Zone 2 Training in the week/ Cycling with competitive friend at the weekend

[chqshaitan]

Hi All,

I have been cycling off and for a year or so, and my fitness has improved significantly over the last few months, so want to take things to the next level and have been looking at zone 2 training.

I cycle at the weekend with a friend(he is around 16 stone, and in his mid 30's) but he is very competitive, which is not neccesarily a bad thing, and i can keep up with him, except on teh hills, where my weight becomes a bigger factor(which i am working on, 2 months ago, i was around 22 stone).

My medium term goal is to be able to cycle to my parents, circa 35 miles away, one way. My recent longest ride was around 15 miles road trip.

Any thoughts or comments on mixing 'sweet spot' (in zone 3 for most of the ride(70-80% hr) training with zone 2?

Thanks in advance

 

[bikingdad90]

At 22stone forget about zones, get out enjoy the ride and watch your nutrition. As long as you consume less calories than you burn, about 500/day you should find the weight comes down at a safe rate of 0.5kg (1lb) a week.

The whole zone rate thing is a bit of a gimmick unless your doing structural training for a race or a targeted time in a sportive. I can happily pedal in my zone 3 bottom 4 for an hour quite comfortably but I can only sustain 5 mins in zone 5 and about 30 seconds at my max. If I cycled at zone two I would be “dordiling” along and for me that isn’t enjoyable as I get cold easily and is practically zero effort.

 

[chqshaitan]

At 22stone forget about zones, get out enjoy the ride and watch your nutrition. As long as you consume less calories than you burn, about 500/day you should find the weight comes down at a safe rate of 0.5kg (1lb) a week.

The whole zone rate thing is a bit of a gimmick unless your doing structural training for a race or a targeted time in a sportive. I can happily pedal in my zone 3 bottom 4 for an hour quite comfortably but I can only sustain 5 mins in zone 5 and about 30 seconds at my max. If I cycled at zone two I would be “dordiling” along and for me that isn’t enjoyable as I get cold easily and is practically zero effort.

Thanks, yea, i was thinking that maybe I am overthinking/over planning my rides, when really i should just be getting out, but it would be great to have an idea of what rides to do besides the weekend, to optimise my fitness gains.

Here is the mifit stats of the ride. Ignore the grey zones, as i put the HR monitor on while getting ready / finishing, so it has recorded excess info at the beginning and end of the ride. THe important parts are the blue, green, and yellow sections

 

[bikingdad90]

The zones could mean anything. I don’t know if you were cycling on the flat or going up/down a hill.

 

[chqshaitan]

Hi bud, here is some of the info of the road from strava

and here are my heart rate zones

 

[bikingdad90]

That isn’t a bad pace on a flat route. It suggests however you were pushing hard as you were in the higher zone 4 or your fitness struggled. How did you feel post ride?

Thinking this through, what is your aim? Do you want to get fitter, stronger, build your aerobic capacity and so on? A better judge of general fitness is your power output measured against your heart rate. If your putting out more watts but staying longer in zone 3 and 4 then your making improvements.

If you want to build endurance then slow down, ride further and longer in zone 2. If you want max aerobic capacity then you would be looking to increase the amount of time you can sustain a sprint.

 

[chqshaitan]

i felt fine afterwards, during the ride i was ventaliating at a high rate, but was controlable. Due to the time limitations(ie lunch), i thought it would be better to push myself, rather than dawdle.

I appreciate your feedback bud

 

[bikingdad90]

Glad to hear it. Do you have access to a turbo trainer or a relative flat straight 20minute route to conduct an FTP test?

 

[chqshaitan]

Ah no, i do have an old school magnetic exercise bike in the garage, but no turbo trainer. I should be able to put together a flat(ish) 20 minute ride around the area(using kommut). I live in warrington, the north west of england.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Zero point in Z2 training and FTP tests currently(especially with no power meter to do it with). You ride 5mi or 15mi and want to be doing 35. The only way to do that is ride your bike, lose some timber and add a few miles onto your ride every few weeks.

 

[chqshaitan]

Thanks bud, haha, loose some timber, will have to remember that phrase

 

[BurningLegs]

Completely agree. What you’re doing is working, so well done and keep doing it!

Once you’re over the quick gains and starting to plateau it will be time to consider more structured training. For now just ride more and make a few good diet choices then the weight will (continue to) take care of itself.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Get out regularly and try and do longer rides where possible. What’s the longest ride you can do during the week? Is an hour every day possible? Doing it day after day and for longer will build up your endurance.