For a first workout sure but you need progression in there. Just doing 4x15 over and over is not going to do much. I would also not do separate sessions unless you have to. You are going to get a better stimulus doing 4x15 vs 2x15 break 2x15.
As others have said, in general, 2 and maybe 3 intensity sessions a week is plenty. You can add more volume at endurance pace if you have the time.
Two longer interval sessions appear superior to four shorter sessions per week in promoting endurance adaptations and performance improvements in elite endurance athletes. Despite matched training volume and exercise intensity, the larger, more concentrated exercise stimulus in the LF group appears to induce more favorable adaptations. The longer time between training sessions in the LF group may also have allowed athletes to recover more effectively and better âabsorbâ the training. These findings are in line with the âbest practiceâ observed by many of the worldâs best endurance athletes.
Work was matched, I personally think you could do a bit more work in 4 trainings than 2.
As simple as it may seem, you can do all your workouts as a high-quality workout. However, once you start doing it, you may find that the hardest is to do the recovery session as a high-quality session (not to overcook and exceed the purpose). Iâm currently doing 2 thresholds +1 long tempo (85% of FTP), recovery session +2 easy endurance ride (13-15 hr per week). Doable, but feeling a bit tired in the 3rd week. All sessions are quality sessions as per my feeling 
That sounds about perfect if you are doing 3 on and 4th as an an easy week.
sure, that is how Iâm doing. 4th week has only 1 heavily reduced-intensity session, all other sessions are endurance rides, overall volume is 75% of the total volume
Welcome to cycling and the forum
âMinimum effective dose.â
Start small, see how you respond then maybe increase. Going into workouts when you havenât recovered from the previous one will mean you donât gain as much, if anything, from working out again.
Yes.
A quality workout is one you receive good adaptations from. It could be intensity or a long steady 4 plus hr ride.
To progress you need both, some intense sessions, some long / very long if you have time and the tolerance to do the rides to progress.
You can try the Hickson study on yourself:
subjects exercised for 40 min/day, 6 days/wk for 10 wk. For 3 days/wk they performed six 5-min intervals of bicycling on an ergometer against a resistance that elicited VO2 max, separated by 2-min intervals of exercise requiring 50-60% of Vo2 max. On the alternate 3 days, they ran as far as they could in 40 min. Our purpose was to obtain information regarding the time course and magnitude of the increase in Vo2 max and endurance that occur in response to strenuous exercise when the training stimulus is kept approximately constant relative to maximum aerobic capacity. Average Vo2 max increased 5% (P less than 0.05) during the 1st wk. Endurance, Vo2 max, and time to attainment of peak heart rate all increased linearly during the 10 wk. The average weekly increase in Vo2 max was 0.12 l/min. The total increase in Vo2 max averaged 16.8 ml/kg per min (44%)
So a 44% increase in vo2max in 10 weeks. I seem to recall that the participants were asked if they wanted to continue the program and nobody wanted to.
Everything works until it doesnât work especially if you are a newbie.
Yeah, I didnât even need to look at the study to know those had to be untrained individuals at the start. 5% increase in v02 max in the first week⌠Where do I sign up?
Nils van der Poel did 5 threshold sessions a week training to win the Olympics where he also broke two World Records. Iâm not recommending it, but it is clearly possible for at least one person, and any excuse to reread his frankly bonkers training manifesto is worthwhile!
Havenât read this in entirety, but what is interesting is that skating a 10k at WR pace 12-ish minutes & 5k is 6 minutes. To do 5 x threshold workouts for these short efforts is definitely against what is down traditionally for these durations.
I know nothing about training for running or skating, but I wouldnât expect training for a ~12â cycling effort to be that different than training for an hour+ effort. Once you get out beyond 8-9 minutes, the power/duration curve flattens out in a hurry. A 12â effort is going to be almost all aerobic. My training for a 12â or 50â TT would look almost identical (right or wrong). Maybe a little more vo2max for the shorter, but either way it would be mostly threshold work.
Itâs a fascinating read. He basically does a base-build-race build up. Base season is 5 days per week of endurance. , the build is threshold training, and then the race prep is on skates. He only skates at race pace. He never trained endurance or threshold on skates.
5 days a week was because he wanted to live a normal life with his friends on the weekend. Many times heâd throw in the towel after 4 days and then take 3 days off to recover.
Super interesting!
Yeah itâs interesting. I donât know much about skating either but come from a running background and there is a huge difference in training as a 1500/5k event compared to a half marathon.
As a sub-3 hour marathoner how many miles/week were you running? Steve Magness has a vid discussing the importance of volume with respect to distance performance. Especially for the marathon, high volume is extremely important, more so than interval training (which is still important just not the most important). As Magness notes, Frank Shorter is known for saying that the key to performance is a weekly plan involving three things: 1) two hard workouts, 2) one long run, 3) as much mileage as you can safely handle. Interestingly, this sounds exactly like what most well-trained and knowledgeable cyclists will tell you about riding.
How much time do you have per week for the bike? If you have time to put in 15 hours you should put in 15 hours - riding volume is a big deal. If, despite the time, you only put in 8 or 9 because 3-4 intensity days are overloading you, you should consider cutting back to two hard days and putting in the volume. Trainer Road appeals to a lot of people who are time crunched because they do a good job balancing intensity with available time, in particular sweet spot efforts.
The takeaway is that you seem to be thinking HIIT is the training protocol you should emphasize on a weekly basis year-round, but thatâs just not the case. Itâs part of a good training plan, but itâs not the primary focus.
We are trying to steer you away from unhealthy and unsustainable training patterns. Any training regime that results in overuse injuries is problematic.
