Living in the Parabolas: My Deep Dive into the “VO2 State”

Cyclist on an indoor trainer wearing a VO2master metabolic mask during a Billat 90/90 interval session with a Garmin 1040 and camera setup for data documentation.

Living in the Parabolas: Decoding Metabolic Inertia and the Billat 90/90 In our last deep dive, we dissected the steady-state grind of 5×3 and 4×8 intervals. Those workouts are the bread and butter of threshold development. However, today we are stepping into the “red zone” to explore Veronique Billat’s 90/90 Metabolic Inertia. Using the combined […]

Physiological Threshold Vs. FTP: The Power Illusion

Graph of SmO2, VO2, and power data showing physiological threshold during 4x8 intervals.

The Power Illusion: Resetting 20 Years of Training with Physiological Data After 20 years of cycling, I realized my FTP wasn’t telling the whole story of my actual physiological threshold. My identity as a cyclist was defined by a single, flickering number on a head unit: Watts. If you’ve spent any significant time in the […]

VO₂max Intervals: The Most Misunderstood Workout in Cycling—And How to Do Them “Right”

VO2Max State Vs. Zone Analysis: A Physiological graph of Interval 5 showing maximal cardiac strain (178 bpm), rock-bottom SmO2, and a 74-second metabolic penalty above 42 VO2.

VO2Max State vs. Zone: What’s Happening Under the Hood https://youtube.com/shorts/gjB6seZEVec?feature=share   I recently started using my VO₂Master again. In this session, I wanted to explore the VO2max state vs zone debate by looking at the actual physiological cost of high-intensity efforts. Earlier this week, I performed five separate 3-minute intervals at an intensity well above […]

Vo2Max and Heart Health – A Single Ride Following Dr. Paddy Barrett’s Formula

DFAA1 and SmO2

Vo2Max and Heart Health Correlation With DFAA-1 and other Metrics I recently stumbled across a Substack post by Dr. Paddy Barrett that explains how Vo2Max is impacted by low intensity exercise. While I had not known about Dr. Barrett previously, when I read his history and other posts, I became intrigued. I think he’s a […]

The Physiological Perspective of Four Separate 8-Minute Intervals

4x8 minute intervals online bike coach richard wharton coach wharton garmin connect

8-Minute Intervals At “Threshold”… In late November of 2024, I was able to perform an interval session on my indoor trainer and bike with my clients. The workout comprised of four separate 8-minute intervals. We used the VQ Velocity app, and I recorded each interval as a separate file while wearing my Vo2Master Gas Exchange […]

Affirming DFAA-1 Aerobic Base With Vo2Master and Moxy

Vo2 on screen with a Garmin 1040

A New Calculation Uses Heart Rate Variability to Better Tune DFAA-1 I’ve been a big fan of Dr. Bruce Rogers, since 2017. He is a trained MD, but publishes his work in credentialed journals. As a Masters’ level road cyclist, he knows how important heart health is. He is also fully aware of the cardiac […]

DFAA-1 On a BIG SCREEN!

DFAA-1 with ECG is Now Available On a BIG SCREEN! I’ve been working with two professionals now for several months on a project, and we are ready to start releasing it in ALPHA. DFAA-1 (Detrended Fluctuation Analysis – Short Term Variable #1) is a way to look at Heart Rate Variability and Cardio-Vascular Health. Dr. […]

More Fun With DFAA-1

DFAA-1 Base Ride January 2022

“Using an old copy of RaceDay Apollo, a program invented by Dr. Philip Skiba, the software showed a .9799 (97.99%) probability factor that I would be able to hold 230 watts over 30 minutes. This product is no longer on the market, but copies of it are prized. With that number in mind and knowing that I did not have much intensity under my belt, I attempted to match or possibly break this value….”

Physiological Baselines for “Base”.

Things changed physiologically at 16 minutes and again at 21 minutes.

On Christmas Day, I performed a 60-minute workout on PerfPro Studio. I also recorded the data on Vo2master software. The goal was two-fold. I wanted to perform a ramp test, to try and determine Physiological baselines, specifically Heart Rate at DFAA-1 0.75 and 0.500. I also wanted to see if I could determine Ventilatory Threshold 1 and Ventilatory Threshold 2. Finally, I wanted to determine whether I could ‘See’ deflection points via SmO2.

With this information, I can work on adaptation to higher loads of power and traditional heart rate.

Base Ride Analysis Using Published Science

Heart Rate and DFAA-1 from a Base Ride

“In the first part of the video, you can see FatMaxxer being screencast from an Android to the PC window. The second screen is the Vo2master software, which is being screencast to the PC using LonelyScreen app. The rest of the information is being presented through PerfPro Studio. Post-ride analysis was done using PerfPro Studio, PerfPro Analyzer Beta, and Runalyze.”