I also would like to apologise to @empiricalcycling if I have bastardised your podcasts into some sort of improper protocol. I guess the challenges of self coaching are evident in my posts and I appreciate all who loop in and offer advice so that collectively we can all be better cyclist.
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Youāll know when you get there I bet. 
Also: āsquare pedaling dog 
ā is a highly technical coaching term.
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I effed around and found out. I leaned all the way out of that last interval with your words " Iād rather you give me 20 quality minutes 9 times than 20 quality minutes 7 times + 18 quality minutes and 6 minutes of square pedaling dog twice" ringing in my ears.
I felt I had the last interval in me if I dug out of it with my eye lids but the above made too much sense
Sound advice. I appreciate it
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Hey no worries, everyoneās memory is wonky with these things, including mine. All that research on memory, eyewitness testimony, and whatnot. Iāve definitely misattributed things, remembered references and conclusions wrong, etc. At the end of the day whatever advice you get, tweak it until it makes the most sense for you, and start small to sneak up on a dose thatās both effective and sustainable.
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Week Two recap
I made some changes to my original plan based on feedback from @kurt.braeckel and @empiricalcycling. Namely around my nutrition plan and session types.
See below for the week 2 recap:
Training Week: Mon rest. Tue: VO2 Mount Alyeska (amended to 5/4 and not 6/4). Wed: Easy IF.55 Thu: VO2 Mount Alyeska amended Fri: Easy IF.55 Sat: VO2 Mount Deborah 7x3s Sun: Long End easy.
Notes: All VO2 done on the training in standard mode. All at 110rpm +/- 2-3rpm. Pushed ag gear harder than I thought I could hold for the interval then dropped as necessary to allow for 110rpm goal. Initially I had back to back sessions planned and 2 x 6/4s. I switched the 6/4s to 5/4s and put a rest/recovery ride in between VO2 sessions. Overall volume stayed the same.
Learnings. Improved execution from week 1. Was able to hold power more consistently per interval as a result. What I changed was rather than going out the gates like a psycho I hit the initial burst and as soon as I got to the 110 rpm I steadied rather than going above and trying to prevent dropping below 110. I hit 110 as quick as I could and held it. The result was I could hold that higher gear around another 10-15 secs or so from week 1. Changing from doing back to backs as per Kurtās advice helped me feel much better during the VO2 sessions then week 1. The CNS fatigue I felt last week wasnāt as present this week. Although the āflu like symptomsā Kollie mentions in the VO2 podcast series were alive and present.
The added recovery from not doing back to backs helped a bunch towards my improved execution.
All sessions I was able to hit 95% Max HR for extended periods all over 16mins per session. Above 90% I went 20 mins per session.
Mental: Continue to focus on the interval youāre in. Donāt let your mind wander to the next 4 or 5 left. I used a mantra of again after each 10 pedal strokes and that kept me focused on my execution and helped me stay in the moment. Choose your music wisely as well. Before each interval I would say aloud ānext set best setā as a way of focusing and using positive self talk. Really helped at the back end of each session.
Recovery
I felt pretty good this week albeit a little leg tired Monday morning. I stopped the caloric deficit and ate maintenance calories as per week 1. My supplements stayed the same and my sleep was the same - except for 1 night when I watched the tour. The next day was an easy endurance day so I felt ok. Was able to execute each session well and never felt like my energy was waning or that I wasnāt recovered. My garmin BB agreed.
Other stuff: I forgot to mention last week about strength training. Before starting this block I was doing 2 x strength per week at a moderate to hard level of about 50 mins per session.
For this VO2 block I went back to 1 session a week and am doing what I would call a light to moderate effort of about 50 mins. I wonāt add any particulars but needless to say I am being careful to not add to much system fatigue. Mainly working through the full ROM and keeping the load light to moderate. Resting more between sets and basically going through the motion.
Overall: Another solid week of VO2. My power numbers are actually getting better (I think that is due to me understanding the efforts rather than any real gains) Iāve managed a 4w improvement on the intervals for the week but as I said I think that is due to me learning how to do the efforts properly rather than any real gains. Iām still feeling good and strong, however, Iād be lying If I didnāt say Iām thankful this is the last week of the block as this is some of the hardest training Iāve done in some time. Mentally I am looking forward to the next block where I hope to use any gains made and settle into to some threshold and sweet spot work to truly bed in any fitness I have made.
Next week. 3 x VO2 session. 1 x 7x3s. 1 x 5x4s and 1 x 4x5s to end the block. All the same TR workouts as in previous posts executed in the same way. Everything else is the same as well from a training, nutrition and recovery aspect.
Thanks for reading if you did and Iāll be back next week with the wash up of my first block of Kollieās VO2 protocol.
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Thanks. Apologies if this was posted above - why did you decide to do this block?
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Hey great overall feedback and Iām glad the adaptations to your plan seem to be working.
I tell people (and I am pretty sure Kolie does as well), NO leg lifting during VO2s.
Solid plan. To make sure you understand whatās ānormalā here, power and HR typically will both decline for the same interval duration during these blocks as you accumulate fatigue. That said, there are numbers you can look at to make sure youāre on track, but generally if you āprogressā interval duration downward to account for the fatigue, you will likely be putting out slightly higher power because itās easier to do that for 3 min than it is for 4 min.
So my advice would be to flip your progression this week: go 4x5 then 5x4 then 7x3. My typical 3-week, 9-workout block goes from 3x6 ā 4x5 ā 5x4 ā 6x3:30 ā 7x3 for most people and lots of people have had success with that.
After this, you need to be really conservative with when you get back to hard training. Take a bit more recovery than you think you normally need. There are some workouts you can do to kind of ātestā when youāre ready, but generally if things are lagging and your legs feel heavy, take more time. Itās not uncommon for people to need well over a week to bounce back and be ready to go do threshold stuff after these blocks. When I had an Empirical coach myself, I did a more concentrated block than this and it took me a full two weeks to be back to where I thought I could push threshold. In my athletes I give this style of block to, I see it take 7-10 days for most. Maybe one guy has come back faster than that and been ready to really work.
Typically Iāll have the first workout back with intensity be a shorter (for that person) sweet spot effort because a lot of people will really struggle to do sustained power after a block like this. So rather go out and try to nail 3x20 at FTP or do a long form FTP test right away, Iād recommend doing something more low key, maybe 2/3s of your normal SST volume (e.g. if youāve done 3x30, hit a 3x20 at 90%), and then start into your FTP work or testing. If that 3x20 feels about right, then do some threshold work for a few weeks and Iād bet things come around. If it feels pretty easy, then test. Typically people will adapt to the VO2 work within 2-6 weeks, but Iāve seen a couple guys take longer before testing is really warranted.
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Plan was to take a full recovery week off then work into some SS work 3 x 10s or similar and some threshold work 70-80% ish before tackling a bigger block in about 6 weeks. I donāt plan to test FTP until the end of the next block (5 weeks time).
Appreciate the feedback Kurt. Iāll switch the sessions around as per above.
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Thereās a really long story behind this but the TLDR is Iād been doing a long endurance base building period and just felt like I needed to do some āworkā for motivation purposes. Everything thus far this year has been Trad base 1 and 2. Iām coming back from a very long sustained break from activity (military injury) so I wanted to do some serious base work this year (which iāve done and will continue to do).
I felt like I needed a small block of intensity so I did it. Iām enjoying it and personally it has had the intended consequence - Iām now ready to get into some real work building the underlying fitness.
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Why start with the longer efforts?
I recall my block in early spring and my session felt like absolute misery filled with self-doubt when I did my 5x3āsā¦Starting with 4x5ās would be a major lesson in calibrating the efforts in the moment.
Whatās the benefit of starting with extensive and going more intensive as the block goes on? Is there more time in zone with the shorter efforts cumulatively? Trying to understand.
Generally I build overall time in zone throughout a block like this, but since fatigue builds, it is helpful to reduce the interval time and allow for more rest. The focus is on the overall stimulus from the block more than from any one workout. So while it might be ideal to progress more time in longer intervals, the fact is most people will lose quality in those sets by attempting that progression in an intense and dense block of training like this. Since we are doing usually 9 or more workouts over the span of 3 weeks, spending one workout ācalibratingā isnāt a major loss. In many cases, that first workout is of lower quality anyway because itās such a shock to the system if youāre doing it right. So doing those 6 min efforts allows you to dial in that feeling, play with gearing or trainer settings if youāre doing it indoors, etc, and then the āreal workā begins with the 4x5 sets. Going from 5 to 3 min isnāt a change from extensive to intensive. Itās all intensive, but as a matter of fact power usually goes up because interval duration is going down. So you end up doing more time in zone at higher power at the end of the block when youāre the most tired. But really power is kind of secondary here.
TL;DR: fatigue management.
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Back in my college days at my conference championship I had the 10k/5k double. It was always easier to go longer and āslowerāand then come back for short more intense races. (This is for VO2 effortsā¦ Wouldnāt want to do a marathon then a 10k obviously).
Donāt know if thereās any science to back that up, I just know it felt better.
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Basically this is why I started week 1 with 5x4s. To calibrate everything while having the time to get it right after the first interval - I think that was a solid idea and Iām glad I did it that way in hindsight
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Did the 4x5s last night. Power held to what I did week 1 but HR about 5bpm lower for each rep. RPE was same and I felt like I was pushing full gas. Least I was breathing like I was.
HR seems to be showing signs of fatigue? Easy day today then 5x4s before another easy day and finishing off with 7x3s.
Legs still feel good if not a touch empty but I donāt feel totally wrecked.
Totally normal for HR to depress as the block progresses. Go by how you feel and your motivation to train.
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I think āmaximizeā is really in the context of your training. For example, if your max is 8 hours but youāre coming off an off season where you were doing 4-5, then youād build up to 7-8, max out your TTE (which Iād say 4x20 is pretty maxed), then consider a VO2 block. You might be a bit more limited to number and density of workouts in that block compared to if you were training 15-20hrs but the basic structure is the same.
I guess thatās only something you can answer for yourself. I did a 2.5 week VO2 block in Jan of this year and it was HARD. Like really hard. But I ate a bunch, slept a bunch, and came out the other end with a 25W bump. Now 6 months later it was worth it to me. Even though it was super hard mentally and physically it was such a compressed time period that it wasnāt that bad in the grand scheme of things.
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All these are good points.
Though I found my power improved a bit until about 75% of the way through the block where the fatigue blanket really started to get heavy. ~+5% or so.
Per recovery, I took maybe 10 days SUPER easy. Then added some endurance in. After 2 weeks I did an FTP workout (3-6x10min) by feel and felt I had a ~10W increase. Then a week later I put an additional 10W on those same intervals for the same RPE. But it wasnāt until another 2 weeks after that that I really felt the gains come on strong.
So nearly 6 full weeks to have the gains realized. In the process my TTE dropped from ~70min to ~40min at the higher FTP so I then started working that back up.
After 2-3 weeks I started to get a little worried that the block didnāt do anything but I had to stay patient and then was super happy after 6 weeks with the improvement I saw.
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My plan was TTE, VO2, rest, TTE, gravel event but not getting the VO2 quite right and then influenza kind of screwed it all up.
When I do a VO2 block again, Iām going just do less - 4x3, 3x4, 3x5 - keep it under 15 minutes. Or, I will just do the longer mixed block (1 vo2 and 1 threshold workout per week).
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Nice, yeah shorter is probably the way to go. For reference, Iām 28yo, 310FTP, and ride ~13-15hr/wk and I donāt think I ever did more than 20min of interval time in a single workout. 5x5 is the āstandardā probably mostly cause itās just simple and sounds nice and round. But just like the āstandardā 3x20 FTP, itās not gonna work for everyone.
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5x5 isnāt āthe standardā. Itās a total misnomer and people have applied it to a really broad swath of workouts. Kristen Armstrong among other pros laud 5x5, but people donāt look at how theyāre doing it. Itās not VO2max work like we are talking about here. Again, the power theyāre riding happens to be in the VO2max āzoneā, but the reality is the 5x5 workout āstandardā tends to be more like suprathreshold work.
I have never given 25 minutes of max-effort VO2s like we are talking about here and I doubt I ever will (not that Iām the standard 
). Minimum effective dose absolutely applies to these workouts.
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