Let’s face it, nobody likes to do intervals. But love them or hate them, these short efforts do many good things for you: increase the calories burned, increase lactate threshold (the intensity at which lactate begins to accumulate in a person’s blood), elevate your metabolism and make you a stronger cyclist. For those with demanding jobs and time restraints, interval sessions are probably the best practice to stay up on your cycling fitness.

Ten minute intervals are effective at raising your lactate threshold, thus improving overall fitness. A solid workout for most cyclists would be four, 10-minute intervals at a specific intensity. If you are new to intervals, starting with one or two is adequate. Quality is more important than the number of intervals you perform.

The first thing you want to do is warm up by riding at a brisk pace until you break into a light sweat. Then, ride at one minute of high intensity and shut it down. Next, put yourself in the correct frame of mind; have everything ready whether you are doing them inside on a trainer or outside riding. If outside, then it is often best to use a 10-minute climb or a stretch of road that you know well.

Set your timer to zero and go out with the mindset that you are going to put in as good of an effort as you can. Start out like a time trial for the first minute, and then settle into the hardest pace that you can reasonably hold for the remaining time of the interval. You should maintain some percentage of your “functional power threshold” (the heart rate or wattage that you can maintain for one hour), usually 80 percent or better; a heart rate just above lactate threshold; or a constant speed that is difficult to hold. Talking should not be possible during these intervals, and perceived exertion should be seven or eight (out of 10). Your head should be hanging over the bars by the end, but do not stop spinning. Shift into an easy gear and let your heart rate come down.

Spin easy for whatever time it takes to recover, usually 10 minutes or so. You want to be as fresh as possible going into each interval. For amateurs, performing two interval sessions a week, plus long rides on the weekends, is optimal. For an elite or professional, it depends on the race schedule or what your coach says, but it is not uncommon to see six, 10-minute intervals thrown into a six-hour ride to help build racing fitness.

It takes practice and knowledge of your cycling abilities to make intervals work best for you, but here are some tips to help you glean the most success.

• Be fresh going into each interval.

• Warmups are important to a good interval session.

• Amateurs: do them on the trainer at first with a simple warmup, and then progress to doing them outside.

• Professionals: consider three-hour rides at tempo, and then do these intervals at the end of three hours.

• If the effort is too easy, the benefit is minimal.

• If the effort is too hard, you most likely won’t be able to complete the session.

• Go into them knowing exactly what you want to do; have the proper mindset.

• For best results, do intervals on a climb.

• Being mentally and physically fresh will help you achieve quality training sessions.

• Quality is more important than the quantity of intervals.

• If your body is not responding and you find that you cannot hold the efforts that you normally can, just pack up and come back another day.

• Take in a gel or another sugar source before you start.

• Always try to maintain good form and focus.

• Breathe rhythmically and avoid hyperventilating.

• If you’re indoors, have a good race video to watch so you can see others suffer.

• Listen to motivating music during the interval.

• Consider drinking a cold drink or slushie before and after the effort.