Variable Power Intervals

RapDaddyo said:

I want to mix two objectives with my interval training. One is to get my target minutes by level, most importantly levels 4 and 5 (per Andy Coggan's schema). The second is to practice and improve my variable power TT pacing strategies. A typical interval would be ~14 mins ridden at an average power at the upper end of level 4, but with several surges into levels 5 and 6. Most of these surges are from 30-90 sec, followed by reduced power (e.g., mid-L3) for an equal or greater duration. The recommended minimum duration for L5 intervals is 3 min. My question is, "Am I getting the adaptation benefit of an L5 interval (VO2MAX) even though the durations are <3 mins? Or, do I need to do L5-specific intervals >3 mins in duration?"

At some stage, you need to do the specific >3 minute L5 work. As you would probably know, 6-8 X 4-6 minutes at 95-98%MAP. Fun...

The protocol you describe would primarily affect TT power/FT/LT/whatever you want to call it. Still, it's a good sounding workout.

Also, don't forget those funky as all get out 12 X 30s at 175%MAP with 4:30 rest periods when the time comes.

Roadie_scum said:

At some stage, you need to do the specific >3 minute L5 work. As you would probably know, 6-8 X 4-6 minutes at 95-98%MAP. Fun...

The protocol you describe would primarily affect TT power/FT/LT/whatever you want to call it. Still, it's a good sounding workout.

Also, don't forget those funky as all get out 12 X 30s at 175%MAP with 4:30 rest periods when the time comes.

That's sort of what I was thinking, that I need to hold the L5 power for >=3 mins to get the full benefit. I can work that into my hill climb interval -- the hill is certainly long enough. In fact, I'll probably be able to do a couple of them in one climb. I sort of hate to go back to the bottom before reaching the top. But, with my routine VP pacing, I am at L5 for a cumulative total of ~3-4 mins. Does that count at all as an L5 interval?

RapDaddyo said:

That's sort of what I was thinking, that I need to hold the L5 power for >=3 mins to get the full benefit. I can work that into my hill climb interval -- the hill is certainly long enough. In fact, I'll probably be able to do a couple of them in one climb. I sort of hate to go back to the bottom before reaching the top. But, with my routine VP pacing, I am at L5 for a cumulative total of ~3-4 mins. Does that count at all as an L5 interval?

Firstly, an edit. I used MAP and VO2max power interchangeably in my previous post, but VO2max is slightly lower. In the interval prescription I meant VO2max power not MAP. Adjust down the %age of MAP slightly for those intervals (which I think iirc you've done anyway by saying L5).

Second it depends what you mean and what your goals are. The effects of accumulating time in L5 are different depending on how long you maintain that power and how rested/recovered you are before going into the interval. As a start I would think about your average or normalised power across a given time period - if you are getting NP's in L5 across 4-6 minute time periods then you are probably getting the training effect you want. This will be hard to do, however, if you go into the interval and are not well rested - eg you are doing TT power work either side.

This is where physiological testing or assessing max powers over different time periods will probably be helpful. If MAP/VO2max/5 minute power are low compared to TT power/FT you definitely need to concentrate specifically on these areas and should spend at least some time doing these intervals at the exclusion of other forms of training. If however your MAP/etc is high relative to FT/ETC then there is probably less need to concentrate on this form of training. Note that I am talking about your powers relative to you, not where you lie relative to the population (eg, it doesn't matter so much whether you have an MAP of 500W or 300W, more what %age of those numbers you can maintain over different time scales). Are you a straight line on the coggan power table? Negative gradient? Positive gradient. If you don't have the power data, you could test these areas specifically, or do physiological testing to determine LT and VO2max.