I have noticed this. HR gets up to 90% or just shy with the 1min hard start, then creeps up 3-4bpm over the next 3-4mins.
I was trashed after the first session - legs were really sore, even after doing some OU work to try and prime for it.
I’ve done 5 of 9 planned, and only managed 2 that were back to back. Using the hardstart -1 variant of the 4x5.
I would say (also only personal experience) - more Z2 work. I was doing sst and threshold only during my first year and I was completely smashed and could not finish most of vo2 max with hard starts - everyone was a torture and my legs were failing after 3 minutes. Currently my mental side is the main limiter more than physical side. And the only change was way more Z2 riding.
Also higher cadence helps with muscles, and you can limit hard starts a little bit and push higher overall power.
Thanks - I might try a softer start, but I feel that really gets the HR up and most times I am @ 90% after the hard start so it should all be good TiZ VO2 after that initial hit. I can get through the workouts usually ‘no bother’, it’s the soreness afterwards that means the next day I can’t even entertain it, that’s when I do easy Z2.
Since Sep '21 I have averaged 70% Z1&2, pyramidal with the rest extensive sweet spot, or threshold/OU, I’m ‘time crunched’ so it’s a balancing act between intensity and endurance
So glad that’s over with! Well done to anyone that has a guts/stupidity to try this kind of VO2 block periodisation - it sure is taxing mentally and physically!
Hope to report back some decent results in a few weeks
Not to shabby training block:) Given your work in the base, if this does not move the needle - the only resort will be pro version: double days! 
Key metric: Breathing.
Secondary metrics: Power and cadence.
Everything else is for review later. Those are literally the only two things I looked at/thought about during this block.
Any particular reason you did 3 days in a row? Just curious. I did one easy day between each session last year.
One of the things Kolie (Moore) recommends doing - one of the promotors of such a block.
Yep, as @d_diston said it’s Empirical Cycling’s go-to layout for non-pros.
In the Endurance Innovation podcast on VO2 max (I just went back and found the clip), he gave a reason around fatigue management: as anaerobic capacity diminishes as a result of being more fatigued - this actually means that you wouldn’t be able to dig such a big hole. This is obviously relevant if one has a big AC.
I asked in a recent AMA if back-to-back-to-back was really necessary for me as a diesel phenotype. My thought was that as a diesel, I wouldn’t have such a significant AC to worry about.
Kolie replied (and I’m paraphrasing) that the reason for b2b2b was overload stimulus.
So there are two different answers on the record that I’m aware of.
Thanks. I never see his AMAs or anything outside of the podcast and random WKO webinars. I knew he stacked them. I didn’t know he stacked them like this. Thanks for the explanation. It does make some sense in light of the purpose of the block. Unfortunately, a lot of people may not be able to schedule it this way… me for one (for now!). I might be able to do it my third week… ice the cake at the end there…
That’s fair - I’d say it’s a fairly hardcore periodisation!
Without digging out the podcast again, he does say that the format can be manipulated as required dependent on fatigue.
You’re smarter than me, but other progressively ‘easier’ ways to approach it might be: on/on/off/on, or on/off/on/off/on/off. Alternatively closer to Ronnestad type approach like @jarsson did is another interesting take, but that’s one hell of a first week!
Honestly - after third you do not care about anything 
5 in a week is doable but on the other hand I do not know if it is more beneficial than doing 2-3 weeks with 3 workouts. I assume 3 in a block for 2-3 week will be better for many who is not very high on the cycling ladder - overload is overload. Smash it and recover - simple as that. I just wanted to try something else, results were similar.
Small remark from my recent observations - in the recent webinar from WKO was a KM explanation for use of Training Impact Score and tracking it as training load (exactly as Bannister model) - this is the best metric I have found. It correlates perfectly with ebb and flows of my training form and parameters. Truly golden tip.
Only issue I have with the Training Impact Score is that it is impossible to plan for.
If your goal is to achieve say a aerobic score of 5, there’s no way to design a workout where you can estimate that 5 is the result. You look back at past workouts and do some guesswork. But it seems to have nothing to do with FTP, IF, NP in any coherent way unless I am missing something.
Here’s something I made when trying to understand WKOs TIS. May be useful to you.
It is guesswork, but also if you get 7 or 8 does it matter that much? Maybe it was 7.95. If your 2h z2 ride gives you 5 go longer and you will get 6. After some tracking and some charts you know the chance in the ballpark of the number and it is enough. Maybe I do not care so much as basically I start to believe only in hours on the bike and intensity on top of this, as it only thing that currently works for me 
Until I free up my weeks (starting 2/21!!!), I’m kind of stuck with on/off/on/off/on. That’s what I did last season and it forced adaptations… I’ll probably just follow that this time until the third week and then I can try stacking the third week’s workouts, roll into recovery time and be ready to go again a few days earlier than otherwise (notionally). Thanks for posting your block!
Thanks, I don’t have wko and was a bit hazy about the TIS metric.
I’ll give another anecdotal plug for 1-2min intervals on short rests.
I don’t care to do 4-5min intervals on the trainer. I’ve been doing this for 40 years and I just don’t want to do 9-10 hours of work and then come home and have to go to that mental place for 4-5min straight. But, I can motivate myself to do 1-2min punches. It’s not less physically, but I can wrap my head around it better.
try 8 x 2:00 at just over your 20min test power, :30 rest between each one. For example, my 20min right now is 355w. So I did 8 x 2:00@360 on :30 rest.
or, 10-15 x 1:00 at just over your 6min power, :30 rest. Another set I’ve done recently is 10 x 1min@390 on :30 rest.
bottom line, it’s racking up time in zone and HR response ends up with second half of most of the intervals at/over 90%, and breathing is ragged.
the second half of each set is pretty awful, like VO2 intervals should be, but I just have to tell myself, “ok, you can go hard for a minute or two.”
FWIW, I found these intervals (especially the long ones) better done on a hill outdoors than on my Kickr.
Same here @kurt.braeckel - doing these on a trainer multiplies the distress exponentially.
Key is finding the right hill!
