Compliance for Rattlesnake is about 75%. A little more. I’d call that typical for a TR workout.
Mary Austin is a little over 50% most of the time.
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I choose Mary over the Snake. Guess that tells me what I need to improve upon.
Did Rattlesnake last week for the first time. I didn’t 'find it that difficult. The initial 1 minute anaerobic interval is tough, followed by the next 2-3 intervals at V02 but found the remaining 30 second intervals too easy. Heart rate would go back down to tempo. There should be a +1 version where the VO2 intervals don’t drop off as much.
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Yes, I found Rattlesnake surprisingly manageable when I did it, but I think I got a great workout by gradually nudging the power up through the sets to keep my heartrate high.
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I feel silly for saying so, but I cannot make sense of the graph. The symbols and lines are too hard to differentiate
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which 40/20s?
I always struggle to find them. Not helped by favourites not syncing across devices 
Rundle, I think?
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Yeah, I looked for a 40/20 a couple of weeks ago and Rundle was the only one I found. It was definitely tough, at least for me. I did complete it though.
I love this thread. 
It’s pretty amazing what people can do…and what someone in a lab coat can make other people do!
Re: Rattlesnake – I souped it up with the WorkoutCreator, took out all the rest periods and made a 4x8min continuous descending power workout. Didn’t want to push my luck going for 12min…but now that I know what can be done…
< cue mad scientist laugh >
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This is a good thread. It’s particularly enjoyable to read it while on the sofa and eating Oreos.
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Best post of 2020. 
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Do you want to talk about physical strength? Do you want to talk about sheer muscle? Do you want to talk about the olympian ideal?
94% HRmax for 20 minutes, this sure felt like sustained VO2max after 3+ minute hard start and then threshold.
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I put Barnard in the workout creator and modified it.
Also see:
Merced
Grinton Moor (kind of)
Winchell
A few more to keep you busy
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i just remembered that I did something similar back in November last year with only 5 minute intervals. I did it using an Xert workout in Erg mode but used the intensity buttons to keep my HR between 90-95% of max.
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Interesting POV is what defines VO2max. In this race, I definitely wasn’t riding at VO2max power (for the climbing part) i.e. 120% of FTP. And maybe not even FTP. But my HR was high nonetheless.
92% max HR for 1:26. The first hr climbing, the 2nd 30 mins descending.
My HR is my limiter however - meaning for efforts like this of ~1hr, my legs don’t get tired. I’m able to push as hard as my HR will allow. Maybe that means a different response than someone with the opposite profile 
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Its amazing what a difference doing really messy intervals does to HR. I did this recently on a fast group ride (well informal race really!). The power isn’t that high (just a bit over FTP) but my average HR was 96% of max! If I did 10m at that power at a steady pace I don’t think I would even get over threshold HR.
So what I gather from this thread is that this is really good VO2 max training even though the power is low?
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I can imagine doing this when the weather’s a bit better and I can pop out for some hill repeats. Slam the first minute in Z6 and then just hold on to the top keeping your HR high.
I’d be cautious to only look at HR. HR can also be high because of the temperature for example. Or you might have a weird measurement error. I think breathing is probably a better indicator, or at least a combination of the two is.
@davidtinker my comments about HR were just in the narrow scope of an indoor VO2max workout in a dimly lit garage. 
It’s not practical to do every VO2max workout with a Cosmed Quark b2 so…how to replicate the Bilat methodology sans the equipment? What I found was 150% 90 second hard start followed by maintaining 92% of max HR for sure kept me @ VO2max. Subsequent intervals required less hard start duration.
In all cases it seemed efforts subsequent to the hard start had to be at or above threshold power for me to maintain my HR. Looks like in the Bilat case that wasn’t always true.
Racing with friends outdoors…that’s different. Not in a good or bad way, just different. I’m not smart enugh to say anything about it in this context!
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