VO2 max workouts: shorter seems harder than longer (same PL)

Training
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Title pretty much says it all. I’ve been on a pretty good clip of FTP increases recently, sub-28 days for the last six increases. Been steady on TR for 3 years. Found some extra time in my life so upped my weekly load by mostly going from 1 hour rise to 90 minute rides, and I think the FTP increases are from there. I’m at 338 now

My PL for VO2 max has been over 9 for the last many FTP increases.

I had a time crunch so I subbed in a 45 min ride Jerebica 10.0. I couldn’t finish it, bailed about halfway. I’ve never bailed on a ride before.

3 days prior, I completed a 90 min anaerobic 10.0 very hard rpe, 2 days before that a 90 minute VO2 max 10.0 hard RPE.

Today I finished Goat, 90 minute VO2 max. Rated it moderate.

It seems like that 45-min same-PL VO2 max ride was harder than the similar PL workouts around it. Is there truth to that?

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Yeah, it’s pretty common for shorter workouts to feel harder than longer ones because in order for those workouts to justify a high level, there needs to be a significant amount of work crammed into a shorter duration.

Workout Levels aren’t directly tied to IF or TSS, so it’s hard to compare those shorter workouts to longer ones.

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That’s an awful lot of VO2max work in a short time. I hope that you’re not doing that for more than a few weeks before some serious recovery / low endurance or you’re likely to crash and burn.

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That’s like saying, “this 30min 100 TSS ride was harder than the 2-hour 100 TSS ride.” Of course the shorter one is going to be harder. It’s got more packed in.