Originally Posted by
aaronmcd
But 2x20 ARE the "harder stuff"!
VO2 only hurts a for like 3 minutes at a time. FTP hurts from minute 9 on the first one and minute 3 on the second! And minute 1 on the 3rd and 4th, if they exist.
Idk if you do VO2 on hills, but it helps a bit when you hit the hill and have no choice but to dive in.
But I have noticed the huge variation in what I can do, and it's partially mental...
...Like today. I did 353 first one - hard. 349 second one - hard. 353 third one - hard. Etc. Suddenly there is a cyclist up ahead on the 6th and last effort... 390.
Vo2 hurts, but they're over quickly. Do the subsequent FTP intervals hurt *and* you can finish them at same wattage?
For me, if I do FTP ints and I've over on average just a bit, or the effort has little spikes above FTP, they'll be tougher to finish, but I think that's to be expected.