Indoor training session: Conor Dunne's 40-minute ramp interval session

There are sharp, punchy intervals right through this HIIT session, and the length of those efforts grows as the session progresses

20:00, Monday 20th November 2023

GCN

The GCN team

Conor Dunne
GCN Presenter
Readdressing the power balance of the GCN crew
Zwift
Zwift is a fitness technology company that allows users to interact, train and race on its virtual online cycling platform. Zwift has approximately one million subscribers and has completely changed how cyclists view training.
Wahoo
Wahoo is a fitness technology company based in Atlanta, USA. Wahoo produces a range of cycling technology products, from cycling computers and smart watches to indoor trainers, pedals and other accessories.
Pinarello
Pinarello is a bike manufacturer based in Treviso, Italy. It produces a range of high-end bikes for road, track, mountain and electric disciplines. The company takes pride in being the most decorated bike manufacturer in Tour de France history.

Conor Dunne leads this 40-minute HIIT workout. This one features short, punchy efforts at 8/10, mixed in with 2/10 and 4/10 recovery periods. It starts with short, 30-second efforts, but Conor brings that time up gradually throughout the session, until the final four 8/10 efforts are two minutes long each. Ouch!

What you will need

For this session, you'll need some kind of static indoor bike. That could be your normal bike on a turbo trainer or smart trainer, or a specific smart bike or spin bike. You don't need a power meter or heart rate monitor – as with all our GCN workouts, we'll gauge this session off perceived exertion.

At 40 minutes, this is one of our longer indoor training sessions, so make sure you have plenty of water to hand, as well as a towel to mop up any sweat.

Read more: How to get started with indoor training

Warm up on your exercise bike for 6 minutes

Before we get into those punchy efforts, we're going to warm up. To do so, we're going to spin the legs, building intensity a little as we go. Follow Conor's lead through this ramped warm up, as he guides you from 2/10, gradually up to 5/10, then takes it back down to 2/10 for a full recovery before the first effort.

The main interval session: ramped 8/10 efforts

Now for the main session. Following Conor's lead, kick the session off with the first of those 8/10 efforts. There are four 30-second efforts, four 1-minute efforts, and four 2-minute efforts. Make the most of those recovery periods so you can push hard through all those tough efforts.

Cool down for 5 minutes

After all those efforts, you need to give your legs a chance to spin down. To cool down after this session, stay on your bike and let your legs spin. To make sure we work any lactic acid out of the legs, we'll do a mix of intensities: 2/10, then 5/10, then 2/10 to finish off.

Given the length of this session, once you've completed it, make sure you eat something to kick-start the recovery process.