Hi All, I did Williamson +2 today, my version with a bit of recovery tacked on at the end. This is considered as an Anaerobic session and I thought it might end up to be harder than some of the VO2 workouts but actually not and my HR was not as high as expected. The original version had IF @ 0.91 but I tacked on 15 more minutes of recovery ride and the IF dropped to 0.88. A much friendly sounding IF but the hard bits are still all the same.
So, what is the proper way to do such a ride? High cadence to increase HR or my normal cadence and really work the muscles in the high wattage bits? I tried both, first group I used higher cadence than the last groups.
I donāt want to come off wrong or like an a&& but the workout notes should answer some of those questions. I havenāt done this workout yet but the workout notes say
ā high cadence of 100-120rpm, higher watts, higher spin ā
Yes, I read that so for anaerobic exercise, the higher HR is more important than the stress on the legs? I understand the purpose of anaerobic exercises but to optimize the return on it, is it high HR based?
So I have my first anaerobic (San Joaquin) workout scheduled for next week
Due to commitmentās/ holiday Iām trying to get this session on the trainer, if thatās the case, Iām thinking of switching off ERG mode and just going all out for each interval. 15 seconds on 45 seconds recovery.
I leave the erg engaged for Vo2 which are compliant and completed.
Having an old flux it takes a good few seconds to adjust to target watts which means I need to adapt to circumstances.
My alternate view is going to my local hill and doing hill repeats. I have a power meter on the bike but thereās a 30watt difference in power ā¦so as I see it reverting to all out sprints is the only option?
I accept this is going to be a brutal session but in a strange way Iām really looking forward to the session . I just have to remember that aspect when Iām on my chin strap ā¦
So as I writing this it seems the logical answer is hill repeats. Is there anything Iāve missed ?
Itās āanaerobicā because TR references to Coggan Classic zones/level. So this is zone 6. If the goal is increasing anaerobic capacity (āyour ābatteryā over FTPā), you want to go all out for 30-90 seconds, completely recover, and then do it again. All really really strong efforts.
San Joaquin workout is 15s on, 45s off. At this power level, the workout is more aerobic with such short recoveries. Its not about increasing anaerobic capacity.
Echoing others hereā¦this isnt an anaerobic workout. If youre trying to increase anaerobic power id suggest starting off with 1 min flyers. Something like 2 sets of 1x5 with a 10 min rest between sets. 1 min ALL YOU GOT. Think of every interval like its your last. Dont worry about power, just give it all you got for a minute, and rest for 5 min between efforts.
This sounds not so terrible, until you do it.
My anaerobic progression is:
1minx10
1.5minx10
2min x 7
2min x 10.
I rest as long as I need to between efforts. Sometimes 3 min. Sometimes 7 minutes. The goal of anaerobic is to literally give everything you haveā¦like damn near fall off the bike. Then do it again.
Iāve never had an anaerobic workout longer than 1.5 hrs.
Seriously I wouldnāt go that far, there are two types of anaerobic workouts:
anaerobic capacity
anaerobic endurance (repeatability)
San Joaquin is an anaerobic endurance workout, the template for these workouts is something like 1:2 or 1:2.5 ratio. San Joaquin is 15s on / 45s off, so its 1:3 ratio.
The whole goal is to produce high power, well above your vo2max (4-6 minute) power, and to mentally prepare you to do it repeatedly. I say mentally because these workouts hurt, just like in a race where youāve got to do it on steep pitches or to cover attacks.
@WindWarrior I always find anaerobic efforts extremely challenging mentally. Physically they hurt. Hurt bad. But focus and determination in those later hits become very hard. I HAVE to imagine a race scenario to warrant an adequate execution of an interval or I will leave some on the table. Grit your teeth and go until the beep
I go find a handful of hard Strava segments or climbs that I know are right around the interval length and go kill myself up them. Sometimes itās a few seconds off of the time for the intervals but it works for me to push a bit harder than I would normally.
@Twowkg most of mine are 30s or 45s and too short, but if I push that out to 1 minute then absolutely its time for a Strava segment!
Good article:
skip down to this part:
This session is designed to increase anaerobic/glycolytic power and capacity. The goal of the workout is to perform each interval at the maximum power that can be sustained for the 30-second duration. The recovery between intervals should be at least 5 times the length of the intervals themselves, to allow full recovery and maximum power generation.
This session can be adapted for different interval lengths, ranging from 20-seconds, up to around 60-seconds. You can also increase or decrease the number of intervals depending on fitness levels.
