Anybody used this training protocol and if so was it effective for cycling fitness?
Yeah, I’ve definitely done workouts like that. Depending on the length and height of the surges it would either be a tempo burst (short hard bursts e.g. 5s @ 200+%ftp) or a tempo over under (longer lower surge e.g. 20-45s@125%). Either are good parts of a periodized training program.
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I’m going to do these next season. If I like them, they’ll be followed by sweetspot bursts and threshold bursts as well.
Hat tip to @brendanhousler
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Did you find them to be effective with getting a bit quicker out on the bike ?
I do, not just during tempo but all intensities Z2-Z4: every 10min ride out of saddle for 20-30sec at ~120-150% of FTP with lower cadence. Goal is not to hit VO2max per se but just to put different muscles into work and relax main working muscles little bit. But I definitely do not reach to VO2max HR during that surge.
Whether it does something to fitness, I don’t know, have no comparison 
Isn’t this just your standard “hammer” drop group ride? Wednesday Worlds, Hour of power, etc. The most enjoyable workout of the week for sure.
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Yes, it certainly works, but it does count as one of your intensity rides of the week. Probably should be doing intervals on your own in a more structured/controlled fashion on another ride if you want to be more than just part of the conversation when it comes to actual races.
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Good question as I really enjoy these types of workouts (eg Roan High). I am sort of in dubio whether or not I should replace my scheduled sweetspot workouts with these alternates. They come with very high sweetspot progression levels yet do not feel very difficult
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What protocol are you referring to? I’ve done plenty of vo2/tempo over-under and criss-cross intervals and they have been pure gold for performance in several dimensions. Examples on HighNorth and FasCat sites.
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So an example
Of a training session I’ve seen would be on Zwift
So a 10 min warm up followed by 5 mins at high tempo pace then A vo2 max 1 min interval then back to tempo followed by v02 max interval and so on for an hour or so .
I was referring to making them intervals like this over/under from HighNorth:
and like this from FasCat:
or tempo “castles” with 1-min at vo2/zone5, 5-min at tempo, and 1-min at vo2/zone5 that look like this 
All of those intervals can be constructed in many variants.
Eliminating the rest intervals would be an advanced variant, and mirror the Zwift session you mentioned.
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Criss-cross are the best. My usual is sst with 30s surges. Usually around 60 min of those when done 90%+ under and over every 2-2.5 min. Early in the season I like 80-85% and 30s-1min every 4-5 min. Those are usually in one go 60-90 min or 2x40. Always fun and highly engaging.
Shorter (90%+) are also my best judge of fitness. I also use them as preparation for vo2 max block. Overall - the best workout there is for me.
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mine are usually with the overs/crosses 1-min well over threshold.
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Also nice - Tom Bell style. Those are also fun and hard. I like 30s done around 120%-150%. But I had also good results with 1min done in this zone. There is one fun workout from TB - 4 min over threshold and then 1 min on/1 min off. In the prescription it’s suprathreshold but I was doing it as “pVO2 max” on overs and it was pretty satisfying 
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definitely! These are basically over unders, which are very effective for increasing lactate clearance capacity and increasing your FTP, since you improve the equation of lactate produced minus lactate cleared…also, vo2 slow component can possibly get you some vo2max work without training at maximal aerobic power, depending on the length of that interval. My coaching bud Landry just wrote what I biased-ly think is a great article on our site. Won’t post here as some take that as shilling, but it’s there if you want to read more on that.
good luck! do the burst workout!
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Sure, the over-under types are essentially threshold workouts. Good for some lactate buffering as you build the lactate and then ‘recover’ and a decent power.
The bursts are similar but (for me and not really tested in any way) are a bit more of a mental gain as the bursts keep the speed high and force me to put out high power when I’m feeling uncomfortable after 15-30min of tempo and 4+ bursts.
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