VO2 Max Training Deep Dive & Mistakes | Pro Cyclist Tips | Ask a Cycling Coach 577
Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast - Presented by TrainerRoad
TrainerRoad
4.9 • 4.6K Ratings
🗓️ 12 March 2026
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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// TOPICS COVERED
(00:00:44) Strava KOM Stolen by Seconds on a 2.5-Hour Climb
(00:07:19) Pro Race Tactics: Why You Need More Than Climbing to Win
(00:13:28) Crash Breakdown: Bad Line Choice, Hard Impact, and Racing Hurt
(00:21:55) How Long Does It Take to Recover From Really Hard Training?
(00:24:35) The Psychology of Surviving Brutal Interval Sessions
(00:29:00) Best Cycling Cadence for Power, Fatigue, and Different Efforts
(00:38:22) Why Some Endurance Athletes Get Better With Age
(00:43:33) How to Pace Intervals Without Looking at Power
(00:50:12) The Best Workouts for Simulating Real Race Efforts
(00:59:09) Low-Cadence Threshold Intervals With Sprint Surges
(01:06:47) Why Over-Unders Start Feeling Better Over Time
In this episode, Alex Wild and Coach Jonathan Lee go deep into VO2 Max training: why it gets harder with age, and which interval formats best match the demands of racing, different modifications you can do to get marginal gains, and more. They compare 30/30s, broken-threshold efforts, over-unders, and longer race-specific combinations, talk through cadence, recovery, and execution, and explain how athletes can use feel as well as targets to get the intended adaptation. They also briefly catch up on Alex’s season so far, including racing, recovery, and lessons from recent setbacks, before returning to a practical discussion of how to make VO2 work more effective.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast presented by Trainer Road today. |
| 0:02.9 | We are going to dig into VOT2 Max training. |
| 0:04.7 | We have studies that we've reviewed. |
| 0:06.2 | We have lots of questions that have been submitted by all of you. |
| 0:09.9 | And we also have Alex Wilde with us, pro cyclist races gravel in the Lifetime Grand Prix |
| 0:15.5 | and an other large off-road marathon mountain bike and gravel races. |
| 0:20.7 | Alex has been a regular on the podcast. and he recently has taken the plunge going from |
| 0:25.1 | being a full-time professional with a career and then also a professional cyclist to having |
| 0:30.5 | one profession, and that is the focus of just cycling right now, which is a pretty |
| 0:34.7 | exciting thing. |
| 0:35.2 | Alex, stoked to have you on. |
| 0:37.3 | We're going to answer some VOT2 Max questions. You're a robot with training. I think it's going to be a good one to have on here. So it'll be good. Yeah. Thanks for having me always. Sure thing. Of course. Let's get into first, I want to cover your season really quick and then we're going to get into these VOT2 Max questions. and I'm going to, I want to cover this because I'm hoping that we can get some takeaways from this. |
| 0:57.8 | So, for example, want to cover your season really quick and then we're going to get into these VO2 max questions and i'm going to i want to cover this because i'm hoping that we can get some takeaways from this |
| 0:57.8 | so first of all i think you've done two races so far this season is that correct unless you count |
| 1:03.6 | holiocula is a race yes too that's a actually that's a very good point i didn't even put that down |
| 1:09.5 | you got the hollyiakula KOM. |
| 1:12.1 | I think on the same exact day that Peter Stettina was going for the KOM, |
| 1:15.8 | and you literally got it by like seconds. |
| 1:18.9 | How long did the climb take you? |
| 1:20.6 | And for those that don't know what Haleakola is, |
| 1:23.1 | it's a volcano on the island of Maui. |
| 1:25.8 | How long did that climb take you? |
... |
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