Billat had a study a few years ago where after establishing max aerobic uptake the power was decreased and max aerobic uptake was maintained for 15-25 minutes (depending on participant). In one case a participant dropped below ftp for a majority of the time IIRC.
I think vo2max work benefits from focusing on your breathing and making sure you maintain it. Some interesting stuff on the latest SpareCycles blog post (he is using vo2 mask):
Really just a great series of vo2max posts, in particular the most recent with actual aerobic uptake data. Like so many other things, training in the zone is a mix of art and science as your body isn’t a regimented machine that always behaves the same.
I’m glad I found this thread. I’m in the same boat. Always at the beginning of a 4-5 week training period I can’t complete my intervals in my VO2max power zone - 280w or 105%. My coach sets me 8 min intervals to simulate long climbing efforts and promote muscular tolerance.
Usually I can’t finish 1 without a break, then after 4 weeks I can do 3 without a break, and in the last block of training I managed 2 x 15 mins.
So today I started and he’s assigned me 5 x 8 mins. I tried to be mentally positive and completed the first interval, needed a 30s break in the middle of intervals 2 and 3, and 2 breaks for each of intervals 4 and 5. In total I completed 26 mins in vo2max power and 36 mins VO2max HR over 1hr:20 with warmup/cool down.
I’d be interested in knowing if I’m improving my VO2max / fitness at all even with the breaks In the intervals.
I have struggled with these workouts at well. For me, they are especially hard first thing in the am. But the longer 120% ones have adopted the “The Beatings Shall Continue Until Morale Improves” philosophy. I am doing what I can now and will wait until they show up again as I progress towards next season (I have one more crucial race this season).
this was one of my first learnings from owning a powermeter and training the first winter on a first batch Kickr: 120% can be misleading. Took me actually 2 winters of failed 4x4 workouts to accept this.
These days I don’t really test anymore (the other big learning from training with a powermeter). The only exception: I try to shell out max ~6min efforts every once in a while. This is a very good estimate for your power at vo2max. And it is quite variable, depending on how much one trains in that region. Clearly different to my threshold power level.
Or look at similar efforts and add or substract a few watts. The Excel-Engineers-have-to-train-at-x% of y exactly-folks will shudder but I’ve found this quite reliable.
Its amazing how just a few less watts backward into the top of sweet spot make a difference. So tonight -20watts (260) x 15 mins x 3 and hard work but completed. I feel better today for completing that, except for the dull ache in my legs…
