VO2 power 5% down from last year

ptooey said:

Hello,
My training has been rather informal this year, as I have decided to go without a coach AND start my season quite a bit later than in years past. I did ~2.5 months of weekly 2x20s plus a hard group ride and have been trying to get in some VO2 intervals for the past 3 weeks. I have noticed that my power is ~5% down from last year however!!! I have been training for ~5yrs so wouldn't expect big gains but certainly wouldn't expect such a big loss either? Any suggestions to get my VO2 power back up to at least where it was last season? THanks.

Possible reasons:
1. you are training less and started later so have lost some fitness.
2. some pulmonary problem is there. Allergies, asthma, exposure to something.

How did you determine your VO2 in the first place? Did you have actual testing done or did you use some other method?

To really compare your power this year to last, since you mention you started late, you really need to compare where you are today with the equivelant time frame from last year.

Finally, there is some natural decline VO2 as we age although I don't think its 5%.

kathybeast said:

Possible reasons:
...
Finally, there is some natural decline VO2 as we age although I don't think its 5%.

For sure not, If I may quite myself (sad...I know 😉):
http://www.cyclingforums.com/showpost.php?p=1746481&postcount=43

uhh.. Ptooey... nice handle by the way,

how did you determine your VO2 power is down 5%? Was this a consistent thing, or a one off thing? If it's one off, I wouldn't worry at all as everybody has bad days, and of course, good ones.