#139 - What to Do on Bonked Intervals

Legion Strength & Conditioning Podcast

Every athlete has probably experienced it at some point—hitting that wall in the middle of some mixed-modal intervals. One second, you're holding pace, and the next, it feels like everything falls apart.

Bonking on mixed modal intervals is more common than when doing cyclical work because you don't have immediate feedback on paces from the machine. There is also a lag effect: You will likely push too hard on one movement but not feel it one or two movements later.

In this episode, we take a closer look at why bonking happens and explore different strategies to navigate and adjust a session when it does. We also touch on the mindset athletes often have around numbers, paces, and metrics—how attachment to these can hinder performance when not recognising session to session variance.

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Show Notes:

• [2:20] Jon's aggressive interval programming
• [4:00] How to avoid this in the workout prescription
• [7:00] Alternative ways of using RPE
• [8:00] The benefit of using machines in intervals
• [11:20] When athletes are stubborn on certain numbers and interval paces
• [14:00] Understanding the psychology of the athlete with pacing suggestions
• [17:15] How to respond in the middle of the session when this happens
• [21:00] Changing the movements on intervals