From yesterday. Headwinds at 10-20mph for first 25-30 miles then tailwinds coming home. Overcast too until the 30 mile mark when the sun crept out and the heat/humidity rose. Top it off with some GI issues and a neck so sore aero wasn’t happening all at that same mile marker and I’ll say mile 30 was not fun.
But finished!
Grassy Ridge-3 was in my calendar for a month at least but just before I went out AI decided to change it to the more intense -2 version. I usually push to the max on VO2Max workouts though so it was probably a similar work out for me. I was fairly happy with the workout except a tractor /trailer decided to overtake me on a narrowish Road (Bullock Road if any one knows it). To be I had been on a recovery interval for 30s doing probably 10mph. When I saw the size of the trailer I decided to abort rather than hit a bend or something that would cause me to wobble. They would have won 
I decided to repeat the interval during the last 30s of the cool down and perhaps hold it a bit longer but during the 4mins of cool down the lactic had started to build.
I built this in Training Peaks after looking at some of the punchy climbs I’ll have in my upcoming gravel rides (Rooted VT, D2R2). It’s 3 min 85% unders with 3 min 110% overs. I know cadence is going to be a challenge (I’m a big dude 
) so I aimed to do the 110% overs @ 70 RPM.
I struggled on a VO2 max PL 6.5 last week, so I sucked down 3 fig bars (600 cals) 2.5 hrs out, took a big swig of maple syrup as I was getting on the bike, and had lots of liquid carbs. I could have easily done another set. Hit 97% max HT on the last interval but still felt good. I’m going to bump it up a bit for next time! After a challenging ride last Sat, this is a HUGE boost!
Been trying to do some of my workouts outside. Would love to do this more often, but I don’t live in the best area for it as I’m surrounded by endless short steep rollers.
Gave Sleeping Beauty a go on a fire road climb that I knew would take me just about the interval duration. It was definitely too steep as I had a hard time lowering my power and didn’t hit the target during the 30 second recoveries. Still pretty happy with how it worked out overall though.
The 95 degree temps added some extra spice to the workout too!
Does it rate the workout with a PL when you create it?
VO2 7.6
Though I don’t think Custom Workouts are guaranteed to be correct.
Great work @FrankTuna that’s a beast of a Workout!
@varmstrong Yup!
@mailman Thanks! Even if it’s not a true 7.2 it’s a big effort for me lately. And a good boost to keep pushing!!
Pulled the pin early on Cloud’s Rest today. Used the power targets as a guide as to when to pull the pin, basically went as hard as I thought I could to complete the interval. Felt quite peculiar after round 2 - not surprising, as it feels like the first time in months I’ve actually cut loose. I think I’ll look to complete something a bit lighter next week and come back here in a fortnight and knock it off properly.
It looks an o/u session rather than simple Vo2. 
No gurus over here… just reading lots and learning from experience. I’m as likely to be wrong as I am right about anything so it’s always worth double checking.
Starting out sustained power build with an increase in FTP (up 8 watts, woohoo!) and some lower PLs, thank goodness! I was a little worried about this first threshold workout because it was my first one with an over 200w FTP since getting pregnant and having the twins. It wasn’t too hard, so that was a nice boost of confidence! Excited for this training block!
VO2 Block - Workout 5/9
Tried to focus on high cadence and maximise the breathing response.
Felt like I was there but definitely a bit different to trying to do high cadence and a bit higher power.
Probably could have done with it being six or seven by three minutes instead of nine. Pleased to keep getting them done though.
Level 4.9 VO2max workout! Had to take short backpedal breaks near the end as cadence was slipping. Managed to keep them to about 5 seconds before I spun up again. Didn’t feel “the burn” but it was definitely getting hard at the end.
Added low endurance to finish a.Zwift.groupnride that ended on a climb. Had to bump the intensity of I would have been stuck another 15 minutes! Lol.
Supposed to do a sprint tri tomorrow but plan to skip it after how rough Sunday’s 70.3 felt.
I’ve been above this threshold PL before, but it decayed as I was tapering and racing and I’m between plans so went down. Rather quickly. This threshold workout was a “stretch” for me so I was a little worried going in (maybe AI knows something I don’t and I’m a big fat slow pig?? (Mostly kidding!)) but it was good and I added a couple percent to get out of SS and at what I thought my threshold is (~315)
Did 5 hours in high temps and humidity over the weekend, trying to get heat adapted. Tuesday is supposed to be a “hard ride” day, but I wasn’t feeling it after ramping up my time in the heat over the weekend, so I did my kettlebell and stretching workout Tuesday, and the hard ride today. Was labeled a “stretch” workout, and it felt like one! Tried using resistance mode, but found myself struggling mentally while staring at the number I was supposed to hold, which resulted in my looking away, which resulted in power dropping, so I did the last interval in Erg. Had to take a back pedal break, but finished the interval. Whew.
Second time doing my DIY over/unders this week, but this time bumped them to 3 mins 90% and 3 mins 115%. These were hard but I got though them and could have done another set! Hoping these are good practice for punchy climbs in my upcoming gravel rides. Might have to work on that threshold PL though
Set a #2 all time 60 min power PR too!!
How long and what intensity are the “overs”? What about the “unders”? Looks like a fun workout, but I’m not sure if it equates to a 9.0 VO2 max workout, that seems pretty high.
What are looking to improve with these workouts? VO2 and dropping but not too far so you keep closer to VO2 max with HR?
3 mins under 90% and 3 mins over 115%…lots of undulating, punchy climbs near me require sweetspot just for me to keep me moving forward without falling over and then I have to be able to still push when needed.
I like tempo over/unders alot and have had success with them, but I need to stretch out the overs based on some climbs I’m expecting.
Don’t care if it’s not a “true” 9.0 VO2 max…it’s still 18 mins @ 115% which for me gets my heart rate up to 96-97% of max. In the past I haven’t been comfortable there so I’m trying to get used to those efforts!
Oh I think it looks good! I agree it doesn’t matter if its a “True” 9.0, but I only worry personally because does it then change your VO2 max workouts on plan builder to 9.0 or higher?
Tempo>VO2>Tempo> VO2 does look great
