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2026-06-05

VO2 ceiling support

  • Id: 2026-06-05-vo2-ceiling-support
  • Title: VO2 ceiling support
  • Kind: workout
  • Discipline: bike
  • Surface: road
  • Priority: support
  • Planned time: unscheduled
  • Duration: 1:45-2:00
  • Distance: ~45-60 km
  • Intensity: VO2 support
  • Location: Severn, ON

Objective

Maintain high-end aerobic ceiling and response capacity without making VO2 the center of the block.

Goal

  • Preserve Saturday's long simulation as the priority.
  • Keep enough sharpness that high-end work is still available if the week has been absorbed well.

Reasoning

A strong pro gravel field will surge, climb, and force brief periods above sustainable pressure. Sidney needs enough ceiling to respond, but the key adaptation remains long gravel durability. The day before the long simulation must protect Saturday. The lighter session is the baseline; the full VO2 set is the upside option only when fatigue is absent.

Workout plan

  • Default: 75-90 min easy endurance plus 3 x 1 min openers, fully easy between, and finish feeling fresh.
  • Optional only if Thursday was unusually clean and legs are demonstrably fresh: complete 5 x 3 min at 112-118% FTP, 4 min easy between.
  • Keep the last rep controlled, not desperate.
  • Finish easy.

Structured workout

  • Primary intensity metric: percentOfFtp
  • Step: Warm-up, 30 min, 55-75, warmUp
  • Repetition block: 5 reps
    • Step: VO2, 3 min, 112-118, active
    • Step: Recovery, 4 min, 50-62, rest
  • Step: Endurance, 25 min, 60-70, active
  • Step: Cool-down, 10 min, 45-55, coolDown

Recovery

  • Recovery meal immediately after.
  • Legs up and low-stress evening before Saturday.

Fuelling

  • Start fed.
  • Use 75-90 g carbohydrate per hour, mostly drink mix and gels.

Constraints

  • If you want to add, the answer is rest unless we agreed in advance.
  • Do not chase a sixth rep.

Notes

This is ceiling support. The long gravel simulation remains the main event.