How I Structure VO2 Max Training Sessions

My previous post discussed some considerations around whether or not to increase VO2 max workouts in your training. This post follows it up with some details on how I approach this style of workout.

Getting things started is not always fun! It entails a pretty hard session. A 12-minute time trial or race of a similar duration is a good way to pinpoint the intensity of which these workouts will be based. 

Collecting data from this workout is worthwhile, but should be used appropriately. Things like heart rate, perceived effort, and pace are three common data points that can be collected.

Heart rate may be a good data point to collect for comparative purposes, and to fill out personal ranges, but it is not likely going to be a good inter workout guide. Due to the high intensity nature of these sessions, heart rate monitors will not likely give you quick enough feedback to guide the workout. It may create a scenario where you overreach trying to force heart rate up to the desired range. 

Paying attention to perceived effort may be useful to help guide future workouts. It is worth noting that the way you feel at minute one is likely to be different than the way you feel at minute twelve, so be mindful of this when using this to guide future sessions.

Pace, assuming the environment you do the future workout in is similar, can be a good starting point. It loses value as you progress and adaptations to this intensity set in. As pace should improve at the target intensity. It is a moving target, whereas intensity is fixed. 

I encourage using pace early in your workouts pinned to this time trial, but when doing those early workouts, pay very close attention to the perceived effort required. When you begin to notice the effort relax at this pace, it is time to recalibrate by returning to the intensity that is now familiar, and use the new pace as your improvement point. Heart rate may be a useful post workout analysis at this point if your workout structure remains similar. Comparing how heart rate behaves over these training sessions can help identify adaptations and help signal when to recalibrate pace. 

The workout structure I like for these VO2 max sessions is an interval structure with a one to one work to rest ratio. This means, for every second targeted at this intensity, a second of recovery should be added to the recovery between. Starting out with ranges between two and four minutes is a good way to maximize the likelihood optimal time spent at this intensity will be achieved. This means if two minutes is chosen, the intervals should be structured as two minutes on, two minutes off. 

Over the course of training, it is likely tolerance to volume spent at this intensity will increase. Beginning between twelve and sixteen minutes of total work is reasonable. When going much beyond this, it may be useful to add a second session later in the week. 

A general rule of thumb when doing these workouts is stop when you could do a couple more if you had to, and pace should be consistent across each interval. If pace is slipping, it is likely a sign it is best to end the workout, or the pace for the earlier intervals was too aggressive. 

The goal for these sessions should always be to hit the target volume at the highest quality without doing too much. A sign of doing too much presents as suboptimal or skipped future workouts. It is really important to remember that recovery is required for adaptations to occur, meaning the workout itself is only part of the process.

There are many ways to deviate from this structure that are fine, and can be exciting ways to add some creativity to training. It is recommended to get really confident in execution with this structure first. Once this is achieved, things like reducing recovery between intervals can increase the training load for a given workout without adding extra volume. Deviating form the two to four minute range is another way to add some creativity to the process. 

Spacing between sessions is often best done in a “hard, easy, hard” framework. This means spacing these sessions out by at least one day before repeating, if not more. The training load can be increased by shortening the time between sessions, and can even be structured in a block fashion where back to back days are done. It is highly encouraged to let quality of the sessions guide whether or not to make this step, and if recently injured, or injury prone, it is discouraged to structure these sessions in this fashion. It is worth repeating, the total volume and the highest quality is vastly more important than the relatively small advantages of blocking these sessions. If you do choose to block, it is generally advised to put the harder of the two sessions first.

It is okay to be patient with this process. It may be possible to see adaptions in four to six weeks, but if more experienced it can take longer. It is possible improvement will be made much sooner as better pacing and workout execution occurs. 

If you are interested in an audio description of this process, I encourage checking out my podcast episode: Episode 346: Short Intervals Simplified.

If you are interested some addtional support, I am currently onboarding for my group coaching package. It is designed for all abilities, and race targets that will help you better understand the training and racing process. It includes: access to my complete catalog of training plans from 5km to 200+ miles, weekly group meetings to help adjust your plan and cover questions/topics, recording of meetings, office hours, future guest speakers, and a private forum for all members. Details can be found here.