I always did some vo2max work in winter in the last few years. Because of this “old people have to work on their vo2max” and “do it every 7-10 days” to maintain. I must say, I never really noticed any real improvement. Yes, my 5 and 20 min test went up a few points but these changes were not relevant for my racing. I still sucked in the fast start phases which are so typical for many mass start events.
Furthermore, all these dedicated vo2max blocks did not help either. They just hurt without much benefit. Often probably counter productive.
This time with Aet/tempo and threshold blocks overall load was probably higher. But not as taxing. I always felt pretty good. I’d say this is this consistency trumps everything thing. 4-6x10min at threshold hurts a lot, as well. But it is a different pain.
However, still have to tackle those fast starts. Not sure how. If I had gotten into a faster group on Sunday my overall ranking would have been better.