I do, I have my athletes test residuals when it’s relevant. Most of the time you can kind of see a pattern… it’s usually something like:
5s, 1m, 5m, 20m
Then
30s, 2m, 25m
Then
1s, 8m, 50m+ (depends on the TTE, etc.)
But like I’m not going to interrupt a VO2max block to test residuals. And I’m not going to have them test residuals going into that block. I’d rather just let most of the model lapse and re-baseline them again. Good enough is good enough.
When I have some specific reason to test them (like I want them working on 6min power or something), then we test that. And with some athletes, I’ll do more residual testing just to get them to practice and improve their pacing skills. Other athletes don’t really need it.
So again it just depends on what we’re planning to work on as to whether or not I care about how accurate the model is at that moment. The more specific the training, the more I care. The more general the training, the less I care as long as I have a good feel for their FTP and endurance power levels, e.g.
As a relevant aside: a long-form FTP test that gives you insights on TTE also helps eliminate the need for a bunch of residual testing, IMO. If you’re doing extensive SST/threshold work and the guy does a 36-minute threshold effort to exhaustion, you know your starting point.