I’m after a bit of advice on behalf of my wife. She is currently working her way through the Olympic Distance LV plan and is really struggling with the VO2 workouts, so much so , she is demoralised now when she sees she has one scheduled. For a very brief bit of background for context, she used to …

Has she tried the usual trick of lowering the intensity but still keeping it high enough to count as VO2? Looking at the plans, most of the rides seem to be at 120% so 110-115% might be more manageable? It is definitely a process to find out where is sustainable. Also, workouts like Baird-1 where it…

Remember that as per various Trainer Road podcasts, vo2 max isn’t a power, it’s a physiological state - your maximum oxygen uptake. So it isn’t the be-all and end-all if she can’t do 6x3mins @ 120% or whatever. The important thing is that she increases fitness by getting as much time as possible at…

The option of reducing the intensity is always there and may well still get the desired physiological adaptions as @Scheherazade says. [image] Greased_Flea: One thought I have had is to replace them with sweetspot workouts instead, as she has no desire to be competitive, just to complete the di…

Thanks. Food for thought, she seems to get through the on/off workouts but it is the longer 2-3 min intervals that have her struggling. I’ll have a look at the VO2 workouts available and see if we can find alternatives.

[image] Greased_Flea: One thought I have had is to replace them with sweetspot workouts instead, as she has no desire to be competitive, just to complete the distance. I’d say both intensity reduction and move to sweet spot workouts are great approaches. Sweet spot workouts are great all-arou…

Reassure her that a lot of people struggle with VO2max workouts! They are mentally and physically challenging for me, even after several years on TR. One thing I have found useful is to just focus on the interval I am in. It takes some compartmentalization to do this but instead of thinking “Oh man…

[image] Scheherazade: Maybe something like South Twin -1 ( https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/workouts/113940-south-twin-1 ) could work? There’s a decent amount of rest AND it’s “only” four intervals. I’m afraid I have to respectfully disagree with this suggestion. South Twin -1 is a taper w…

Agreed, this workout probably won’t be physiologically productive. My post was considering the possibility of it being a mental barrier and my intent was to suggest a workout that could give the OP’s wife a nice “win” to build some confidence.

[image] Scheherazade: My post was considering the possibility of it being a mental barrier and my intent was to suggest a workout that could give the OP’s wife a nice “win” to build some confidence. Ah yes, I see what you mean. Yes, that could work - as could possibly your earlier suggestion …

Many thanks for all the replies, some great suggestions in there. I think a combination of the shorter on/off intervals and the longer supra-threshold intervals might be worth a try. Might try alternate weeks so if she struggles with one format, then it’s different the week after. I know that isn’t …

VO2 Workouts Triathlon Plans

Training

schmidt May 5, 2019, 1:08pm 14

see also our recent thread Time at VO2max discussion

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VO2 Workouts Triathlon Plans

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