VO2 Max
150 min
High intensity
Make long hard efforts manageable by breaking them up: three sets of three minutes at 115% of CP and two at 85%, three times over, the gravel racer's answer to uneven climbs at uneven pace.
Lawrence Naesen
Pro rider
VO2 Max
150 min
High
9 / 10
Advanced
Outdoors
The session
The workout
Written as a share of critical power, so it fits every rider. In Vekta it becomes your watts, with the W′ cost shown before you ride.
Lawrence Naesen
Why this workout
The breakdown
Inside the workout
Over-unders make long hard efforts not just manageable but, as Lawrence Naesen puts it, almost enjoyable: a big chunk of time in a high zone without ever committing to fifteen solid minutes. Essential for gravel racing, where uneven climbs at uneven pace arrive from the gun.
Three sets of three rounds, each three minutes at 115% of CP followed by two at 85%, with fifteen minutes between sets. The under at 85% is no rest; that is the point. Each set is fifteen minutes of work broken into surges the mind can commit to, and the long recoveries mean all three sets are ridden with quality.
In Vekta the over and the under are set from CP, and the W′ balance preview shows whether a three-minute surge at 115% empties the battery before the two-minute settle can refill it, which decides whether the session is right for the rider's current numbers.
A gravel or road race-block session, once a week, best outdoors on rolling terrain. Come to it awake and motivated; it rewards that.
VO2 Max
Stimulus
Advanced
Workout level
Outdoors
Best ridden
Road,
Gravel,
DISCIPLINE
The stimulus
VO2 Max, explained
Short, hard repeats that push oxygen uptake to its ceiling and raise it.
What it is
Efforts of roughly one to five minutes above critical power, usually between 105 and 130% of CP, with recoveries short enough that the next effort starts before the body has settled. Formats vary from classic 4×4 and 4×3 to 30/15s and 40/20s, where the "rest" is a tempo effort that keeps oxygen uptake high.
Why it matters
VO2 max is the size of the aerobic engine. Everything below it, threshold, tempo, endurance, is a fraction of it, so a higher ceiling lifts every other zone. It is also the quality that decays fastest without stimulus, which is why the sessions are short, frequent in blocks, and brutally specific.
These are the sessions that change what you can hold for three minutes on a climb or after an attack. Expect to see them in blocks of two a week for three to four weeks, then a rest. They cost more W′ than anything else in the library and should be ridden fresh.
The variable that matters is time above 90% of VO2 max, not the number of reps. Short-interval formats accumulate it with less perceived strain; long formats train the ability to hold it. Watch W′ balance in the preview: a session that drains it in the first set has the wrong recovery.
Add the session to your Vekta calendar and the targets convert from % of CP into your watts. The preview shows where W′ will run low before you ride; the analysis afterwards classifies every interval and tells you how much of the session was actually spent above 90%.
Common questions
How often should I do VO2 max intervals?
Should I use heart rate or power for VO2 max intervals?
Are 30/15s better than 4×4s?
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