What’s the reasoning behind the Monadnock +2 → Shortoff +2 → Old Rag +6 progression late in the Century Specialty Plan? (in LV and MV; similar one in HV)
Time-crunched bump in intensity?
Targeting left side of PD curve? (and if so why, doesn’t seem race/event-specific)
Something else?
Then, in the event you thought you were done with VO2max work, your second workout kicks off a late-plan round of aerobic capacity work to help nudge up your sustainable power capabilities a little more prior to your most important event(s). By stressing your heart, lungs, and muscles briefly but intensely, you can find a little more room to allow your FTP to rise.
Following your midweek aerobic Endurance ride, you’ll find an extra 30 seconds tacked onto each of your VO2max repeats, our gift to you. Retaining this single high-intensity workout each week remains in the spirit of extracting some last-minute-fitness gains, but modify the workout intensity as necessary in order to fully but barely complete these relatively long high-capacity repeats.
Week 7:
Noodle through this week’s easy ride, then up next is one last round of VO2max repeats that grow in duration yet again. Pushing your breathing and heart rate to a very high level and then keeping it there is the essence of VO2max work. The longer you stay there, the greater the training stimulus and the higher your post-recovery capabilities. Consider this the TrainerRoad ultimate in all 3 cases considering that you won’t see VO2max intervals longer than these ones.