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paulgw
Joined: 21 Nov 2004
Posts: 116
Location: United Kingdom
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 Posted Sun Nov 8, 2009 4:19 pm |
Please forgive me for posting what might be a very dim question. I have invested in a turbo trainer and am looking to follow a more structured winter training regime than I have done previously. to this end I have been reading through various sources of information and I find many references to "2 x 20's" being some mystical panacea for building cycling fitness. However, I confess to being in total ignorance of what these are. I assume that the term refers to some sort of interval training, but other than that I am in the dark. 
Can any of you learned folk enlighten me? Are these the sort of things I should be doing on the turbo? How should I structure them?
Thanks in anticipation.
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Pokerface
Joined: 29 Apr 2008
Posts: 1310
Location: UK
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Posted Sun Nov 8, 2009 4:28 pm |
2 x 20 = Twenty minutes at a hard pace. Done twice. 4 to 10 minutes of rest in between each interval. So twenty minutes hard followed by 10 minutes at a recovery pace followed by another 20 minutes of hard.
Make sense?
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Johncp
Joined: 06 Nov 2002
Posts: 111
Location: United Kingdom
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Posted Sun Nov 8, 2009 6:53 pm |
The 20 minute efforts are top end zone 3/bottom end zone 4 HR. If you search this site for 2x20 there was a huge thread a while ago which covered it in some detail
If you haven't got a headwind you're not trying hard enough |
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paulgw
Joined: 21 Nov 2004
Posts: 116
Location: United Kingdom
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Posted Sun Nov 8, 2009 7:09 pm |
Thanks, guys. That makes sense. I'll search for 2 x 20 on the forum as well.
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doyler78
Joined: 29 May 2004
Posts: 1038
Location: Co Down, Ireland
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Posted Sun Nov 8, 2009 9:08 pm |
Don't forget to warmup properly first also (15-20 mins of that) and cool down.
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GavH
Joined: 04 Dec 2008
Posts: 518
Location: Lisburn, N Ireland
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Posted Sun Nov 8, 2009 9:22 pm |
What are they? Sore! I did my first one last night so still on the trial and error phase trying to establish where the sweetspot lies. Struggled like hell today on the long steady ride, with my quads cramping up 10 miles from the end.
If you do search, don't put any spaces between 2x20 to find one of the better (IMO) threads. LOTS of good reading out there if you search 2x20 or 2 x 20 or intervals.
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ridelikeapro
Joined: 16 Aug 2009
Posts: 25
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Posted Sun Nov 8, 2009 10:08 pm |
My understanding of 2x20:
ride for 20 minutes at an effort level that you can just sustain for 40 minutes - take a 3 to 5 minute recovery after the first 20 minutes by spinning on a lower gear - then complete the second twenty minutes. If you're doing it correctly then you will be able to finish the session buy you'll be struggling in the last five minutes. If you have to curtail the session then you set the bar too high for yourself!.
Try and increase the effort slightly each session... do this by keeping on the same gear but increasing your pedal revs... or increasing the gear... or increasing your hear rate. It can be easier to do this session on a turbo trainer.
If you're lucky enough to have a power meter on your bike or turbo trainer then just work on increasing your power slightly whenever you do the session. Best effect is one or two times each week.
Good luck!
[url]www.gregarios.co.uk
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Alex_Simmons/RST
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Posts: 1766
Location: Sydney, Australia
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paulgw
Joined: 21 Nov 2004
Posts: 116
Location: United Kingdom
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Posted Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:31 pm |
Phew! just finished my first 2 x 20. I used a Real Life Video of one of the routes up Mont Ventoux to relieve the tedium and went on HR, keeping to high zone 3/low zone 4 for the intervals (I had a stent fitted in April so prefer to use HR as a measure of effort at the moment).
Hard work for sure but I feel pretty good for having done it and it was very satisfying seeing my HR drop quickly in the rest period between intervals.
Thanks to all for your responses and advice. 
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