Aerobic Base Endurance. Importance of Zone 2

Training
83

It wouldn’t hurt and bike commuting has a lot of benefits that are unrelated to Z2. The commute itself doesn’t seem like it’d be a significant driver of fitness given the short length and amount of (potential) interruptions. Over the course of a week it’s a non trivial amount of calories, as well.

I bike commute pretty much exclusively though I live in a city. If I have the time it’s Z1 ish riding. If it’s uphill and/or raining it’s Z2-3, and if I’m running late than it’s either a crit or an uphill TT depending on destination and traffic lights.

84

To clarify, I bike commute regularly already.

I’m wondering if I should be throttling it to Z2 or just ride hard like I normally do.

I guess it comes down to how much recovery I need to maintain my TR plan quality.

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85

Yeah, that’d be my suggestion, anyhow, fwiw.

If it’s an option terrain wise you could take a more circuitous route home and get in Z2 time that way.

86

How long is the total commute? 8miles?

If the way you’re riding at the moment isn’t impacting your ability to recover for/from your structured work then I wouldn’t stress too much. As said above, if you’re looking to add Z2 volume to your week you’ll likely need to extend the duration.

I think if you’re already doing it it’s not doing you harm don’t stress. I would definitely throttle it to Z2 if it started impacting your workouts etc, or if you wanted to increase the amount of Stress on the system from the structure/extending group ride/whatever.

87

So if I have this right, you’re doing a Low Volume TR plan, PLUS a hard group ride twice a week PLUS 3 hrs on the weekend?

Yeah, keep the commutes as easy as possible. You’re already doing too much “hard” stuff, IMO. Odds are you’re holding yourself back riding “hard” five days a week as it is.

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88

Thanks. Yes the commute is 16-17mi/day.

The group rides are 130-180 TSS and IF 0.80-0.95!!

I am thinking to cut back to 1 fast group ride a week. I can complete my workouts but I do get irritable some weeks.

Thanks for the advice!

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89

Yeah, I think you’re selling yourself short doing that much intensity all the time. You’re probably not even aware of how strong or fast you are yet. When you go that hard all the time you’re probably not really going as hard as you’re capable.

Mood is a good indicator. Stay dialed in on that!

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90

When I commuted I found it to be great for putting in more Z2 miles in addition to taking down the stress of commuting (which improved recovery in some ways I think). The trick is to make sure that you are paying attention to the interval work. It usually takes a few weeks (for me it was 4-6 weeks), but if you are over your volume limit and digging a hole faster than you are recovering, the intervals will start to suffer. No way to know for sure until you try it and find out :slight_smile:

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