One more thing.
Your hour at 207w is in the middle of tempo, and you road just below that…so makes sense your heart rate might still be endurance with your capability.
If you try session 220-230w it will be interesting to see the heart rate response. Keep in mind, that this will be just about 20w below where you were doing tempo, but I feel more in line with where you should be.
Steve
I keep looking at the factors that seem to relate to fatigue resistance and one thing keeps coming back at me and that is training time. What is truly attainable based upon certain amounts of time available? If you have only so much time per week say 5-7 hours max how can you improve the bottom end?
If you want to improve your fatigue resistance then what is the minimum time weekly to get this adaptation (is it even possible in less than x hours?) and how to allocate that time to workouts… That is the big question for me. Also of course physiology and genetics etc have something to do with this but what does one have to do to determine what it is they need to do in training to improve their durability/ resistance to fatigue profile. I keep seeing and hearing long rides are the basis and this summer I have been trying to get into the habit of 2-3 hour rides at a fairly easy pace. This is my training black hole I just seem to not be able to get it figured out.
Fully agree. You will achieve a certain amount of improvement up to your maximum training time. How you arrange that time can have an impact in rate of improvement or even your total range of improvement, but I do feel it comes back to time at a certain point.
My short answer suggestion to how, once you reach your time limit:
@Stefan_Apellido how did it work for you?
If you focus on raising LT1? Do you only ride at intensities just below LT1 for a block period? Or can you also do some lower Z2 rides with and/or an occasional vo2max session?
I want to do a 12-15h polarized block with some lower Z2 (as adviced by Steve Neal) and some vo2max sessions. But I was wondering if the shorter endurance rides I can do just below LT1 and the longer rides (2.5-5h) at lower Z2. Are there benefits of doing 1hour rides at low Z2? Or is it better to do this at a higher % of FTP?
What would be the best approach? Maybe a LT1 (only) block followed by a rest week and then a more polarized block with normal Z2 and some vo2max. Are there benefits of doing 1hour rides at low Z2? Or
You want to think of the training you are doing as where is the energy supply coming from, and the fatigue it creates that may affect the other training you have planned.
So if you are going to focus on some polarization for a while based on our conversation, I wouldn’t suggest doing the short rides harder because they are shorter. You will likely create fatigue that will harm other sessions.
Durting the consult there was some confusion due to the fact that your lactate tests weren’t really performed with a good protocol for you. When we looked at that testing the Inscyd zones were much more appropriate for training.
So you are referring to LT1 training and Zone 2 training, I think this needs a bit more clarification for me to be able to add more.
Steve,
Last week I took a Lactate test and it’s flat compared to the first one I took several years back (I’ve done a lot of Zone 2 training). However, my top end hasn’t moved much. What intervals do you recommend (Or other training) to increase my top end while keeping this bottom end intact?
thanks
Frank
Hi @Frank_O,
If you want a response from Steve you should tag him like this: @steveneal
Depending on what you mean exactly:
“It is always about more slow miles” 
@Frank_O
Here is some proof that you can progress well with ‘slow rides’.
Last year i did a lot of intervals. This year I’ve been doing much more Z1 cycling and less speed skating resulting in “a lot less ‘high power stuff’”. It is easily visible in my power distribution graph:
Yet my HR zone 4 power output increased compared to last year:
Also, my z4/Z5 intervals are longer and show more power output than ever before (because my aerobic contribution is larger / clearance is better).
Just as a note: during speed skating the power output distribution skews to ‘high’ quite easily in the corners. The intent of most sessions was not get ‘in the red’. See my HR time in zone graph:
Hello @Frank_O ,
I don’t see all the lactate, power and heart rate numbers in the spreadsheet section.
Are you able to send me the complete spreadsheet data, hr, power, lactate
Hi Steve, I’ll send you the pdfs. thannks
thanks for your response…I’m looking over your sheets now.
Hi @Frank_O would you consider doing the step test again? It would really help me suggest intervals at the correct wattage.
If you can, protocol would be;
3m steps
start at 125w
continue until you get to max heart rate and/or cadence drops below 85
Hi Steve,
I have an Xterra off road tri this weekend, so i’ll do the test next Wed.
To understand correctly…I should start at 125 W, go up 20 Watts every 3 minutes, and do a lactate test at the end of three minutes. Continue test to max HR or when I can’t hold 85 RPM.
Can I make it 4 minutes instead of 3?
thanks
Frank
Sounds good.
I would prefer 3m steps for this.
If you can send the fit file afterwards that would be great, I can then graph it and get some recommendations back to you.
If you are using lactate or moxy or metabolic cart, then 4m would be recommended.
To build some workouts I would like to see how far you get in the 3m test, 25w would be idea per step, but you had done 20w before so you can keep that standard if you like.
thank you, I’ll send fit file once complete.
Hi @steveneal 
It’s been a while, hope you’re doing well!!
I did a HR ramp test today and am having trouble identifying clear plateaus in the EF, was hoping you could lend your expert eyes to this data. My goal is to identify LT1/FatMax intensity so I can work on pushing that up, I’ve finally recovered from my ruptured achilles 
Here’s the data in intervals.icu, I selected just the last 4 minutes of each step, the data labeled is step power, step HR, %hrmax, and EF.
From the ramp test alone, I’d guess my endurance pace should be 130bpm, and tempo would be 140-150bpm. But I feel quite comfortable at 150bpm.
From a Moxy 4-1 earlier this week, I think tempo is clear (that step is ~160bpm), but I’m still struggling to find a clear LT1/Fatmax intensity.
Bonus question: Do you have any thoughts on Andri’s ‘Critical Oxygenation Profile’ technique?
Thanks for your time!!!
Well hello there @DREWSTOW too long actually!
I am doing well and really enjoying the new lifestyle changes in Revy.
Can you please email me the fit file for the hr step and the moxy test that would have smo2 please. That way I can put in my software for better resolution than icu.
Here is my take on the HR step.
Where first plateau starts, I would use this as your endurance ceiling. So using the 154 to 190 watt range for the steady endurance rides.
For Tempo I would use that second jump, so 209 watts and 154 heart rate as the ceiling, range really tight here 200-210 watts, and likely a 155 heart rate ceiling as you start go longer on the tempo. So maybe start a tempo session at 210 watts, once heart rate gets to 155, then switch and monitor heart rate, don’t allow to go over 155 and let the power do what it may (likely will fall over the course or stay steady.
On this moxy test, you have nailed your tempo for sure.
I feel the test started at too high of a wattage to clearly see the fatmax point from the moxy.
I would suggest the following.
6m at 100w
4m at 120w
4m at 140w
4m at 155w
4m at 170w
4m at 185w
4m at 200w
If you really wanted you could do 10w increases from 160 to 200w.
+++
Bonus Answer : Andri is way smarter than me…So I would say yes. Though, in looking at slope the way I do we are achieving the same thing, but it is left up to the human eye (and now some math in my software helps me). I have found that often it is easier to see by eye quickly when the scale is setup properly in the software.
+++
Bonus test - I think you have a smart trainer now (not just rollers) what has the world come to!
If you do try the following
Setup a ramp that starts at 50w and goes to 230w over 30 minutes.
Continue this ramp until you see the smo2 reach a peak, make sure to go about 5m after what you feel is the peak so you see a clear decline.
Send me the fit file.
Thanks Steve! Glad to hear I’m not completely crazy in my analysis!
I just performed the ramp warmup, and I reached peak smO2 @61% while swinging my leg over the top tube to get on the bike 
Just emailed you the file. I have some respiration questions, thinking I will start a new topic for that!
@DREWSTOW thanks for trying the ramp test again with different moxy placement, this is more what I would expect.
You can see that peak is around 170 which we both expected and agree with, also there is a plateau in the 210-220w range right about where you would be doing tempo.
This is a great warm-up if you have time, then followed with a little intensity (some micro-intervals) to really increase the saturation before starting a session.
It also shows how long and easy you need to increase saturation.
