# Why do you need a rest from interval training?



## WingNut (Oct 12, 2005)

I'm on week 7 of the CTS Time crunched Training progarm, I have found intervals have been the only way to optimise my cycling in the time I have to train.

Carmichael says you need to have a rest after doing 3 months of the TCTP - why? and what should you do... Surely stepping back from power intervals and substituting Steady states/tempos wouldbeOK - what are th downsides of continuing to do intervals? they work for me, tried and proven 

B


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## Guest (Oct 24, 2009)

Downside reaching a plateau in your training or worse declining performance due to inadequate rest.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Exactly. You may be able to do more than 7 weeks, but eventually if you don't take a rest week, you'll hit that wall where you either plateau or start losing performance, which can often prompt untrained individuals to try harder to regain what they've lost, further worsening the problem.


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## muscleendurance (Jan 11, 2009)

Also you've followed the rest (ha!) of the program so why question his methods now.


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## StillRiding (Sep 16, 2006)

The simplistic answer is that intervals tear you down in one area while building you up in another. After awhile the tearing down overtakes the building up and you need to take a rest. If you keep doing intervals you will see a decline in performance and your recovery may take a long time.


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## Alex_Simmons/RST (Jan 12, 2008)

Depends on the nature, volume and frequency of the intervals. If they are short hard efforts that are _primarily_ targeting VO2 Max adapatations, then the time course for those adaptations is weeks (2-8) and much beyond that you'll begin to plateau or degrade performance gains.


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