Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

Very interesting, thank you.

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TLDR summary:

Essentially they compared 2 methods of delivering 6x5min VO2MAX intervals. The work in both treatments was judged to be equivalent because both were conducted at the same average power, however in the first treatment the power was held constant during the work periods, whereas the other treatment the power varied throughout the work phase.

Treatment 1: 6x5minute intervals @84%MAP constant power.
Treatment 2: 6x5minute intervals delivered as (30s @100% MAP, 60s @77% MAP) * 3 + 30s @77% MAP. (See the figure linked in @skinny’s post)

Recoveries in both treatments were 2.5 min @30% MAP.

Riders were then assessed in terms of the time spent at >90% VO2MAX along with other physiological metrics including RPE.

The study found that riders performing the variable intervals spent more time at >90% VO2MAX (thus were likely to experience greater GAINZ), without experiencing increased HR, RPE or cadence.
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This fits with what the author of the blog I posted was saying (hard start intervals), and I also like the idea of mixing different intensities into the intervals because races (even TTs and Tris) are almost never raced at a perfectly flat power so it seems intuitively valuable to train being able to handle repeated power surges.

I’ll probably stick to the regular Stepto intervals for next week but after that I may start doing my 6x4 minutes with some 30 second bursts… see how that goes.