It’s very effective for inducing training adaptations, but it can make you feel like you’ve been put through all sorts of wringers. The idea is that you dish out a little more to your body than it’s able to handle (inducing fatigue) and then follow with a brief recovery period. During the recovery period, your body rebuilds and adapts to handle the stresses that you initially put on it to cause the fatigue… you get a little better than you were before.

My past couple of days of interval love caught up with me today at exactly 1 hour and 3 minutes into my ride. I was pulling away from a stoplight when it suddenly felt as if something had mysteriously drained all of the energy from my muscles. I’ve spent the remainder of the afternoon/evening trying to sit and rest whenever possible. I skipped my leg workout in the weight room, but that was more of a protective measure to keep my ankle from re-injuring. I’ve got a rest day tomorrow. I’ll need it- my next workout includes 4 VO2 intervals. Woohoo!!!!