Kolie Moore finally revisited Vo2 max training. It wasn’t much of a surprise as he’d already said most of his old stuff was not great.
It’s of course 2 hours, and there’s a lot of re-hashing. I find that useful but you can skip at least the first 45 minutes to get to his workout stuff.
Thanks. Did anyone watch the full episode and have the major takeaways or workouts he recommends at the moment? I know he was big on the high cadence intervals, but was wondering if this is still the case? I’d love to listen to the whole episode, but haven’t been able to at the moment.
In the new podcast Kolie talks about how some small things he said in the first podcast went viral (for want of a better phrase), and how those snippets, on their own, do not convey the full message he intended to get across.
So, just as there is a benefit from completing workouts, there is a benefit to completing podcasts covering elements of training that interest you, by people you hold in high regard.
I agree with @fabric5000 that the meat and potatoes of the podcast come after about 45 minutes, but listening to the whole thing is worth doing. It isn’t pay per minute, it is free.
Thanks, this was what I should have said, perfect summary.
But I can still to a “tl;dl:” Time in zone; everything else is at best a marginal gain. Kolie still not a big fan of micro intervals. Find the workout(s) you’ll actually do.
“But I can still to a “tl;dl:” Time in zone; everything else is at best a marginal gain. Kolie still not a big fan of micro intervals. Find the workout(s) you’ll actually do.”
Which ties in neatly with something written by Coggan on the timetriallingforum that I mentioned here recently too:
I’d be curious about this too. When doing my own VO2 intervals in the 4-8min range, I can often muscle-through the latter portions of an interval at low cadence without feeling like I’m gasping like a fish, and the limiting factor on my power output feels like it’s an anaerobic limit, whereas if I keep the cadence high, it feels like I simply cannot get enough air and my power drops off (which I assume is a better training stimulus for VO2).
I did a VO2 block with Kolie’s high cadence method, and as much as it got me breathing like a fish out of water, the lower resulting power of each interval left me feeling like I could have given more. From my experience, I feel like I have done the best VO2 workout when I just ride maximally for ~5 minute intervals. My cadence is naturally high in such an effort anyway, although not quite the 110+ RPM Kolie recommends.
I got the impression he’d toned down a little the super high cadence bit. My main takeaway from the podcast, and I’ve got to listen to it again, was not to go Max as in sprint at the start. Sure go hard and then let the watts fade as the interval goes on but don’t go crazy at the start. (which I was doing )
He did indeed downplay the 110+ cadence.
From his original podcasts, I think this is what he’s going for - maximal oxygen consumption was the goal, not necessarily power. So high cadence and/or hard start were good ways to get there/stay there.
I think his nuance - then and now- is - these things can be a marginal gain.
I also think there is some nuance here. A cyclocross start is this - you’re gonna nearly maximally sprint, and then have to settle into a high pace. Would doing 600-800W for 10 seconds and then dropping to VO2 pace be a good workout? Well, that sounds a lot like what I’m doing all the time in crits and cyclocross, so seems like there would be value in doing it in training, and I’m thinking of incorporating something like that into my training.
I agree that specificity - matching your training to the events you are training for - is a good thing to do.
Depending on how frequently you are racing, you might want to consider how much more hard start into VO2 work you want / need to add into your training plan though.
If, at some part of the year, you are racing every week, then replacing a different type of training session with a hard start into VO2 workout might not be the best use of that session.
An excellent point, and this is often my downfall! This cross season I’ve already put it in mind to do less hard work the weeks I have races. The last few years I’ve tried to use cross season as both a way to build my fitness for the next road season, but also I want to do really well! I’m going to focus on the latter this year, now that I’ve built a few solid years of training up.
I thought it was very interesting that he spent a bit of time talking about VO2max and Anaerobic Capacity. Not something I’d ever given much thought to to be honest. I use Xert and their high intensity workouts have a lot of hard short intervals in them, something I find a lot easier than the sustained power at 105-120% FTP. After listen to the pod I suspect they are more geared to Anaerobic Capacity. I managed 6 x 3m @ 110% FTP the other day and found them VERY hard. I hope they did me some good
That 6x3m @ 110 FTP that you found VERY hard will have done you some good.
Making it the start of a series of workouts that builds the duration / intensity of the work intervals over the next few weeks is how to really multiply the benefits!
Thank you for the encouragement 
. It’s what I plan to do in the next 3 weeks before I go on holiday.
What recovery time are you doing here?
I like 3m for VO2 interval length. I know it’s going to hurt, but mentally I can get myself motivated a lot more easily for more 3m intervals than for fewer 5m intervals, because those really hurt. I also feel like I can more easily get in the 110-120% ftp range, which makes me feel like I’m accomplishing more.
Don’t kill yourself to do multiple weeks of these in a row. If they are really hard to get motivated for, it’s fine to spread them out with other interval workouts. “Block” workouts are another one of these marginal gains/work really well for some people. And Kolie and Rory specifically talked about how when they do VO2 blocks, a lot of time they end up pulling the plug before they get to the end.
Don’t burn yourself out!
A minimum of 3 minutes but I extend it if I feel I need it. As we get into the Autumn the weather restricts our long rides to (4-6hrs) that we do in the summer. I plan to do these VO2max workouts when we can’t do those rides. Will probably work out at 3 over the course of a 2 week period. I have learnt only to do them when my legs are fresh, generally after a rest or very easy day.