Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
An hour of aerobic endurance work today as recovering from weekend’s event. Getting an extra 5 km/h for same heart rate, than 18 months ago. Training must be working.
Cycling Workouts: Discussion/Encouragement/Sharing/Banter
- Thread starter Norry1
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Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
People like high intensity, because if you get off the couch, you can see improvements measured in weeks. Call high intensity the fast component of fitness; it delivers pretty quickly, plateaus, and goes away pretty quickly if you stop. The low intensity is the slow component of fitness; improvements may take months or years, but there doesn’t seem to be a plateau (unless Olympic level I guess), and improvements take much longer to disappear if you stop. If you want to build those year on year improvements keep at it. But be patient, as it make take time for the results to show.
UphillSlowly
Making my way slowly uphill
Since September I have been completely focussed on endurance work, trying to stay in Zones as 1 and 2 for outdoor rides (and doing zone 2'turbo in winter) with some turbo intervals and hill repeats for higher intensity. So completely bought in to that concept and it's working.
One of my questions has been about the boundaries between zone 1&2 and between zone 2 and 3. It had gotten to the stage where zone 2 just felt too easy and if I was going on RPE (or HR) then I would be pushing 10% harder.
So last night I switched to a different model for power zones, the one with Zone X and Zone Y as it seems to match my HR zones better when I look at HR-power curve on intervals.ICU. And today felt much better. Power, RPE and HR all seemed much more in sync with each other. Will see in next couple of weeks if I am overdoing it! 😀
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
You don’t have to be working at a boundary for it to be effective. Why do you feel you have to work at the top of Z2?
UphillSlowly
Making my way slowly uphill
I don't, I just found the previous top end not hard enough and a bit dull and overly restrictive
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Not hard enough for what? The worst thing you can do is work too hard during your Z2 sessions.
UphillSlowly
Making my way slowly uphill
Felt like zone 1/RPE1. HR 10 bpm below what I would expect for zone 2. Less enjoyable restricting myself to <75% FTP (trying to stick to training plan)
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Have you done a maximum HR test. What are you basing your Z2 heart rate zones off?
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
on a facefluff group for road cycling where a bodybuilder advises fruit as fuel for 100 mile rides and a killer leg set first 
UphillSlowly
Making my way slowly uphill
Think Max heart rate based on ramp test or an online race
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
They are unlikely to be max heart rate. That might be why your Z2 feels too easy. But independent of that, go for a steady ride, and see at what heart rates your breathing changes. Plus I find the alphabet test a good one. When not exercising recite alphabet and see what letter you reach before needing a breath, don’t force it. Then go for your Z2 ride and see if you can reach same latter, speaking at same rate, before a breath. If you can, then ride a bit harder but steady and try again. When you find you can’t quite reach same letter, you’ve found that VT1 boundary you want to stay below for your easy rides.
But still keep in mind, Z2 rides should only feel hard at longer durations, not because of the effort.
UphillSlowly
Making my way slowly uphill
Should add that zone 2 by HR "feels right" as far as RPE. That is, a bit out of breath but able to hold a conversation.
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Then I’m not sure what you are worrying about with these rides. Remember it is not a fixed percentage of FTP and you should ignore the latter, when doing them.
UphillSlowly
Making my way slowly uphill
Thanks for your help and advice. I think I was being a bit rigid about sticking to a range of power rather than listening to my body. Was also intrigued that power for given HR had changed with no increase in FTP as discussed with HLAB