Firstly thank you for taking the time to look at or even purchase this plan. I think regardless of your goals this will help yield some improvements in your power at Vo2 max.

If you’re unsure what power at Vo2 max is, in simple terms it’s the amount of power you can sustain at your maximum oxygen consumption. The duration at which you can sustain such an effort will vary from person to person but we are usually looking at a duration of 3-8 mins.
By looking to increase your power at Vo2 max this can also help lift your power generally at lower intensities.

This plan assumes that you have already established a solid base of endurance, ideally you would have been training consistently for at least 6 months or longer before attempting this plan.

The idea with this plan is that we are looking to target your Vo2 max from the top end. If you have been doing lower intensity endurance rides then that’s great, as this will also help contribute to your aerobic capacity (Vo2) however this training is like the icing on the cake.
It would suit someone who is looking to add a bit more top end to their performance and if you have any events / races coming up then this will really help prepare you. Ideally you would then want to factor in a couple of easier weeks after finishing this plan before racing.

Key elements of a VO2 Max Power Plan:

The plan starts of with a couple of tests to set some baseline values, The first is a ramp test and this should give a good indication of your MAP (Maximum Aerobic Power) The second and I think more important test, especially for anyone looking to race is the fatigue resistance test.

In terms of intensity the focus will be around 90-100% of your MAP – so that will be the power you was able to achieve in the last minute of the ramp test.

The duration of the intervals will vary and the earlier weeks are dominated by what I would call micro intervals, so these are your typical 30/30s or 40/20s. As the weeks pass we move on to extended efforts like your classic 4 x 4mins for example.

For progression we gradually increase the time in zone, this is the key factor when trying to maximise your Vo2 power.

The specific high intensity sessions are interspersed with easy Z2 or recovery type efforts. At this point I would advise to follow the plan to the T. This sort of intensity and frequency cannot be completed alongside threshold and sweet spot type efforts on subsequent days. The idea is that we ride these sessions hard and the other days are easy. Ideally you should have already done some tempo and threshold work leading into this plan.

If you’re not sure please just reach out to me and I’ll be happy to advise the best approach.

All the best and success with your cycling.