Yep, that’s the plan. Over last 3 weeks haven’t followed any plan, just bought my first MTB and had only fun rides. If I’d have only known that MTB is so much fun, I would have been off-road much earlier 
I started with TBHV2 as 1 is too low TSS and too monotonous/repetitive. Also didn’t come back from any significant time off or injury, so I didn’t see a lot of value. I’d rather repeat one of the latter blocks if I wanted more time doing a traditional base.
@Matthew_Taylor I won’t be able to do the 2.5 - 3 hour mid-week rides either, so just changed them to 2 - 2.25 trying to maintain a progression where possible (e.g. slightly higher IF) if the ride isn’t getting longer.
Can you fit longer workouts in at the weekend? This would be the best way to ensure there’s a ramp up in overall volume especially if you have work commitments during the week like most of us.
Yeah that’s a great approach too, even though I think that 1 (with maybe some weight training, another ride during the week and longer rides on the Weekends) has its place if someone wants to follow a complete traditional progression.
I’ve seen similar plans from other coaches, for example Dylan Johnson explains in some videos how he programs seasons and at the beginning he always puts a phase with only Z2 and lifting.
However I completely agree that TBHV1 is boring and repetitive, personally I managed to do it only when riding outside and listening to podcasts, indoors it would be much harder for me (if I had the time, unfortunately I can’t to more than 1.5h during the week atm).
That’s more or less what I did when I went through my attempt at it which was a better balance time wise for me, and also broke things up a little bit more by at least not doing the exact same workout each day (even though they’re basically all the same in the first phase either way, outside of duration). 
I incorporated it as part of my triathlon base plan last winter/spring and it seemed to work quite well even without doing a full HV pure cycling approach.
I just re-started weight training a couple of weeks ago after not doing any lifting for 15 years. I do it on Tuesday evening after the shortest most intense workout of the week at lunchtime, and on Friday (no bike workouts in HV2 and an easy 2 hour day in HV3).
I’m a traditional base cheerleader of late but this describes me well too. My comment recently has been SSB is for people in a hurry. If you have time and are willing to add a dedicated Z2 block to your training it is hard to imagine the result being anything but beneficial. Sweet spot is beneficial too, no question, but the amount you can do is limited and there are hundreds of posts on here about people burning out from sweet spot.
With traditional base, your FTP may not go up during the 4-8-12 weeks (or more) you dedicate to Z2 training, it is the months after that where you will see the biggest impact. A much broader aerobic base you can really build upon and break through barriers such as FTP plateaus. After doing a healthy dose of Z2 (several actually as I go back to it), my ability to do extended Sweet Spot was really improved.
I also have seen my ability to just cruise at Z2 for the same HR (80% of LTHR) really expand from a wattage standpoint.
Definitely a fan of Z2 and the pyramidal approach if you don’t tolerate sweet spot as well as you would like.
Good timing on this post from the TR crew:
retreaded article and still misses some key points. Thats all I’m going to say.
i know this is an old post but for whatever reason the forum algorithm has directed me here. So, hello!
I agree with others who have said “not by much.” Your body’s physiological responses are on a continuum and nothing is ever static. If you ride at zone 2 long enough you’ll start increasing larger motor unit recruitment anyway.
That said, if you’re in a block of high intensity intervals where you are trying to keep quality super high, then yeah, maybe be more disciplined about keeping the effort low on your long rides. This isn’t because you “ruin” the zone 2 ride but because you might impact the quality of a subsequent workout. But if you’re doing an endurance block, then have at it!
It seems to always fall back on “But Zone 2 is only for the pros, and since you don’t have 25 hours a week its better to just do Sweet Spot” when TrainerRoad discusses this…
And I do get that its their selling point to push people to use their product, which is focused around Sweet Spot.
But for someone like myself who constantly gets burned out, it bothers me that they push sweet spot as the go to for all athletes (give or take)…
I recently got a coach to see what I do wrong, and first thing he said is that he has had a lot of people coming from TrainerRoad burned out, because its too much intensity for a lot of people… (he also noted that it builds fast, but temporary fitness, but that’s another topic)
Now I am doing 6-7 ish hours of Zone 2 a week, and 1-2 hours of intensity, and it seems to be a much better balance.
I completely agree.
Recently started TBHV plan, loving it a lot. I did SSBHV full plan twice last year, and while it was extremely beneficial, it was also very physiologically stressful.
For high volume training, there needs to be a pretty extended period with low intensity during the year at some point. It seems like, from the plans and from reading others’ experiences, something like 2-4 months in the lower zones is necessary. It can be maddening to lower the intensity for this extended period, but neglecting to take some time off of even Sweet Spot intensity can lead to some maladaptive hormonal changes that continue to spiral until the intensity is reduced and the systems are allowed to return to equilibrium. Not that you can’t train during this “down” period, but gains just aren’t going to come if the intensity is held consistently high, and I would say this includes Sweet Spot. And lest we forget, sweet spot is pretty intense. Anyone that completes Galena without feeling pretty cooked needs to re-evaluate their FTP IMHO.
Another observation is that “long Z2” is completely relative to a rider’s fitness and training history. Per Coach Chad’s description, the concept is simply to ride at Z2 until fatigue limits your ride rather than intensity regardless of how long that takes. Saying that 2 hrs of Z2 is insufficient for anyone simply isn’t true. For cyclists with a limited training history, they may be cooked at 2 hours and reaping big benefits. For someone else who has been doing 15 hrs on the trainer for years, it may take much much longer.
My main focus outdoors are long distance MTB rides. Talking 200km being at the short end of things here.
A month ago I rode one of the few “events” (won’t call them races - explain in a mo) that have run this year. I didn’t finish it, skipped the last loop due to weather and tiredness. It was a 300km ride, I ended up doing 287km in 32hrs which included four hours bivvying (you carried your sleep kit with you) and a couple of hours food stops.
HR data:
Z1 - 17hr9mins
Z2 - 5hr3mins
Z3 - 1hr54mins
Z4 - 1hr24mins
Z5 - 4mins
That’s pretty typical of the events. The Z4/5 bits will be scrambling up river banks or something like that.
They aren’t called races since it’s illegal in the UK to race bicycles on bridleways, so they are called ITTs - Individual Time Trials.
Looking at my overall stats in intervals.icu for this year which includes all rides indoors and out, for power I have: 57% in Z1, 20% in Z2
I have a question related to this. I am relatively used to long (4-6hr) z2 rides with some tempo (15-20%). I am training for 350km in one go and thought to go hybrid (I always do MV… did 6 successful programmes already l);
Do sustained power build (MV)
Plus
6+h strictly zone2 on Sunday.
Is that wise or does it risk overtraining? I feel SS Sunday rides help me with base, but I feel you really need to train 6+ hours in the saddle.
I do too. Since you have the time, I would go for it.
Try to include that 6hr plus strictly Z2 ride if you can. If that means cutting out some intensity then do it. With the long Z2 ride, try and ride till you can feel the legs fatiguing. Then ride a little more and finish.
I’m off on a 5.5 to 6 hour Z2 ride tomorrow. I did one last Wednesday of 5 hours 40 minutes and that’s where I felt the fatigue hitting the legs. When I no longer hit that fatigue I’ll ride even longer.
What I now have is a 50km circuit from home that forms a circle round my home. There are multiple places where I can cut for home. So I go round the circuit, often changing direction after each loop. Then when the legs are fatigued I can cut for home. So it’s easy to extend the time in Z2 without having to commit to more than your legs can currently handle.
In Z2 I’m generally doing a 5-6hr ride, a 3 hour ride, a couple of 1 hour rides. Plus a session of high intensity on the turbo. That’s 5 days a week. Leaving a day for strength work and a day for rest. On rest days I usually go for an easy walk.
My shortest events are generally 9 hours plus. So being fatigue resistant is key to how well they go.
So… how to ride 1.5-2h filler weekday rides on rolling hilly terrain. I usually have two of them in week. I’m riding them on a flat terrain at 70% of FTP. But it started to get borring and most of you agreed that 2h is too short for z2 rides so I want to ride them on more interesting terrain and maybe add some intensity on 3-4 min uphills.
Huh? The importance is to ride in Zone 2, not ride harder. You’d be turning it into an interval workout by adding intensity on 3-4 hills, not doing a Zone 2 base ride. If you need some interest do 4-5 10 second seated cadence sprints. So power less than FTP, light load, but high cadence getting up in the 120 rpm range. Then ride base for 5-10 minutes and do it again. You can also do cadence builds. Build from 80 rpm up to 120 over the course of a minute. Again light load below FTP. Works on your coordination but it not fatiguing.
Just because the road goes upwards doesn’t need intensity needs to go with it. You just go slower upwards 
Also, adding intensity defies the purpose of z2 rides (unless its part of a workout of course), but you’ll quickly raise the intensity of the ride if you start doing 3-4min intervals just because the road gradient increases…
Lots of rolling hills here in Sweden as well (shorter 1-2min ones), you just have to accept that it goes slower in z2.
I have a commute that gives me 8mi of long straights separated by stoplights every 1/4 to 1/2 mile.
I have been doing a general low volume plan on Tues, Thurs and Saturday. On Wednesdays and Fridays, hard group ride approx 1.5hrs. Sundays fun and longer approx 3 hours at Z2, Z3.
I was thinking to get more Z2 work by focusing my commutes in the zone. This could be almost 7 hours a week! Is this a good idea, or a waste of my time?