I don’t give 3 days in a row quite as often as I used to, but still a fair bit. The idea behind starting long is to take advantage of being fresh, since these efforts are maximal the fatigue builds pretty quickly. Something else that’s changed since those podcasts came out is that I also look for an interval range where someone can perform best, generally thinking of 4-6min, 3-5min, and 2-4min as ranges.
I might have said exactly this? Might not? There’s nothing about in relation to max HR anyway, since that can change quite a bit based on training status, fatigue, hydration, etc. so I don’t like to have an absolute number in mind. I just like to see a consistent pattern of HR through the intervals. Example:
She hits 177-179bpm consistently, though max HR for the last year is around 200bpm, it’s rare and there’s no consistent trackable relationship between max HR on super hot days or while doing off the couch testing (where most people usually see their max HR for the year in the fall) and max HR while doing these efforts. Hope that explains my thought process a bit better.