Well the other day you told me vo2max were efforts in the lack of oxygen. Now you are telling me it is about power?
Focusing on your Coach Chad quote taken out of context, keep reading into the comment section of that same article:
I’ve seen a few research articles where recreational as well as high-end athletes have seen excellent training responses from efforts in the 4 to 5-minute range with the repeatable effort falling somewhere close to 108% FTP, so I don’t doubt the efficacy of those longer, suprathreshold efforts which is why you’ll find them in numerous Specialty plans I’ve developed.
As far as shorter, more intense 2 to 3-minute efforts, I’ve found enough research and experienced enough positive adaptation personally as well as in riders I’ve coached when these efforts are sustained somewhere close to 120% FTP.
and
A lot of what these researchers were after is increasing the total time spent at high percentages of VO2max since there’s such a powerful training stimulus achieved there. But to accumulate these greater total durations, it’s really important to, as Veronique Billat puts it, work at “the lowest power output that elicits VO2max” thereby making them more repeatable and forgiving in terms of recovery time between workouts.
Work at the lowest power that elicits vo2max. Not some humble brag power, the lowest power that elicits vo2max.
So I suspect that working for 4 minutes at a time, at a relatively high percentage of power at VO2max probably accomplish this a bit better than 2 & 3-minute efforts at slightly higher percentages of pVO2max (and FTP, of course).
the coaches I mentioned earlier are training pros with published recommendations starting at 3-min intervals, and these vo2max efforts are between 106-120% ftp for 3-8 minute repeats for a reason (you don’t want anaerobic efforts taking away from vo2max efforts).
not to mention that pVO2max varies depending on the effort.
Problem is, not too many athletes can tolerate the necessary level of discomfort for more than a couple, maybe 3 minutes at a time, especially when they’re new to VO2max work. But with time, a willingness to suffer, properly progressed workouts, adequate recovery, etc. most riders can lift their ability to hold – and repeat – these high wattages for 4-minute stretches in training (even longer in race scenarios).
in other words, the context of the original blog post was sub 3-min.
Here is the first vo2max interval session in “Training and Racing with a Power Meter” book.
- warmup
- clearing effort with recovery and then…
- 6x3-min (3 min RBI) vo2max at 117% ftp
- 10-min recovery
- 4x2-min (4 min RBI) vo2max at 113-120% ftp
- cooldown
And the next page:
- warmup
- clearing effort with recovery and then…
- 5x “build” (5 min RBI) at 113% with first at 5-min, then 5.5-min, then 6-min, then 6.5-min, then 7-min
- 2x3-min (5 min RBI) all-out effort >100% ftp
- cooldown
Maybe Allen/Coggan will share new >120% vo2max intervals in the 3rd edition being published April 2019? I thought the point was not letting anaerobic efforts reduce the effectiveness of the vo2max intervals? I’ll give another listen to the vo2max coverage in TR podcast of late December 2018.
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