I am curious, though. What would be submaximal vo2 he mentioned? 90% of Vo2. I think it’s related to real vo2 measured, and not to vo2 as a zone range. Am I right? If so, is there a way to translate this into reality without proper testing? For instance, my FTP is 295, so my vo2 range would be 310-350. 355 being my best 5 min. What would be a 90% of my vo2 in this context?
Running some numbers, 90% of my best 5 min is 320w, power in which I can “comfortably” do a 5x5. When I tried to increase that power to 350 I failed miserably.
Without testing it can be done after the fact using % of vo2 max from Power Curve ( simple equation:
ewma((power*0.0108+metric(weight)*0.007),25)/(athleterange(date-89,date,vo2max(meanmax(power)))) )
But I do not know how to check it outside wko - probably it can be done in intervals.icu by someone smarter than me as I didn’t play with coding in intervals.icu.(will start as it’s an awesome platform).
But when it comes to power while doing vo2 max - just go submaximally If your 5 min power is 355 almost by definition you can’t use it as your vo2 max power for intervals as this is maximal effort. Given that you have no problem doing 5x5@320W as repeatable power, your 5 min MAX can be even higher.
The best verification for vo2 max is your feel on the bike - if you are gasping for air and breathing like a fish out of water it’s all good. Even if the power is decreasing during subsequent intervals but breathing is there - you are getting good stimulus for the adaptations.
If your 5 min power is 355 almost by definition you can’t use it as your vo2 max power for intervals as this is maximal effort. Given that you have no problem doing 5x5@320W as repeatable power, your 5 min MAX can be even higher.