Are Your VO2 Workouts Training The Wrong System

With the Tour de France wrapped up, conversations about Tadej Pogačar's VO2 max are everywhere.

But what actually increases VO2 max?

In this episode, CTS Head Cycling Coach Adam Pulford breaks down the two interval strategies he uses with athletes to develop aerobic power. Learn the difference between long, sustained VO2 intervals and short on/off efforts, when to use each one, and how to sequence both leading into your biggest events. If you've hit a plateau or want to maximize your aerobic engine, this episode provides a practical framework you can immediately apply to your training.

HOST

Adam Pulford has been a CTS Coach for nearly two decades and holds a B.S. in Exercise Physiology. He's participated in and coached hundreds of athletes for endurance events all around the world.

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Resources:

• https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/ronnestad-30-15-intervals/
• Short Interval Blocks for Endurance Athletes- Part1
• Short Interval Blocks for Endurance Athletes Part 2

Transcript

Why VO2 Work Stops Working

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If you're doing endless VO2 max intervals, but your fitness has stopped improving, there's a good chance that you're using the wrong kind of workout. Or you're doing the right workout at the wrong time. Here's the thing: there isn't just one way to build a bigger engine. In fact, on a high level, I coach my athletes using two completely different VO2 max interval strategies. And each one improves their fitness in a different way. But there is some strategic timing at the right point in the season for these, as well as the dose of intensity that is very important. By the end of this video, you'll know exactly when to use long hard VO2 intervals and when to switch to the shorter on-off intervals, and how to combine both to arrive at your biggest races with the highest aerobic power possible. I'm Coach Adam Pulford, head of cycling at CTS. CTS is one of the biggest coaching companies in the world, and we specialize in strategies to increase fitness and performance for both amateur and professional athletes. Our headquarters are located in Colorado, but we offer a variety of training camps around the world as well as one-on-one coaching and virtual consults. So if you're into what I'm talking about today, head over to TrainWrite.com to learn more about our coaches and all that we have to offer, especially when it comes to getting fit and going fast on a

VO2 Max And Base First

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bicycle. Speaking of which, once you built a strong aerobic base, maximized training volume, and pushed up FTP, it's time to focus on the next piece of the puzzle raising your VO2max. VO2 Max is simply the maximum amount of oxygen your body can take in, deliver to the working muscles, and use to produce energy. And in endurance sports, a bigger engine almost always means better performance. But here's what many riders get wrong. They think all VO2 Max workouts are basically the same. They're not. Today I'm going to walk you through two VO2 Max interval strategies I use with my athletes, and I'll explain what each one actually develops, how to structure them correctly, and why the order you do them in can make a huge difference heading into your goal event. So let's dive in.

Two VO2 Interval Strategies

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Here's the two high-intensity strategies to increase VO2 Max. First one is long, steady hard intervals at zone five. The second one are shorter, hard on-off intervals at zone five to six. I'll explain the details of each of these and how I implement them with my athletes. But to frame this up best, I'm pulling on concepts from a previous video I did about pushing up FTP and maximizing volume before doing this VO2 work. I generally get the best results when my athletes have months of aerobic training under their cleats first. So if you missed that video, hit pause and watch it in the link below. While you're down there, go ahead and hit that like button if you like the stuff that I'm talking about today. Come back and keep learning about VO2 max training here.

Long Hard Interval Blueprint

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Okay, so let's first talk about the long, hard intervals. These are your classic three to five minute near max efforts, and they're hard. Example workouts would be four by three minutes with three minutes easy in between for beginners, or five by five minutes with four to five minute easy between for more advanced riders. I'll do as short as two minutes and maybe as long as six to eight minutes VO2 max work, depending on the rider current fitness and overall goals when it comes to interval length. Intensity for these intervals is at 106 to 121% of FTP or your zone five when it comes to your training zones. Try to get a minimum of 10 to 15 minutes of total time in zone for people just starting out, and maybe up to 25 or 30 minute maximum for advanced riders. For example, in that 5x5 minute workout, 5 times 5 equals 25 minutes of total time in zone at zone 5. Usually I'm using work to rest periods of 1 to 1 or slightly shorter recoveries on the longer intervals to stress the system a bit more. Example again, going back to the 5x5 minute workout, I use four to five minute recovery periods. These are time-tested, research-proven intervals to increase your power at VO2 max. And the longer you go with them, you'll increase your ventilation at VO2 max, meaning you'll get more time breathing hard. That's important if your goal is to increase your VO2 max.

Long Interval Mistakes To Avoid

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Classic mistakes with these is you don't go long enough. I see a lot of athletes doing, say, one-minute efforts and they think they're doing VO2 work. It's not. One minute hard is hard, but you don't get enough of that heart rate response or ventilatory response needed to elicit the VO2 max response. Another mistake I see is using too long of recovery periods. Recover too long, you minimize the stress response. Let's say you do that five by five minute workout, you spread it over the course of a two-hour ride, like with 10 to 15 minutes easy riding between. It's not a bad workout as you have enough time in zone. But if your goal is to increase VO2 max, you could shorten the recovery times to three to five minutes between and get way more out of the workout by increasing the density of that main set. This forces your ventilation up, fatigue increases, and you put a lot more effective stress on the system. And recall, stress plus rest equals adaptation. And adaptation is all what we're after. The final mistake I see is you don't go hard enough. VO2 work is hard. That's why many athletes left up to their own devices just don't do it. It hurts. It's not fun. It's hard. So a lot of people just aim for the minimum dose or don't dive into their data to see if they're truly working at that intensity they should to elicit the right response. A good coach will make sure that the FTP or critical power are up to date, zones are set properly, and workouts are individualized to make the right power for each interval. 9 to 10 out of 10 RPE is the target for each of these intervals. So starting out, you may be just under max for the first few and then maxing out on the final few. Real simple, but real hard. And a good coach will have tools and methods to make sure that you're overloading the system on the day versus underworking it or overworking it.

On Off Interval Blueprint

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Now let's move on to the second strategy. These are the shorter, hard on-off intervals. These are your classic 3030s, 4020s, or the ever so popular and effective 3015s, meaning 30 seconds hard at 9 out of 10 RPE, and then 15 seconds easy at 3 to 4 out of 10 RPE, just turning the legs over, but not coasting. In my coaching practice, I find that the 3015s are generally better at stressing the VO2 max system simply because you have shorter recovery than the 3030s. Heart rate hangs high and ventilation does too. 4020s are also good as they have the high stress, low rest, but mentally they're a touch harder with 10 seconds longer for each on portion. 3030s are very good and effective, and usually where I start with the on-offs to get the legs and lungs into it, but you have a one-to-one work-to-rest period versus the two to one work to rest as in the 4020s and 3015s. So the density, stress, and strain are higher for these. With any on-off interval workout, you want to aim for at least 15 to 30 minutes of total time in zone for elevated heart rate. That translates to about 8 to 15 minutes of time in zone for actual power and pedaling. Now, that's very hard pedaling with very short recovery, thus the high stress being imposed, which is what is needed to strain the system to increase VO2 max. This will be separate from time in zone for power. However, because the time spent pedaling hard and easy shows up differently than in the heart rate and breathing responses. For example, a hard workout prescribe maybe 3x10 minutes as 30 seconds hard and 30 seconds easy, and that easy portion is in your zone 2 endurance. This would give you a total time in zone of 30 minutes of elevated heart rate and breathing, but only about 15 minutes of the on portion or hard pedaling time, which shows up in that power distribution in zone five and maybe above. This is what I mean by I separate those two elements. And this is different from the long hard intervals that I was just talking about, where the hard time pedaling is the same as the interval time. However, the heart rate and ventilation takes about 60 seconds or so to catch up for the first few intervals when you're doing the long hard intervals to get up to where it should be versus the on-offs, where the heart rate and ventilation spike up pretty quickly because the power is

MAP Targets And Testing

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so high. Intensity for the on-offs. Here's where it can get even a little bit more confusing. I generally find it better not to use percentage of FTP for these workouts, but rather anchoring in maximal aerobic power or MAP, which is roughly a five to six minute maximum power for the current time period, which for me I generally use the past two to three months. Many coaches and researchers, including Dr. Stephen Seiler, cite this in their advice as well, using 95 to 100% of maximal aerobic power to design these on-off workouts best. The reason for this is one rider may be more anaerobic than the other, but they could have the same FTP. For example, Rider A having an FTP of 330 watts and an NAP of 450 watts. Rider B has an FTP that is the same at 330, but the MAP is 400 watts. If we use, let's just say 110% to 120% of FTP for these riders for the on-off, they would target the same power for the on portions. The workout would be much easier for rider A versus rider B, and they might not get as much out of it. Recall from my video on normalized power. When the efforts get squiggly or more anaerobic, you need to go beyond FTP or a mostly aerobic power target to determine things. Maximal aerobic power has a lot of anaerobic to it. And this system is the one that we're aiming to stress. So it's better to anchor in that. MAP is most accurately found in the laboratory setting, but it is very acceptable to use a maximum five-minute power from the past training data history. And it's usually a max effort that you've done over the past three months or so. This is why it can be kind of confusing and libboning for some. If you're used to building workouts based on percentage of FTP or critical power, you'll need to change to peak five-minute power to do the on-offs best. If you have a recent five-minute max in the past few months, as I said, start with 95 to 100% of that power and create the workout for the hard portions and then use 30 to 40% for the easy portions. For example, a 30-second on, 15 second off workout, peak five minute at 420 would be 400 to 420 for the on and 125 to 170 watt for the off. For a 40-20 workout, I'd decrease the on power just a little for most athletes because we're going slightly longer. For a 30-30 workout, I'd increase the on power a little bit since we have a slightly longer recovery period. You'll have to calculate the power from the maximal aerobic power, then perhaps write it in as a percentage of FTP on your workout builder for yourself or an athlete that you're coaching if you're a coach listening to this. It's a bit heavy-handed like this, but for now, these are the tools that we're working with. But that's probably going to be changing pretty soon, in my opinion. Now, if you don't have an up-to-date five-minute peak power, this could get a bit fuzzy. But this is why it's good to be field testing two to three times per year if you're also racing, and up to four to five times per year if you're not racing on a regular basis in order to have max data to leverage when making these training decisions. If you don't have the data or you're not sure, you could use approximately 120% of FTP plus RPE to dial in where you need to be on these. 120% of FTP will get you close if training zones are actually working for you right now. But if you're more of a sprinter, you could aim for slightly higher so that you get more out of that workout. If you're more of a climber, aim for a little lower than 120% of FTP so that you don't blow yourself out of the water. And as you recall, RPE should be around 9 out of 10 for each of the on portions of these intervals. There's some real trial and error for these for sure, and that goes for everybody. If you go out and try a workout using 95 to 100% of your current five-minute max power, and you're like, hey man, that was too easy. Cool. Just bump up the power 10 to 15 watts on each and do another workout. These should not be easy. And I don't have your data. I'm just giving you advice on where to start. I customize this stuff for each of my athletes, and the percentage of MAP can vary depending on if you're a climber, all-arounder, sprinter, new to the sport, or if you're a seasoned rider. There are nuances to these workouts for sure, and especially when you get into the data side of things. But keep it simple and make the ons hard and the offs as zone two endurance. Then repeat. If you need more advice, schedule a consult with one of our coaches.

Season Timing Taper And Wrap

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Alright, what are some classic mistakes of these on-off intervals? Oh boy, where do we start? Probably the first one going too hard. This is why using data can help be a good guide. Start on the low end at first. And if you error, err on the lighter side, then adjust up. Another mistake I see is using the wrong anchor. Recall that maximal aerobic power is greater than functional threshold power, in my opinion, and in many other people's opinions, on these workouts when it comes to individualizing the sessions. Using FTP could be too much for some and too little for others. Another mistake I see is not going long enough on these. Lots of people like to do 4x3015s thinking that that's enough. That's not. For most people, racing and doing events, you need to go longer, as I mentioned earlier with all the structure that I gave you in place. Another mistake I see is taking too much recovery time, even with these on-off intervals. The whole goal of training is to stress the body, then rest it, then get some kind of adaptation. Stress it hard, rest it hard, and get better results. Finally, the last mistake I see is thinking that there is only one way of doing these. The Ronstead protocol is pretty hype right now, and it's a very effective workout. It's 13 by 30 seconds on, 15 seconds off, so that's 9.75 minute intervals at 95 to 100% maximal aerobic power, with only three minute recovery in between. This is a very advanced workout for sure, and it's awesome. But if you only do this because you think it is the holy grail of protocols, you've missed something. There's no magic protocol. Variety is actually a training principle. And starting less aggressive if you're new to the sport or new to these intervals is definitely better than starting with the Ronstadt protocol. Building up to it is a good goal. And building beyond it, too, is applicable if you have races that have that specificity. For example, check out this two by 20 minute workout as 3030s going uphill, a ride I did for this video, by the way, because I didn't want to force any of my athletes into doing it this week. But I wanted the data. Hard one, for sure. But is it harder than the Ronstead? Am I even saying that right? Maybe. I don't know. Check it out here. You can see the two side by side on training peaks, and you can see the associated TSS scores when I build the interval workouts the same. The whole thing here is build up to it, try both of these workouts, and let me know what you think. Drop it in the comment section and use all this information that I'm giving you to just improve your workout strategy. Now, the on-off intervals can have a lot of creativity to them. My suggestion is to just be sure that you're going hard enough, using the right anchor. And if you want the ventilatory responses for VO2 Max, you have to use shorter recovery periods versus longer where you get fully recovered before going hard again. To bring this thing home, let's talk about when you should be doing these types of intervals. If you have time, I think two rounds of VO2 work using each method is the most effective. That means about seven to eight weeks out from your A race, do a three-week block of the longer hard VO2 intervals. Take a recovery week, then two to 2.5 weeks of the shorter on-off intervals, then taper into the race with what you know works best for you. Two VO2 workouts per week probably is best for most. Group rides and volume on the weekend, and this should have some moderate volume during this time, meaning about 80% of your typical high volume weeks is what you should be shooting for to offset some of the fatigue and provide freshness for the high intensity days. For that taper, typically you'll drop volume, keep the intensity high, keep frequency of riding up, and in that taper arrive fresh on race day. I still need to do a full taper video, but those are the bones of it for now, and look for a video on that later. The reason I suggest two rounds of VO2 work is doing both versions will develop you all around best. Doing the long, hard VO2 work first pulls that sustainable power up. Doing the short on off pulls the ventilatory VO2 up and gives you the more specificity to actual racing with the stochastic nature of pedaling and the suffering that's involved. To wrap this thing up, I really want to encourage you that you can increase your VO2 max in more than one way. The best strategy involves a long period of time where you push it up by building aerobic capacity. Then at some point, maybe seven to eight weeks out from your A race, your final prep involves a few weeks of the longer, hard VO2 work, then the onoff work to best prepare for the demands of the race. Go try this stuff. Have fun with it. Don't be afraid to fail a little, because that's when you're learning most. If you get stuck, we can help you get unstuck. TrainRight.com. See you back here for the next one soon.