Today I did a scheduled VO2Max session of 6 x 9 x 30 / 30 with 3 min recoveries between sets. This is the most number of sets and intervals I’ve done for this workout. I completed it, but my workout reserve said I had more in the tank. Is this because I’ve done the 30s on intervals at higher power (previously), albeit with fewer sets and intervals or is it comparing my average power over the entire session duration against my six week rolling average power for that duration?
Interesting. The workout reserve is specific for the time frame of the effort. The intuition is correct, if you did 30-sec bouts at higher power outputs, it is likely that those are the time ranges where you got closer to your max. Doing more sets and reps overall increase the slow rolling averages (overall workout reserve trending down), but apparently this was not high enough to get close to your previous max in those time ranges.