Basically just cobbling together info from KM podcasts* and running my own plan. Lots of attention on fatigue and quality intervals.
*(High North also has very solid science-based information)
For the 3-week VO2 block I did 4x week (+ 2x Z2), 1on/1off; 4-5min intervals only, 1:1 rest, ~20mins of work. HRav was in the ~95% range, end-of-interval RPE was ~12/10.
(when the wife texts you to see if you’re ok, you know you’re doing it right! )
The 3 weeks after the VO2 block has been 2x threshold over-unders and 1x SS w/bursts (and as much Z2 as I can squeeze in).
Agreed. I was hammered at the end. Took a full 5 days before I felt right and could do a “normal” Z2 ride.
Although last fall I did 3 weeks of FRC/anaerobic work and that was also pretty brutal. The VO2 stuff has definitely been far more beneficial and useful.
So, my A-Race was just postponed from end of October to end of January. Plugging in the new race date to Plan Builder dropped me into a rest week, with SusPBMV starting again next week. Since I’d been considering a VO2 block along the lines discussed here anyway to try and get a lift, and that lines up well with the SusPBMV blocking I’ve changed out the three main workouts for Red Lake+3 and Border. Three weeks in a row of the same. Resistance mode so Power targets a little irrelevant.
how are you all preparing for a hard-core VO2 max block? I’m planning one for February.
All I’ve done for the last 12 weeks is base, which includes some Tempo with 30s bursts, and a bit of SST but mainly Z2. From what I read online, I see that Empirical cycling preps riders for the intensity, and I believe this is via some Threshold work.
I know the usual EC threshold philosophy is more TTE based than high power, but this feels less specific to VO2 work. I guess as usual, I’m looking to much at the minutiae. But anyway, interested to hear how you guys and gals would prep.
I am planning one for mid Jan, I have moved from a long SST progression block (bumped FTP about 4%, same TTE) to now in the middle of doing 2-4 extensive threshold workouts (95-97%) a week for 8wks, some with over unders @ over 110-115% and under 90-92% working up to 60TiZ (current TTE around 43min) with no rest intervals.
I’m hoping the OU’s (one a week) give me enough of a supra threshold kick up the arse and lactate clearing ability to prepare me for 2 weeks of 3*VO2/wk in Jan…
I have shifted my vo2 max block to be earlier as currently, it’s my main limiter and as my FTP is pretty high in relation to vo2 I want to create some more room. I am trying a little bit different approach this year to manage my fatigue. So it’s a little like Ronnestad protocol from one of his studies:
Week 1: 2 vo2 max workouts (consecutive days) - recovery day - 2 vo2 max workouts
Week 2: 1 vo2 max workout - rest is Z2
Week 3: repeat of week 1
Week 4: repeat of week 2
Vo2 max block is always the hardest mentally and physically time of the year and due to Christmas brake, I would have some more time for recovery. This year I would also up my carb game during this block, as apparently kJ when doing VO2 max are somewhat different than normal kJ:)
When it comes to preparation - nothing other than mental preparation for this kind of work. I am always terrified of this and happy when it ends. This will be the first block this year, the next one will be closer to my planned event. So having some time and room to wiggle with the modality I want to check a little bit different approach when it comes to the distribution of workouts during the week.
So I’ve been ramping up (basically only) Z2 volume the last couple months in anticipation of having a couple weeks off at the end of the year where I can get some big hours in, which I wouldn’t normally be able to pull off.
Going to start getting into some intervals in the new year after some rest but I am thinking about doing a “quick” vo2 block to shock the system a little and get things going good. I really don’t want to dedicate 3-4 weeks to it though.
So those that have done 2 or 3 days consecutive of vo2 work, how did you find it to work and how rough is it? Any tips or idea what to expect?
Fwiw I did a hard start progression last year with great results, so I also know the first couple of these are going to be really, really rough lol!
Pain, suffering, irritation, doubt why you do this to yourself, elevated hormones that makes you grumpy, more pain… and then, after couple of weeks magic happens and everything you do on the bike is easy and effortless and everyday is no chain day.
I think KM says in one of the earlier podcast that he puts some high cadence (but not high power) intervals in as prep. For me that definitively makes sense, I struggle to keep my cadence up during those intervals.
I think this is the same for me too. I agree it doesn’t make too much sense for riders like us to do a whole Threshold block, since that won’t really move the needle for us.
My base had one day a week for about 6 weeks where I did tempo (and eventually low SST) blocks with bursts, so I think that will have helped compared to just Z2 for ages.
So in the new year, I think I’ll do a first week back with 2 Threshold and/or SST with bursts during the week just to get used to going hard(ish) again - all other workouts nice and easy including the weekend. I’ll then jump into the VO2 block. I should be pretty fresh still, but a bit more primed and confident with a little Threshold under my belt
I have analysed my last season and only blocks that moved my FTP were vo2 followed by threshold. And my idea this year is also to focus more on top end in the cost of TTE a little bit (so stay around 40 min as a base). So my big goals are volume and more top end work than last year as apparently vo2 max blocks are only things that move my needle at the moment (FTP is 83% of VO2 max and moving it more is rather a very long term work than season goal).
I started my block on Friday, I planned on 3x consecutive vo2 sessions a week, I completed the first on Friday (hs-1 4x5) and netted 20mins @90> max HR, great. Day 2 I tried again, legs felt ok but HR was barely at 90% after the second HS, so I binned the session and did some z2. End of day 2 my legs are becoming very sore. Day 3 still sore and reluctant to dig a bigger hole until I work out what went wrong. Any ideas? I had done a threshold block before I started this and I lifted weights 2x wk (but been rested for at least 5 days)
How did you feel coming into the block? Was it straight out of base? What’s your age, phenotype etc etc? We probably need some more context.
I did a week before starting VO2s of ‘priming’ with a couple of hard workouts- 40/20s and Threshold OUs, and otherwise easy hours (around 0.6 IF). These VO2 workouts can be a shock to the system - I’m a total diesel so these are horrible to perform. A bit of prep work in advance can be beneficial.
I’m a neanderthal and don’t look at HR (or own an HRM). I don’t worry about the metrics in the middle of these sessions particularly - just go all out. If you’re following KM prescription, I don’t believe he assigns any value to %HR max for these.
I’ve just finished week 1 (hopefully of 3)…
Edit (again): if your legs felt OK and you believe you should’ve been hitting a higher HR, why did you not adapt the workout? Pedal faster, pedal harder, take shorter RBI etc. I use ERG for most workouts, but never for these ones.
I’m 35, 76KG, ~4w/kg, all rounder (my PDC sits in the Cat 3 bracket on the coggan chart fwiw), I’m used to 6-10hrs/wk training.
I had just finished a threshold block with OU work, after quite a long, extensive SST block I too had not done much if any work over threshold until the OUs which were at most, 110%, so maybe I was not really ‘primed’? I wanted to raise the roof as my FTP is now ~86% of MAP/5min power.
I probably wouldn’t have binned the 2nd session if my HR had been above my ~162 LTHR, but it just didnt feel right. I also now fear how destroyed my quads would feel too if I’d pushed through!! The first session it was straight up past 162 after the hard start, and pinned to near 170 for the last minute of each 5 min interval… RPM 100-120 for all intervals. 180bpm is max I’ve seen on the bike, during threshold sessions I am around 160-164bpm. Maybe my data nerdiness has hampered me here! I may try again tonight and switch to level mode…
Same age (and weight) here - so I don’t think that is an issue in of itself. Threshold block sounds like decent prep - only thing I can think is that maybe your body wasn’t feeling recovered enough.
These are extremely hard workouts - the hardest all year no doubt. It may be that you just need to spread them out in your week a bit more to make them work for you - so a day off in between or maybe active recovery. Also KM suggests you can reduce interval length as you get more fatigued - so my first week was 4x6, 5x5, 6x4. Week 2 will probably be 5x5, 6x4, 7x3 - this will help physically and mentally IMO.
I set up templates in TR in order to have a structure so I don’t need to think about what time the interval ends etc, but you can see I don’t follow the target. I don’t think I executed them perfectly - I manage to pull up the power a little a few times - so could argue it wasn’t 1000% balls to the wall, but I’m not worrying about that level of minutae as RPE was a solid 9.5-10!
When you say the 2nd session didn’t feel right - other than lower than expected HR - how was your RPE?
I can tell how a VO2 session is going to go after the first couple of intervals. My RPE at a given HR is a good indicator.
Here’s an example of 2 workouts. In the 4th interval, my average HR was the same during both workouts (96% of max for the “flat” part of the interval). But my RPE for the 2nd was a lot higher (pretty much maxed out), and I knew I needed to dial things down for the next 2 intervals.
I’ve not done a full VO2 block - although have done VO2 workouts on successive days. So I know the subsequent workouts are likely to be harder than the first.
I am thinking about doing a VO2 block this year - and if I do, I’ll design the block with workouts that have declining IF (less hard) as I go through the block, as I know RPE will increase with each workout. I may also design (or execute) the block where the latter workouts are done in “just ride” mode vs erg - as when you’re tired, it’s hard to know what target you’ll be able to maintain in erg.
I think that makes sense - you have autonomy of being able to go all out (to whatever degree of “fresh all-out” that may be), as well as being able to change RBI etc on the fly.
@4ibanez Yeah probably not recovered if I will be honest with myself. I may just take it back to Z2 again and go after it next weekend.
@DaveWh RPE was higher than 1st session for sure, but I could tell after the first interval my HR was lazy, and digging a bigger hole was not on my agenda… It was earlier in the day but I’d had a very strong double espresso about 30mins prior so expected HR to be up there!
Reducing the intensity is a good idea, I will try and structure Vo2 block take 2 like this I think. Any idea how you get the extend interval buttons on the cooldown section? The HS workouts wont let me extend the Z2 at the end which I would like to do.
I used workout creator to build the workouts. I used Kaiser as the base, and modified from there. Possible there’s a way to edit them and add an “extend cooldown” interval at the end. Will look later when I get a chance.
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how are you all preparing for a hard-core VO2 max block? I’m planning one for February.
