Define endurance+

Could someone define endurance plus for me? I’ve been hearing a lot about it, especially with respect to Pogo and Emirates. I assume it’s just 70-80% ftp, or am I missing something?

In UAEs case it’s the athletes lt1. Typically near the top of z2 but needs to be individually tested.

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Tempo :wink:

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ISM super special z2 that if you go above it for even a few seconds destroys all your gains :man_facepalming:

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My understanding is the 70-80% (ish) as well. A better question is how does this fit in training? Is it every endurance ride? Before or after a hard workout? Both?

It is not surprising that long endurance events train in this zone. My heart rate in that 70-80% range aligns with a normal “training run” back in my running days. I was honestly surprised how easy the easy days were in cycling. My heart rate would hover around what you might see on a hike.

You can see how UAE implements it by looking at a few of their riders. Other teams do similar stuff at the top of z2/lt1 as well but it’s structured a bit differently than the approach UAE uses.

I focus on longer events (5-10+ hours) and I’ll do my weekly long training rides targeting ~.8 IF starting about 6 weeks out from the event. I’ll try to push duration up to 7+ hours, but sometimes can’t hold the wattage that long (especially if hot) and will dial it back to ~.7 IF. They are hard days accumulating a bunch of TSS and I’ll often take 2 days rest afterwards or a rest day plus an easy/short day. I don’t know if these rides are the best choice from a physiology/adaptation standpoint, but they pull everything together to prepare me for long events (nutrition, bike comfort, mental side of long races, etc.).

The rest of my training is a couple days of of intervals and as much Z2 (~.7 IF) as I can pile on without going into a hole. My interval days will include significant Z2 time before and after the intervals, so I’m getting almost all of my weekly TSS on my 2 interval days plus the long Saturday ride. The other days are either pure rest of an hour of low-ish Z2.

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It means you can hold your FTP for at least an hour.

From what I’ve seen is they’re riding at or just slightly below their LT1. There are different ways to identify LT1 but it’s basically right around the line between endurance and tempo. Unfortunately, that value can vary pretty widely between individuals so it’d be impossible to give a specific % range. Some people can push it north of 80% and others might be much closer to or below 70% of FTP.

Possibly ‘what makes the interval sessions later in the week impossible to complete’, when tried by a non pro with no real data to say where in the range they should be riding!