Only because it’s creating distracting novelty for the mind instead of simply pounding it with a 3 min pile-driver. Everything inside the body is still behaving just the same. Trickery!
Medically/scientifically, no, it’s probably not healthy. You’re basically training your body how to function while drowning. Naturally, yes, the brain is screaming “I’M HEADING FOR COLLAPSE OR INJURY!”…and that’s why it takes all of us all we have to do these types of intervals – cuz our body-brain thinks we are trying to kill it!
I do this, if i cant manage the wattage i just aim to stay within my vo2 max range. its a mental knock not being able to do the number but i find time in the target zone a positive thing. ( in the past if i couldn’t hit and maintain the specific wattage id give in, stop the workout and sulk for a couple of days after ) Its easy to get hung up on the numbers i have found.
I did 6 * 3’ @120% last night with 3 mins rest.
Doable but tough
I tend to not look at the monitor until I think 1 minute is completed and then hope it is nearer 1:30 complete. Then I do a slow count to 10 which I think is about 30 seconds but often works out at 45 seconds. Then I don’t look until my current song has finished or a question has been completed on whichever podcast I am listening to. Then I just hang on.
I do the first 5 in erg mode to ensure that I dont blow up and the last in standard mode and try and push a little if I can.
I also think 120% is the carrot we should be trying to chase. Also try to think of your 3 minute repeatable power in absolute terms and don’t get as hung up on % of ftp. I’ve personally only successfully completed one x by 3 min workout at 120% and the next week i had too much fatigue to even match that effort, let alone do 1 more repeat.
Fueling - Get about 150-200mg of caffeine with about 40g of carbs in before the workout. I usually have a double shot cappuccino with 2 rusks about 40 min before. Have your chilled carb drink on your bike, take a swig before and after each interval the cool sweetness is a proper RPE reducer.
Pre workout recovery - Make sure you are recovered well before the hard sessions, this may mean going easy on the easy days especially on the weekends. It may also mean an added hour of sleep. It may also mean good post workout nutrition after workouts leading up to this. Every workout is a prep for the next so remember by compromising the recovery before this workout, you compromise this workout.
Ensure you have set the correct FTP less any ego watts.
Music definitely helps, in fact watching youtube videos of pros training or racing with music in the background works for me. (Lionel Sanders has some excellent ones on his youtube channel).
Its all in the mind. Know you have built your training to progress to this. You are capable. Coach Chad put it at this point in the plan because he knows all the cumulative training before this made you strong enough to do it now.
Breathe well. All the time. Through the warmup. During the recovery. As the interval starts. Be in control of it.
Find a substitute or modify your workout to do the intervals with a 10 to 20 sec rest at the 1:30 mark. I found this helped me loads when I was in the middle of big training blocks and just didnt have the legs that day. Sometimes the workout the week before had 4min intervals and I did them no problem, yet that particular day my legs and mind just didnt have the magic for 3 min intervals.
Thumps up to this.
Sometimes when the suffering starts I tell myself “30 seconds more,” then when those are done I say it again, and after a few times, its the last 30 seconds, or I count my breaths at 1 min to go and before I get to 30 the interval is over. I also mentally know if I get through the first 2 mins, just one more minute is not going to kill me.
True. Finally got around to reading Matt Fitzgerald’s “How Bad Do You Really Want It?”…one part where the lab guys test the muscles after the athlete has collapsed from exhaustion to see if the muscles were fried. Turns out the muscles were just fine and the athlete stopped because they hit a mental barrier, not a physical one.
VO2max intervals are way more about training the mind than training the body. But it’s all relative. I look at 3min@120% and think “I’ll see how many I can do at 125%”; but I see 7min@108% and think “How many will I have to do at 95%?” (FWIW, the 7min interval is ~2x TSS the 3min interval…so if you can manage those Threshold workouts then these VO2 sessions should be no problem!)
I hate those VO2 things too. I put a little tea-towel over the TrainerRoad screen – covering just about everything except the interval timer. You’d be surprised how much easier things are when you don’t stare at the power number for 180 seconds straight.
I sometimes look away from the screen and try think about anything to get my mind off the interval countdown - wondering what my kids are up to upstairs, how much my tire pressure will drop when I go outside at ride at 10F on Saturday morning, when the right time is to buy a new gravel bike, did I pick up all the dog poop from out in the yard, what I’ve forgotten to do that my wife asked me - then I look back at the timer and see 10 seconds have passed
I made it through this exercise. But the day after my legs were dead, is that normal? Like I struggled to finish the Petite workout in my plan, it was probably there for a reason tho.
It’s the same for me. I often do the VO2max-workouts at 102% and struggle with threshold and over-under at 98%. I embrace the tuesdays and look forward to them! =)
