dbr-
Ah, thanks, I'd got to same on HR and I know my rough max, so will just hang out at the low end.
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Because of a recent heart diagnosis, I've been training almost exclusively by HR for the last 6 months and I typically define Z2 as 80-90% of Threshold HR. For me this works out as approximately 75-85% max HR. 70-80% LTHR (65-75% HRMax) is closer to zone 1. I believe it is also important to stick WITHIN Z2 and resist the temptation to ride at the top end, so I typically aim to keep my HR as close to 85% LTHR as possible and use 90% as a hard upper limit.
I've also seen people say that HR is not great for defining Z2, especially among relatively untrained athletes. I believe this is (a) because of variability between subjects in terms of their HR curve, (b) because HR is slow to respond to changes in effort and (c) because of drift. For this reason I also use the talk test to verify Z2 effort by reciting Burns poetry to myself 🙄.
All this correlates well to my power zones and has worked well for me .
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I've never actually done an FTP test, so I've now done that and can have some structure for the next few weeks. I'm very unfit!
Hatred of turbo is confirmed.
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mcflute
ewanmac
Interesting, I don't have a benchmark FTP as I typically just ride, don't "train" as such. So will be going on HR and time available, so no pressure on numbers. Just doing anything will be better than doing nothing. Just as the trails dried out too....!