I’ve been using TR for several years and plucked the low-hanging fruit. I’m a 51yo Late Onset Endurance Athlete, and still need to build my aerobic engine. I used to follow TR plans, but now have a coach (for du/triathlon) and we’ve agreed that I need to do a lot more Z2 work. So I’ve switched out Sweet Spot workouts for Endurance instead. Unless I’m particularly fatigued, I try to make each workout ‘Productive’. However, at a certain point the only way to progress in the Endurance Zone is to make them longer, and there’s only so much my arse can take being on the trainer (usually 75-90 mins). So - a couple of questions: If I’m looking to build base aerobic fitness in 60-90 min workouts, should I just move up into Tempo, instead? Would I get nearly as much benefit just sticking to the top end of ‘Achievable’ Endurance workouts? Cheers S

Sorry for being dumb - but are you saying that ‘yes’, I should move up from Endurance to Tempo/Sweet Spot?

If you are on some sort of polarised plan where you have 1 or 2 very hard days you probably shouldn’t because the tempo riding will make you too tired to do the hard days properly

Yeah, what @ArHu74 said: if you are on POL plans, keep easy days easy and hard days hard. But if you go with TB, increasing intensity should be ok as well but do it gradually, no point jumping too much ahead of yourself as long as you still keep progressing/developing.

Have you asked your coach those 2 questions? If so, what are their thoughts?

[image] SpiderJ: we’ve agreed that I needs to do a lot more Z2 work [image] SpiderJ: Unless I’m particularly fatigued, I try to make each workout ‘Productive’. However, at a certain point the only way to progress in the Endurance Zone is to make them longer [image] SpiderJ: should I just move up into Tempo I know this isn’t what you asked, but from these statements, your plan doesn’t line up with your goal. You’re even talking about moving into Z3 rather than doing more Z2. If you need to do a lot more Z2 work, then do that. Don’t focus on the TR PL, but on extending time in zone. Can you maybe move your workouts around to where you’re doing your harder workouts on the days you have low availability and then do longer easy rides on the days you have more time? For example, a lot of people will do 90 mins during the week, but then do 3-5 hour rides on the weekend. If you don’t have the time to do that, you need to be honest with yourself and your coach and change the goal.

you didn’t really say what other workouts you were doing other than the proposed Z2. If you are already doing 2 hard rides per week, then no, I’d stick to z2 and below for the extra. z2 is for volume and for volume, it almost doesn’t matter how you do it. You just want to make sure you don’t impact your hard workouts by riding too hard in your volume workouts.

First of all - kudos to being able to do the quotes thing… I need to work out how to do that :slight_smile: I think my question is that when I’m not able to do a 3-5 hour ride on the weekend (which hasn’t been an option recently), then will I still get benefit from sticking to ‘achievable’ Z2 rides of 60-90 mins rather than worrying about trying to do ‘Productive’ ones? My coach is great on the bigger picture stuff (i.e. moving from doing shorter/harder stuff to longer/easier), but leaves me to pick the workouts on TR.

Yeah, again, your current plan doesn’t match your goal. If it were me, I would reassess my goal to be something more realistic. Good luck :+1:

Just ride for as long in zone 2 as possible. I’m convinced PLs should not exist for endurance rides. If you are limited by free time, then that is what it is (talk to your coach if s/he is assigning you 4-5 hours when you don’t have that kind of time). If you are limited by being able to stay on the trainer, you can probably improve that. I thought I could never do more than 90 mins, but I got from 60-90 minutes to 2-3 hours out of necessity this summer.

[image] SpiderJ: there’s only so much my arse can take being on the trainer (usually 75-90 mins). Making sure to cover this base, if you haven’t already seen it we have a decent list of ideas that may help improve your comfort and extend your time on the trainer (if that is a goal for you). FAQ: Saddle Pain, Soreness, Numbness on the Trainer

Building base fitness / limits on Endurance workouts

Training

mcneese.chad October 4, 2023, 1:45pm 16

Making sure to cover this base, if you haven’t already seen it we have a decent list of ideas that may help improve your comfort and extend your time on the trainer (if that is a goal for you).
FAQ: Saddle Pain, Soreness, Numbness on the Trainer

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Building base fitness / limits on Endurance workouts

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Building base fitness / limits on Endurance workouts

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