VELOARCHITECT

Over-unders build lactate clearance at threshold. The Athlete spends 50% of each block above threshold and 50% below; the body learns to recycle lactate as fuel rather than treating it as fatigue. Veloarchitect dispatches this template in the build phase for Athletes targeting road races and criteriums where repeated threshold surges are required.

The over-under structure is the Veloarchitect default for build-phase threshold work when the Athlete’s Mechanical Efficiency trend is positive. The 30/30 cadence creates the specific physiological stimulus — sustained lactate production followed by clearance — that a steady threshold block does not produce. The Athlete’s ZWO→FIT Delta on the 105% surges is the primary Execution Precision signal.

Protocols: Protocol 3 — Threshold Sustain

Worked Example — 6-week over-unders block for criterium prep

Athlete: 32y/o, 286W FTP. Target: 60-minute criterium with 12 surges of 20–40 seconds. 6-week block: 1 weekly over-unders + 1 weekly VO₂max 4×4 + 2 Z2 endurance. Surge average power on 105% reps: 304W (106% FTP). 95% recovery reps: 268W (94% FTP). Mechanical Efficiency shifts 1.58 → 1.64 W/bpm. Criterium Execution Precision: 0.89 — the 12 surges were cleanly executed.