How many VO2max intervals can I do a week?

I’m going to be very time crunched soon. Like 30 minutes a day max limited.

I don’t want to lose what I trained all year for. I still want to train but I can’t do easy rides for only 30 minutes (or can I?)

Rule of thumb is 2-3 per week.

I suggest reviewing the plans under the “Enthusiast” section of the TR world. These are setup with good planning and progression and there are options to suit a range of time availability.

The TC30 might be just what you need:

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The medium volume Enthusiast plan that @mcneese.chad lists looks like a great plan. However, if you are truly limited to 30mins/day without exception, none of the “enthusiast” plans will work for you.

With very limited time to train - both per day and in aggregate, I would limit VO2 work to 2 days per week with no greater than endurance work on the days prior to them (you will not have the fatigue resistance training to perform well and maximize benefit from them). So if you can train 6 days, it would something like this:
Day 1 - VO2; 2 - Endurance; 3 - VO2 (or Sweet Spot/Threshold), 4- Endurance 5- Sweet spot, 6- Endurance 7-Day Off

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I also recommend the Time Crunch plan that @mcneese.chad recommended above. My wife delivered twins in Jan. My time became severely limited. I stumbled across the Time Crunch (TC) plans and figured I would give them a shot. I did about a week of TC 30min MV and then switched to TC 45 MV. I loved it! The plan is a great mix of workouts. The workouts are quick. And because you’re doing a plan, you don’t have to think about anything other than get on the bike and go. I didn’t even look ahead. I went from 15-20hrs/wk to 45min/day. But, I enjoyed my 45min surprise workout each day.

If you’re set on VO2max intervals only, then do them two or three days per week, probably twice a week with easy days in between. Be fresh for the VO2 days so that you can really push hard.

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Maintaining fitness means working all the major energy systems. Just doing VO2Max workouts won’t maintain those other energy systems.

I agree with the other posters - keep the VO2Max workouts to 1-2 per week.

But you should be able to get in a 1x20 minute sweetspot interval in 30 minutes (after allowing for warmup) to keep these energy systems going.