Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

Just got off the turbo having done 4x10mins @100% FTP and now I feel soft.

I can't seem to post links from my phone but Dylan Johnsons latest YouTube video on Trainer road sweet spot plans vs a polarised approach is very interesting. If you like that sort of thing.

https://youtu.be/C0n-nnRbFBs

Thanks thats the one 👍

I can’t find a simple guide to working out the three zones?

Do you know your FTP?

Top of Z2 is the upper lactate threshold ... AKA your threshold.

Yeah I’m at 280 at present.
So is it Z1 less than 70%, Z2 70-105%, Z3 above?

Yeah, that's my understanding.

It's based on two steps in lactate production I think. Ideally that's what you'd get tested for.

.

In either case I'm pretty sure it's %V02 max rather than FTP. Although granted it's less likely you'll know what your power at V02max is.

Found this from a US coach at Evoq:

The boundary between zone 1 and 2 is: 0.77 multiplied by your 60 minute max average watts.

The boundary between zone 2 and 3: your 60 minute average max.

The upper end of zone 3 is your 6min power.

As an example mine would be

Z1: 0-267w
Z2: 267w - 345w
Z3: 345w - 423w

I’m hoping TR are going to clap back on the podcast. Training beef.

I expect they will - they seem quite online

Hopefully they’ll give us a polarised plan, then we don’t have to do all the math

Yes it does now seem odd that they wax on about sweetspot so much. Seems a tad dogmatic after watching that vid above.

I think TR are invested in Big Carba and push the sweetspot stuff to keep the fueling economy high.

do all the math

No new maths needed. If you're used to a 5 zone model you're aiming to ride at 80% in Z2 and 20% in Z4.

The boundary between zone 2 and 3: your 60 minute average max.

This is probably how I should have worded it :)

I feel ahead of the curve. I’ve been shunning sweetspot since day one for no other reason than I find it incredibly boring.

Over-unders are as vanilla and I’m prepared to go.

Sure but I meant all the fancy graphs to meet that weighting...

A lot of people miss the fact that Seiler didn't design a training philosophy, he just observed across elite sports that large proportion of training time was very low intensity.

If you are training 4-6 hours a week, should you copy elite athletes with 20-30 hours a week?

What is the point where you need to go easy more so as not to affect how much intensity you do...dunno. 12+ hours? 15+ hours?

If you always do the sam thing, you'll get the same results. So even if you have 6h available and you always do threshold training, you'll stagnate.

Fact is, unless doing 20h a week, you'll never reach your potential, so you need to work out what gives you best bang for buck at the hours you have. And yes, it's likely a higher overall % of intensity. People doing 20h a week would likely be doing similar total intensity, but lower % of overall, as they're spending the rest of tbe time riding easy.

That said, if you always ride moderate hard and are stuck in a fatigue hole that you dont notice, you could do better by some easier stuff.

Winning. I do the low volume TR plans and skip the weekend 1.5hr workout in favour of a (usually) 4hr Z1/2 ride. That plus half an hour per day commute, I'm training like a pro!

Which is why all these training plans are periodised.

The issue is people having improvements from whatever training, threshold SS or otherwise, and then just keep doing it until they stagnate.

Not saying you (@skinny) are but hating on sweetspot is missing the point; doing too much of the same thing is the problem, not the zone itself.

If you are training 4-6 hours a week, should you copy elite athletes with 20-30 hours a week?

At least one study suggests ... yes.

whats tl;dr of this?

I dont follow any plans, I have no targets.
But I use TR and do 2x 70-80 TSS and 1x 90+ TSS session a week.

whats tl;dr of this?

Be consistent, if you feel tired, rest. Have some variety. Don't do hero workouts.
That's my tl;dr without watching said video or reading the 600+ posts on the TR thread.