of 1min on / 45sec off is critical that you maintain that relationship but there’s more flexibility between the 3 blocks, so long as you get at least 4min recovery but try to limit it to no more than 10min recovery.
Cooldown: If you want to keep riding, great, this is a perfect session to add some endurance miles, so once you’re done with the intervals ride for as long as you like but try to keep it in Z2 or below.
or
This was a pretty heavy session, so try to limit your cooldown to no more than 30min at as low of an intensity as possible.
There’s a lot of times that I’d like to join a group ride or just do one of my loops where I’d like to incorporate my structured training but the nature of the rides don’t lend themselves to executing the intervals just as prescribed, so it’d be great if the important aspects were emphasized to better evaluate whether the workout can be effectively accomplished outside or not. If not, that’s fine, I can always do the session on the trainer or there’s a flat loop near my house that works but gets boring just going in circles.