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[[High Intensity Interval Training]] has been shown to be a highly effective form of exercise, but running at very high intensities is problematic. If you run much faster on level ground, your stride becomes a radically different as you are sprinting more than running, and this is elongation of your stride increases injury risk quite dramatically. It's also very hard to keep your running form under control at such high speed and high intensity. Running uphill alleviates this someone, but it's hard to find a hill long enough and steep enough, and even then, the biomechanics are different enough that you're training somewhat different muscle groups. These differences are one of the reasons for the increase in injury risk. One solution to this the injury risk is to train on a stationary bike. If you're out of the saddle, your muscle recruitment is somewhat similar to running, but with much a lower injury risk. This page is a guide to performing HIIT on a stationary bike for runners. Some of this may apply to cyclists, but a cyclist will have somewhat different requirements as they will perform more than just HIIT on the stationary bike.
=The Trainer=
Unlike running, you'll need rather more equipment. I chose the Wahoo Kickr Snap, a "wheel-on smart trainer" which is cycling a talk that means you put a bike with its rear wheel in place on to the trainer. You can get the Kickr as a "direct drive", but you need a bicycle that's compatible (I didn't) and it's a lot more expensive, and as runners over frugal lot. The "smart trainer" is more than just marketing, and it means that the trainer can be controlled wirelessly. There are several wireless control modes, such as simulation where software tells the trainer to mimic going uphill. However, for HIIT the interesting one is ERG mode, where the trainer requires you to generate a certain fixed amount of power. This is a bit weird at first, as it means that the faster you pedal, the less resistance, and if the required power is too much and you start slowing up your pedaling, the resistance goes up to maintain the same power output. The Kickr can be controlled using either Bluetooth or Ant+, and transmits your power and speed over both simultaneously. You do have to calibrate the Kickr using the Wahoo app. This is called a "spin down", and as the name suggests you ride the bike until you hit the specified speed, and then stop pedaling. The app measures how long it takes for the wheel to stop spinning, and uses that time to estimate the braking forces and inertia.
=Estimating Power At V̇O2max=
If you're a runner, there's a good chance you'll have no idea where to start in setting up a power based workout. I did a little research on the topic, and based on nine studies I found that you can get a rough estimate of power at V̇O<sub>2</sub>max from [[VO2max|V̇O2max]] which in turn you can estimate from your running performance. I refined that formula based on a study of 1,715 subjects that I found later<ref name="SilvaAraújo2015"/>.
* The first step is to estimate your [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]], which you can do using my [[Running Calculator]] (or anybody else's as there are lots on the Internet.) You'll need to enter a recent race performance, though you could use a 5K time trial from training. For instance, a three-hour marathon represents a [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] of 54.(Cycling [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] is likely to be a little different to your running value, but it's good enough for this estimate.)
* There is a relationship between [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] and power at [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] which varies based on sex.
** Men: Watts/Kg = ([[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] – 7.0) / 10.791
* Example, for a man with [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] of 54, that's ((54-7)/10.791), or 4.36 Watts/Kg.
* Multiplied by the weight in kilograms to get total power. Multiplying 4.36 Watts/Kg by 63 Kg gives 474 Watts.
This gives a starting point for HIIT. I'd suggest that for your initial intervals you start lower and do a ramp of 30s/30s, starting at 50% and going up by 10% each interval to get a sense of how you handle the various wattages.
=References=
<references>