Thanks, @bobmac, for pointing me in a direction. More specifically, though, my question is:
In the interest of reaping the benefits of planned Vo2 sessions, should I up the watts or select workouts with longer intervals? I ask because Bluebell didn’t feel like a productive Vo2 session.
As to my goals, like you said, I wanna buff my whole power curve. More importantly, I want to keep with whatever goals @chad had in mind when he wrote the plan.
For some of the workouts, I think a better measure of how hard it is would be to measure the IF from the beginning of the first interval to end of last, and exclude the warmup and cool down. This gives a measure of how hard the work part of the workout is, and I’m guessing might give a slightly more accurate read on how hard a given workout feels.
That was exactly what I meant by the “work portion of Kaiser” in my post.
The “work” portions of Bluebell are 97% of FTP for 11 minutes at a time - or if you put all 3 sets together, 91% for about 43 minutes.
If you up the watts too much, you’ll be into anaerobic capacity intervals which is targeting a whole different system.
Either do longer intervals or reduce the recovery intervals. Try Bashful +1 for example, which is also 1 minute intervals but only 30 seconds recovery. You should find that a lot less like “chilling like tempo”!
FWIW, I did 8x1:00 intervals with 0:50 rest @ 127% today. Six minutes of rest, then another 8x1:00 intervals with only 0:50 rest.
It was horrible. I felt like crying. Strange fluids came from my body, from strange places.
Finished the hour with my target IF (.90), but had to dial down the last several intervals because I simply ran out of heart-rate. I consider my HR ‘limit’ to be 175 (the point at which the vision of my wife and son becomes more important than anything on the bike). During today’s workout, nearly 10 of the 16 intervals were showing max HR ~ 173.
Horrible
One of the key takeaways from that link was “A properly paced interval should feel moderately hard at first, difficult in the middle and like a maximal effort at the end.”
So relating this back to the original question, yes, short (30s) VO2Max intervals will feel easier than 3 and 4 minute VO2Max efforts.
Maybe try an antihistamine suppository? Or Flex Tape. 
That, or nearly so, is what I’m guessing a good vo2 session should feel like.
I seem to remember Coach Chad saying something to this effect in the workout text; that it feels okay the first minute, worsens the second, and ya just gotta grit though it from there. And that’s what Kaiser felt like to me, like I was just barely keeping up with the need for air, thus VO2 MAX.
Bluebell felt like vo2 meh, which is what got me asking the question.
For short intervals, as I said above, the key is shorter recovery intervals. In which case the Frank Overton’s quote should be amended to:
“The first intervals of a set should feel moderately hard, the middle intervals should feel difficult, and the last 2 or 3 should feel like a maximal effort.”
Like Buddy the Elf when he tries Passioin Fruit Spray
In an indoor cycling class today, we did some zone 4 and zone 5 repeats, including 2x2" @ 105-110%, 2x2" @ 110-115%, 1x2" @ 115-120% (with 2 min easy in between), then finishing with 5 minutes at 115-120% (I averaged 121% for that 5 min).
I’m pretty new to cycling training and am much stronger cardiovascularly than I am muscularly (anaerobically?). All of those felt very hard on my legs, but only moderate on my heart/lungs. HR was around 70-75% of MHR for that last 5 minute interval. My legs were at the very brink of what I could maintain, whereas my breathing effort felt uncomfortable, but something I could sustain for 20-30 min.
All this is to say, I think the answer to the question is that it will feel very differently, depending on the athlete and their training history.
There is probably something to diagnose based on what you just said.
5 minutes at 120% at the end of a workout with a HR that is 75% of Max means one of the following:
(70-75% of MHR is an all day type HR)
I suspect my FTP is a little low since it was the first time doing an FTP test (and wasn’t sure how to pace myself), but probably not too far off (maybe 5-10% low).
I don’t think the trainers’ power meters are the issue - I typically have a really hard time getting my HR high in general, and that is doubly true for cycling. Even with running (which is the sport I have been training for the longest), it’s tough to get my HR above 85% of max. Part of it could be that I’m really not 100% sure what my max is. I’ve mostly derived it from 5k race efforts and short interval efforts (and seeing what the max I’ve ever recorded is).
But you raise a good point and something I’ve wondered about for a long time. When I look at other peoples’ workout data, I’m always astonished that they can get their HR that high. I’ve wondered if something is physiologically wrong with me, to prevent me from getting it that high (but my cardiologist wife says it’s probably fine), or if perhaps I’m just a wimp and not able to push myself hard enough 
The easiest way for me to reach max HR is either on the Ramp Test or on an all out 1 minute effort, otherwise it’s pretty rare that I get close.
Next time you take the Ramp Test, you should be literally about to fall off the bike because you have nothing left in your legs and lungs. If you are tasting metal in your mouth, you prob got close to max hr.
Your HR data (max, AT, etc…) is as individual as your finger print. Comparing HR information with others isn’t going to tell you anything about the quality or the quantity of any particular performance.
Not necessarily true.
From the TR blog:
In comparison to VO2 max, your FTP generally falls between 78-85% pVO2 max, with pVO2 max falling around 118-128% FTP. This is the reason why VO2 max workouts from TrainerRoad use 120% FTP as the basis for short, intense intervals. Erring near the lower end of the spectrum, these workouts allow you to do more work while still at a very high percentage of pVO2 max. That’s what really matters — spending time training at high percentages of pVO2 max.
As happens with myself, @Teuthis might have a pVO2max higher than 120% FTP. If he’s doing a 120% interval and his physiology is 128%…it’s going to feel like a 112% interval. Also the reason why some people with naturally lower pVO2 max find the 120% intervals more difficult (and will enter anaerobic zone a lot sooner).
You have to do some trial and error with VO2 max intervals to find your (repeatable) max.
This is good stuff right here!
On my puke-fest last night, I was running 127% for the first 8x1:00 intervals with 0:50 rest. After six minutes of rest/spin, I did the same set again. Blowing up (not really) around interval 5 on the second set, I dialed things back. I thought I might have dialed it too far back – but indeed, was still around 110%-115%. So, I was likely still in VO2 territory and those short rest intervals kept me from sliding out.
The good news is that I got to chillax this morning on Collins for 75 minutes.
My ramp test hr is equal to my max hr from the 2x8 fitness test. This is equvalent to a very high hr ive gotten recently, but significantly off from my max hr from a bike only race. It does look like people with higher max hr have a quicker response to hard efforts.
I think a typical max protocal would be a 1 min all out effort after doing a couple of 3 minute efforts to get your hr primed.
HR response lag is also a problem. If you look at the data chart in the fascat link, you’ll see the rider hits his highest HR at the very end of the 4min interval, and takes nearly 2min to get HR “up to speed” (also takes ~2min for HR to settle during the 4min rest period).
So if you are doing only 30sec-1min intervals with equal rest periods (e.g. Bluebell), your HR will most likely never reach >90% HRmax…unless you do a LOT of them consecutively.
This suggestion, also from the fascat page:
try the grand-daddy VO2 workout off all time: 2 sets of 3 x 5 min ON 5 min OFF with 10 minutes in-between each set…maintain your power output above 105% but not above 120%
That is not true if you use the correct power to do so. Use your 5 min max and take 90 to 100% of that value.