I’m actually terrified. Like legit. So essentially thursday, friday saturday I assault myself… then z2 the rest of the week… chill. 3 weeks in a row. Well let’s see how it goes. I bailed last time. But if racing appears in April, I have to do it in March
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You should be. It is like “ok, now I want some waterboarding for 3 days in a row - let the fun begins” 
But you will be ok. The plus side is if you shorten some intervals by 30s or do 1-2 less during one day - the adaptations will be there.
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I’m not sure I agree with the approach, unless as you stated its more of a training camp format to do an overload block to cause a peaking effect. Personally I know I respond well to those, but I dont program them into my month over month training because they do exact a pretty hefty toll, and you need serious recovery on the back end of it.
I have done vo2 max block this way (two weeks, no way I could done 3 weeks), recovered for a week and done full 3x week extensive threshold block. Do not get me wrong - it is HARD format but it is also the format (done it 3 times) that provides me with biggest gains 5 min power and FTP. First time was horrible and my muscles and hormones went haywire. This time was “tired but it is ok, not drama” as this time I was way better prepared for a work over FTP with more SST with bursts workouts. And I fully agree - proper recovery during and after the block is very important.
During the spring I can ride everyday for 30-60 minutes (depending on route) into a brutal headwind, and have used that to do long climbing simulations (sweet spot / threshold) and to prepare for Wed night worlds. Based on my limited 5 years experience I wouldn’t do 3 days in a row. My original end goal (2016) based on talking with club members that have been cycling for 20+ years has always been to get to a 2 day block (usually Tue/Wed) and then hit it again fresh on Saturday. And I still agree with that. FWIW.
Agree.
I rode M, W, Sa last week, then again yesterday M. All four were intended to be VO2max work due to the low volume.
Since I bailed on yesterday, I’m off today, will try again tomorrow, then Friday, long Z2 Sat, VO2 M and F next week with two or three Z2 rides too. Total of 7. (and a half?) VO2 workouts for the three week block.
I am scaling back interval length and adding recovery to keep 20 min TiZ as I go as well, but man, surprised how much even just those three rides last week took out of me even with time in between.
(Note: I had my second COVID shot on Thursday last week so about 36hrs feeling crummy)
Thank you, RONDAL. And yes, I agree: this is a really productive thread.
Thank you, Kurt.
here’s a question i’m wondering if you guys know the answer to that i asked a while ago and someone was going to post into the WKO FB thread but not sure it happened, or if it did not sure I saw an answer:
Prior webinars when talking about INTENSIVE aerobic say to take your TTE minus 15-20min, and take 95% of the PDC value for that time slot. ex. 60min TTE minus 20 = 40min PDC x 90% of 40min PDC amount.
What are you supposed to do with that?
Does that become your interval target power? Does the power target vary depending on interval length?
edit:
You can use charts like this which will tell you where to focus;
And if you hover over you can get what it is suggesting you do for a 15min block (in this case somewhere between 310-317. But if I extend out to 20min I’ll get a lower value.
Since we are talking avout VO2max. Does anyone have experience with block periodization (first week 5 VO2max WO, next 2 weeks 1 vo2max WO rest of the sessions is low intensity)?
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I would “get my affairs in order” before trying 5 in a week 
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well if you replace vo2max with sweet spot, and the first week is done for 5 weeks in a row before taking a recovery week, you have TR’s SSB HV plan.
I’m referring to research of Ronnestad, where he achieved better response to vo2max wo. I am thinking of doing it after my threshold block after a proper rest week. The first week is brutal but the other weeks seem doable ( 1 hard week, 2 easier weeks followed by rest)
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yes I figured you were, however since this a SS thread thought I would add an observation about TR SSB HV that I made long ago.
Not block periodization but I posted about a vaguely similar vo2 overload block here:
@RONDAL:
here are my notes from that webinar:
Find power at 15 minutes before TTE. Set this as power reference point [PRP].
Work intervals at 95 – 105 per cent of PRP for weekly TiZ of 10 – 15 per cent of weekly volume.
With 2-3 intervals, progress to 150 per cent of TTE in each workout.
So in your case, TTE = 60 mins. So, PRP = power at 45 mins. I can’t read this off the graphs you provide, but say that is 300 watts. Then the interval power targets are 95-105% of 300 [285 - 315 watts]. Progress to the point where you can in 2-3 intervals do 150% of TTE [90 mins] at this target in each workout.
That’s my understanding and what I am planning to do, starting next week. I hope that this is a correct interpretation.
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I like the Advanced Interval Targeting view and there’s a chart in there (it’s called something like Donny’s Interval Targeting char)that has interval targets based on your PDC and desired interval length. I found that more useful than the difficult to understand recommendations from Tom’s older webinar.
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I posted the Donny interval one in my original post
You have the same “issue” as I expressed though, are you targetting different power targets for different time periods, or the same target power and working to extend that out.
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My understanding is: same target power; work on extending it out to 1.5 x TTE.
Sorry, I was looking at my phone, didn’t see the graph you posted. I wasn’t using different power really because it’s one or two watts different for a 20min vs 25 or so. Just kept it and extended time.
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I did that last year. Started off already in december-19 and continued that “cycle” all the way into May. I decided to try that approach since I hadn´t really done any proper structured training for several years (have a background as a junior national team orienteerer) and felt/knew that I need to get my VO2max up (since the endurance part was sort of still there…).
Worked wonders for me (but then again, I´m that kind of athlete that responds well to HIIT, VO2max and similar training). Or at least if you compare the dec-19 numbers against june-20 (FTP up by 80W to 330W). However, I noticed that I was crushing it already in April (training races etc) but didn´t really improve that much after. Most likely because this approach leaves little time to work on your endurance (i.e. building that base) because you really need to look after your recovery.
For this year I have a bit different approach. Sep-20 to Dec-20 I did a 3month SST progression block to improve my TTE, muscular endurance etc. Now, Jan-21 to Mar-21 is my true base period with a lot of Z2 (pushing that LT1 higher) and gym work. Also slowly adding 1 threshold and 1 VO2max session per week so that my body is ready for the build block in April and May. With the knowledge and results from last year, my build period will be doing the block periodization twice. My A-race is in early June. I will be ready!
ps. DJ has a YT video on exactly this block periodization. Check it out.
Edit: added FTP gains
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