VO2 max vs FRC: Can you grow both together?

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1

Hi all,
I hope this is the right location for my query.
I am looking back over the past season’s data for a rider whose speciality is Hill Climbing. This is a niche sport in the UK with a duration of typically only 5 minutes. The athlete DID achieve their goal which was to win a National race so all good, but they felt disappointed by their perceived increase in performance, or lack of it.
If you look at the chart which (hopefully) I have attached, you can see the rider improved Pmax (although not as much as suggested of course), VO2 max and FTP.
However, when I look at FRC it seems to initially grow, then plateau and then fall suddenly.
I’m left a little confused firstly by the sudden drop, although it’s not unusual in WKO but also I’m wondering:

  1. Is it actually possible to grow VO2 max AND FRC simultaneously?
  2. Does it matter / is it desirable in such an event?

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A National race as in an Open - or a National title?

What did your athlete’s training look like from Aug to Sept '21? Assuming quite a lot of anaerobic capacity/power work (if targeting Winnats - 4min or so)?

3

He was aiming for the Age Group title in the National Championships.
In August & September we were doing a lot of work on VO2 max. I tried steady-state intervals to match the demands of his event as you say but they didn’t seem to be very effective so also tried Tabata-style ones too. He wasn’t keen on those and eventually I changed back to steady-state ones but shorter at 3 minutes.

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