Great tip, thank you. I didn’t think of taking it out of ERG mode. At present I was finishing oof with say 30 seconds instead of the full 50 depending on the workout but I’ll have to try this.
Yes
Everyone’s hr will progressively rise through vo2 max sets
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build up to them by increasing your duration in the vo2 range over several workouts.
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make sure you’re properly cooling yourself. For me it’s two strong fans aimed at my legs and core.
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look at your cadence. For me, they are easier when hold my cadence above 100rpm. If I try them in a more climbing cadence (80rpm range), my legs get fried fast.
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pump some jams that get you psyched up.
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see velominati rule #5. I’m not trying to be an ass here. The three minute vo2 efforts are hell, especially when you have 6 or more teed up in one session. If your numbers are set right, nothing you do will make them easy. They are going to hurt and there is no way around that. You have to be tough. If you get through them though, you’ll come out the other side ready to put some serious hurt on people when you head outside to race/ride
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Tim Cusick from WKO would disagree, that for VO2max, watts is the driver. SO do 3 minutes, then 3 minutes harder, then harder, THEN 4 minutes.
Using duration is more for base level aerobic workouts from what I can gather from his presentation
First - it is definitely possible to do this type of ride straight out of bed in the morning. It takes conditioning and practice, but you can definitely do it.
Second - whether or not you fuel a ride is not only contingent on duration but also on intensity. If you’re straight out of bed onto the trainer for a VO2 or threshold workout - I’d suggest you have a gel or some other fast carbs during or immediately after the warm-up regardless of ride duration. I often will have some sort of caffeine immediately on waking and then the gel once I’m on the trainer (10-15 minutes later) since the carbs will hit you fast but caffeine can take 30+ minutes to be effective
Another aspect is cooling. If you can stay cool it will definitely help with that HR climbing.
Mind trick that helps me get through tough final minutes: I count pedal strokes. Usually I’m at 100rpm or so, so I start at 100 for the final minute, count down… for some reason I’ve never failed yet, it’s seems to work. Thanks TR forum for that one.
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Caffeine, carbs, cold fan (or two). Just finished Kaiser +2 tonight and those three are the winning combo. Plus I throw on loud music only during the intervals and watch NorCal cycling vids on YouTube
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I’ll give this one a try. I do find myself doing little sums with my remaining time left such as how my 12 seconds are left within an interval.
I’m curious on people opinion in doing longer (e.g 2.5 min plus) intervals at 110-115% rather than normal 120%. I know the range is 110-130% (I think 130 anyway!) but always worry if I do them lower than 120% then not getting the benefits. I’m under the impression that if watts not high enough to get to v02 max then very little adaptation.
For what it’s worth I can do 60-90 sec v02 max intervals without too much issue but when they get to around 3 mins or longer I’m dead and rarely finish last few intervals…but at 115% I generally complete workout, with last 1-2 intervals tough to finish.
I suppose my choice is 60-90 secs at 120% or 180-200 secs at 115%…assuming equal work rest RATIO (I.e. say 60/60 or 180/180)
I had the same question before
See here https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/time-at-vo2max-discussion/
Misconception.
Z2 endurance work has a great deal of adaptive effect (??) on your VO2max system…it’s just that you have to do a LOT of it for a LONG time. The 120%+ intervals are a very good bang for your buck for raising that roof, everything in between also contributes to adaptations.
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I’ve come to a realization that I cannot do longer VO2Max intervals in the early AM, especially fasted. Early afternoon/evening seems to be the sweet spot for me to get through, it’s a recipe for failure before 7AM. Good thing we never race that early.
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I’ve done 7am start races…ugh. Eyes barely open, sleepily bumping into other riders for the first hour… My personal cicada is definitely not a high intensity morning person!
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I wouldn’t even have my 2nd latte by 7AM, no way am I showing up on the starting line that early. 
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3min v02’s are so hard. I have to do them early before eating properlly as well. They use up a crap ton of glycogen as well.
For me i think
- Mental prep
- Eat a lot of carbs the day before
- If my sleep has been crap and i feel fatigued, just postpone it a day - it wont end well
- Music
- Caffine
- Lower the percentage for the first couple if need be
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This should be higher, IMHO. People may not have experience enough to know their capabilities or limitations on these long ones, but for those who do, recognizing the potential for a bad slide thru the workout is important.
I happened to have Spencer +2 last night (3x 3 mins @ 120% FTP). Review of last year’s effort & notes, and my general knowledge about these efforts for me (46yo, history of crashing hard in 2nd half with long 120% efforts) lead me to hit the first set at 96% Workout Intensity last night.
It went well and I bumped it to 98% WI for the 2nd. I kept getting to the end of the sets with decent legs and more importantly the deep, near panic breathing that I aim for in the seconds right at the start of the recovery. I evaluated at the end of each set, and was able to hold the 98% to the end.
I was willing to bump up or down to keep completing the full interval and making sure I was breathing quite hard upon completion. I would have crashed hard if I had hit the first one or two at 100%, I know it. I’d rather under strain a bit in the start, and still rip the full sets than start too high and end up with a bad step descend.
That is super common with this workout, based on my review of other workouts. So I think the conservative start is very worth considering.
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The longer VO2 intervals are a bit like the 8min and 20min FTP tests in that you need to have done (at least) one such workout before to know what they are like and how you respond. Like @mcneese.chad keeping notes really helps in this regard.
The VO2max power range is from 106% - 120% so there’s room to drop a little should you struggle. Obviously 3 minutes at 110% is somewhat different to 3 minutes at 120%. Looking through the workout library there’s quite a few VO2 workouts that aren’t at 120% though something like Denali with 6mins at 110-112% might not feel that much easier than 3mins at 120 by the time you are done.
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When that range was defined, it was a rough approximation and knowing that work above FTP is highly individual and varies widely. Practically speaking it means I can struggle to do 3-min vo2 intervals at 112% while someone else might need to set intervals at 130%.
Bottom line: if you struggle at 120% intervals on 3-min vo2 workouts then find a very difficult power level for yourself and use that. Just like Coach Chad tells you in the Goals section of vo2 workouts:
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