I have Mount Field on the calendar today…just noticed it gives you a sweet spot score of 2.5 even though it is a tempo workout. The 3 intervals are all tempo wattage…time for some editing on TR’s part?
This is pretty typical for sub 3.0 PL values in Tempo zone and above. I consider these “starter” workouts for the indicated level, meant to be a primer for harder ones in the legit zone corresponding to the name.
This one is likely correct with the longer range training progression in mind vs viewing it in isolation.
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So I had Thimble on the calendar today…listed as a VO2 max workout at 5.2 progression. The 50 second intervals were at 334 watts…a good 18 watts into my anerobic zone…just not understanding why/how these workouts are listed in one zone when the actual work is done in a higher zone?
That looks like an adaptation of the workouts described in:
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Hmmmm… too late to do math.
VO2max training differs from other zones below it
- Z2-Z4 goal is to train some dominant energy system and muscles to do the work
- VO2max is other way around: do whatever work necessary to push cardiovascular system into state where it provides max amount of oxygen to do the work. During on/off kind of workouts, you first generate power anaerobically but heart rate increases with some lag while body tries to restore anaerobic energy stores using slower aerobic energy systems. How much power is required to meaningfully empty anaerobic power stores, is very individual. If you look at Thimble workout goals section last paragraph, it actually even says so.
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Good question @craigmanning!
These types of workouts use short, high-intensity intervals with limited rest as an alternative way to accumulate time at Peak Aerobic Uptake.
A primary goal of VO2 Max work is to achieve the most time at Peak Aerobic Uptake. Time spent there drives potent signals for adaptation. What’s unique about VO2 Max is that this isn’t necessarily tied in closely to a power or heart rate zone. Instead, it’s about oxygen uptake, and until there is an easy, portable, non-invasive, and ubiquitous way to train with something like a VO2 Master, endurance coaching relies on various effective strategies to reach Peak Aerobic Uptake.
You can ride in your VO2 Max power zone for 3-5 minutes, where you likely reach PAU in the latter half of the interval. This is effective but can be difficult to achieve for some, and may not be the most specific way to prepare for some types of riding. You can also do shorter, more intense efforts that are repeated with limited rest between intervals.
In theory, a higher intensity effort could help you reach PAU faster, but you can’t hold those power levels for long enough to achieve significant time at PAU. That’s why you’ll see workouts like this have intervals in the anaerobic zone, but then have short recoveries that allow you to repeat that power but not fully recover and drift too far from PAU.
Ok, I understand that. But with all that time spent in the anerobic zone, why dont you get an increase in that progression level? It has to be increasing your fitness in that zone too?
When passing some VO2 workouts you actually do get Anaerobic Progression increases.
I don’t know exactly how we calculate this, but I do know that there are secondary Progression increases in many of our workouts. 
That “multi zone scoring” was being updated as of Nov 24. Not sure if anything has been changed on it yet.
I’m looking into this now. 
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It looks like this is a bit of a visual bug, but I’m waiting to confirm with the team. 
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