VO2max training

My VO2max training phase begins this week…here’s an example of the Main Set within a 60 minute run:

MS: 2 x 200, 2 x 400, 2 x 200, all @ IP/Z5/Very Hard with full recoveries between each.

The bike VO2max bike workout, looks like this, within a 60 minute ride:

MS: 4 x (2.5′ ON, 2.5′ OFF) ON = 120%/Z5/Very Hard OFF = 65%/Z1/Easy…Remainder of available ride time at 80-85%/Z3/Mod-Hard

Over the next 3 weeks this will work up to runs that look like this:

MS: 4 x 200, 2 x 1000 all at IP/Z5/Very Hard with full recoveries between each.

and a bike:

MS: 5 x (2.5′ ON, 2.5′ OFF) ON = 120%/Z5/Very Hard OFF = 65%/Z1/Easy Remainder of available ride time at 80-85%/Z3/Mod-Hard

So you can see that the intervals are quite short, with high all-out intensity.

VO2 max training is used to raise the aerobic ‘ceiling’…the VO2max…from Matt Fitzgerald:

A high VO2max is important because it is closely correlated with distance-running performance. Research has shown that VO2max accounts for roughly 70 percent of the variation in race performances among individual runners.  Thus, if you are able to run a 5K one minute faster than I can, it is likely that your VO2max is higher than mine by an amount that is sufficient to account for 42 seconds of that minute. 

http://www.active.com/running/Articles/How-to-Maximize-Your-VO2max-Training.htm

Simply put, if you want to run and bike faster, you need to run and bike faster 🙂

…this focus on speed will continue the next weeks, before then shifting from fast to far, as I take whatever speed I’ve been able to develop, and applying it to long course racing distances