OCD Series: Turbine Speed Intervals—Feel the Burn, Love the Ride!
Let’s face it: some cycling drills make you feel unstoppable, and others leave you questioning your life choices mid-ride. Turbine speed intervals firmly belong in the latter category. They’ll challenge your riders’ stamina, speed, and willpower, but the payoff? Speedier legs, stronger muscles, and a feeling of accomplishment that makes all the sweat worth it.
This drill is all about mimicking a turbine—short, intense bursts of high-speed pedaling followed by just enough recovery to convince yourself you’re ready to do it again. Sound fun? Sure, if your idea of fun is high-intensity revving with legs that feel like they’re on fire!
Why Turbine Intervals Work
These intervals train the body to generate and process lactate efficiently, so your riders can sustain higher speeds and power outputs. It’s the same drill outdoor cyclists use to drop their competition on the road. Indoors, it’s a brutally effective high-intensity session that will have your class begging for mercy (in the best way possible).
Sister Havana by Urge Overkill, or The Pretender by Foo Fighters are songs I have done this drill to as well.
I am very excited to work this into my class!
Thank you! This is very helpful!
Wow! just tried this at home myself “hardcore” Don’t think i could use this just yet with any of my classes. I am trying to put together a class with just racing cyclists here I beleive I could use it.
yes, it is pretty hard core!
The beauty of it is that you don’t have to make the rest of the class TOO hard. The speed work prep beforehand, maybe some moderate climbs afterward. But everyone will remember these 5 minutes (or 10 if you do 2 sets) the most. Of that 5 minutes, only 2.5 minutes are actually the *hard* work.
I find too many instructors try to make the whole class very hard, and as a result, it’s just of bunch of mediocrity that *feels* harder than it actually is. Their HR is high but if they had a power meter they would see their average was actually lower than they think.
A drill like this highlights the benefits of being able to push really hard for a small amount of time, but also highlights the fact that you don’t need much more than this 5-10 minutes at this level.
Hope that makes sense!
Thx Jennifer…going to be fun running this drill…challenging too!…
Thank you, Jennifer. Can’t wait to do these with my riders.