I am in the middle of plan “climbing road race, low volume” which gives plenty of vo2max workouts. I believe this plan prepares amd strengthens you for the climbing efforts therefore I think I must perform the workouts by simulating climbing meaning small ring and low cadence. I don’t think anyone could climb at 120% ftp with more than 90 cadence.
with that in mind, I try to keep my cadence between 75-85 rpm and I see that my outdoor climbing performance increases.
on the contrary, if I try to keep cadence during workouts more than 90 rpm, this time I realize that it only helps increase my plain road performance rather than climbing because of working of different muscles at different rpm.
so amy suggestions on this one?
VO2Max is about high cardiovascular loading, you won’t achieve that at low cadence.
Turn off ERG mode and use your gears to get a high cadence and don’t obsess about hitting the power targets accurately. See how that goes.
I used to do VO2 intervals with close to 110 cadence but I’ve gotten better results with cadence closer to 100 but higher power. I guess it works muscular endurance also and transitioning to threshold work feels easier.
i will switch. For example in a 2 mins vo2 max interval, the first min I will ride at 95rpm, the final min I will ride at 88rpm.
I can easily do 90rpm+ for 120% ftp on climbs. Having said that, I think the part about simulating climbing indoors is overrated. There’s a lot more going on when climbing outdoors than a difference in cadence (grade, torque etc).
Also I heard somewhere (I think Empirical Cycling Podcast) that - contrary to every other training zone - with VO2 Max workouts, higher cadence results in lower heartrate. There was a good explanation for why that happens, but I forgot it.
It was either in the podcast or an IG post. It increases the venous return via the muscle pump effect, which brings up diastolic filling volume therefore stroke volume up. A paper recently came out looking at a change in efficiency too. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359061102_Efficiency_of_cycling_exercise_Quantification_mechanisms_and_misunderstandings
On why there’s increased O2 requirements at higher cadences, my guess has always been it’s related to the energy requirements for calcium reuptake. I think this is why breathing is higher and power output is lower away from someone’s individual optimal cadence at a certain power level.
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