Bike Forums - The art of intervals?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by rubiksoval (Post 19457260)

But that's something a bit different. I'd suggest if you're trying to maximize gains in vo2 max, you need to do them quite a bit harder (115%+). And the only way to do that is with quite a bit more rest (generally in the realm of 1:1).

The 6x5x1 is more like something I'd expect to be more specific to FTP (especially in that 105%-110% range) and giving it a bit of a "pull up".

Yes, you're correct. These are pull-up FTP sessions, and very effective at that. I thought Drew10 was asking about raising FTP without a PM. In my experience a mix of sweetspot to push from below and 6x5+1 to pull from above is a good combination: they are hard but not so fatiguing that they'll wipe you out for several days and so are repeatable.

HR ramps up over the first couple minutes of each interval like a sawtooth, but power is on from the beginning.

I prefer 4x8x2 on a trainer with a power meter when I used to do them.

Conveniently, 8 min on + 2 rest is easy to keep track of on a clock.

Alternatively, you can use a target speed on a trainer instead of power.

Here's an example
https://www.strava.com/activities/245493336

I'm sure it's not as effective as a PM, but I know my LTHR within 1-2 bpm, and 4-5 bpm over that I can sustain for 6x5 with about 2-2.5 minutes rest. Likewise, I know about where VO2max is based on HR, but it's not sustainable for a 7-10 minute rep. I realize there's a lag, but once it reaches that HR target, I work to peg it there the remainder of the rep.

Would an FTP session and a VO2max session each week be a valuable combination?