<hand waving >we don’t talk about that<hand waving >
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I see use of high cadence is mentioned in a lot of your answers. Is this universal across all disciplines and athletes? I train on a kinetic aka “dumb” trainer, and use a single sided PM outside. I find that my natural cadence is in the 70-90rpm range. All my riding is on trails in a hilly area. The steepness of the climb & gearing often dictates a low cadence for me (~3.5w/kg).
Should I try to change this for my indoor VO2 up to over 100 rpm, despite having no problems of reaching the “close your eyes and think of England” state that KM mentions as the goal for VO2?
You’ll incur less fatigue so you could do them more often is what it’s after I think. You know how lower cadences are “muscularly harder” and sometimes you have a few bpm less at the same power? High cadence isn’t very efficient so it burns up more oxygen. SO that may be something to think about as you get more fit and need more stimulus to incur additional vo2 max gains. But if it works for you now, then it works.
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Kolie is a clever guy but IMHO he should have said “you should be trying to produce a heart rate between 90-95% max heart rate using the lowest watts you can”.
Higher heart rate than necessary only inflict excessive fatigue. Aiming for the lower range makes it possible to extend TIZ without undue stress.
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tell him that not me.
You cited him, I just wanted to balance that statement.
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Assuming able to elicit VO2 condition with breathing and heartrate as a guide. How do you get stronger?
If I currently am doing 4 x5min (20min TiZ). Should I try to aim for more watts? Keep everything the same, but try to add on time to each interval, add interval etc?
Or is the thought that simply just doing the VO2 workout 2-3 times per week for a few weeks will yield improvement?
Yea but I’m not the expert on the topic. Just repeating the recommendation of someone I trust to have a reason for not saying what you are saying. I don’t know who you are, don’t know your expertise, and your claim doesn’t have a source. So I have no reason to consider it.
Why don’t you ask in the weekend AMA. He’ll have an answer for you
i’ve been told to try and set a PR, just go all in each time
That’s what I’m told.
edit: stretching of the heart muscle is the stimulus.
Rising EF should be an indicator of progress. You might even find that you want to shrink interval time because after the first week you are pretty tired. I could only handle 2 a week last time. Twice I attempted a 3rd and threw in the towel after 1 or 2 intervals both times
the forum has always been kind to me for expressing a counter view.
I will start my VO2max block this weekend in the same way as I did it last season (also Kolie Moore style).
3 days in a row for 3 weeks. All intervals with 30s „hard start“ and high cadence through all intervals (around 105-115 rpm).
I aim for 15-20min of TiZ. I decrease interval lenght in every block. This helps me mentally as I believe that the next day will be easier (which is never the case 
)
First week:
- 5x4min
- 5x3:30min
- 6x3min
Second week:
- 5x3:30min
- 6x3min
- 5x3min
Third week:
- 5x3:30min
- 6x3min
- 5x3min
I only do very very easy riding the other days (low z2) and have 1-2 days off each week.
Eat and sleep a lot during the block. It‘s no joke. Good luck!
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I appreciate you trying to put words in my mouth but I wouldn’t say that. I don’t look at HR except as a post hoc metric. You can do whatever works for you though.
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Well, it was my opinion after all 
but I’m sure you can understand the rationale behind.
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I don’t, honestly. But if you do, then keep at it.
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I like the setup. Why 3 days in a row? Is it an advantage to start each day fatigued, versus spreading it out through week?
It was this guy who said you said that.
I guess the question would be, is there a big training difference from getting the “highest HR” vs “90-95% max HR”? Or are what you saying is that you don’t follow either approach with HR?
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Nice, looks tough!
Curious why you start out with the longest interval duration on the first week?
Personally I would build form 2min to 4-5min intervals week by week, but I like the idea behind reducing the intervals duration inside the week.
Also curious about the 3 days in a row approach.
I’m guessing because these are to be performed all-out, so with the shorter intervals the power will be a lot higher.
The 3 days in a row is a way to intensify the stimulus. If you‘re not used to it, start with 2 consecutive days , 1 day rest and then the third workout.
Also pull the plug if it‘s too much to absorb.
I highly recommend to listen to the VO2max episodes of Empirical Cycling Podcast. Kolie is way smarter than me and explains the concept very well.
I just try to translate his concepts to my training.
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