Workout of the Week: Acceleration Intervals

This week’s Workout of the Week comes from endurance coach and athlete Lauren Vallee and is a session that can serve one of two purposes. It can either be used as a prep ride the day before a high-intensity intervals bike workout or it can be used after a tough ride or run to help flush the legs and expedite recovery.

Sometimes active recovery and prep workouts are like the vegetables of a training week. They’re not super sexy and sometimes, strangely, they can be hardest ones to get excited to execute. This workout allows an athlete to crack out 60 minutes of prep or active recovery with more focus and benefit than simply spinning for an hour. If you want to make this session higher intensity—simple, just increase the intensities of each interval.

You’ll begin with a smooth 20-minute warm-up, riding at your optimal cadence. Once well warmed up, it’s time to hit the main set, which involves seven rounds of five minutes of work, done at varying intensities and cadences, all outlined below. Wrap up the workout with a five-minute easy cooldown.