If you follow TR plans, then POL6 is base and POL8 is build. Only before your event should switch to any of Specialty block. It also works with Plan Builder: let TR do its magic and when new plan is planted to calendar, click on block name (Base 1, Base 2, Build, etc) and from there you can switch this block to POL plan. With typical SSB1+SSB2+Build cycle, it means you can repeat POL6 twice
1 Like
That’s good to know, pol8 is next up for me.
With the discussion on consistency (and winter coming on in force now) which is a better use of time:
- outside z2 workout that has z1 coasting and some z3/4 hills for 1 ¾ hours then a good cool down home
- 60 minutes indoor sticking to the z2 power specified without coasting
I’m thinking on a purely training point specific zones would be better than a bit longer time with fluctuations. I guess the lack of hardish (albeit short) efforts would also allow for easy recovery and thus more indoor z2.
For the majority the “never leave zone 2” conversation is inconsequential. Extra training time however is not. 105 minutes is better training than 60 min.
1 Like
100% what @Jolyzara said….you will get more from a longer, outdoor endurance ride than a shorter, indoor one, even if your time in z2 is more specific on the trainer.
IMO, for the majority of us on this forum, a 1 hour z2 ride is not an “endurance” ride anyway.
3 Likes
Can you explain a little more what you mean?
1 Like
Z2 rides are meant to build your aerobic endurance….most of us are knocking out one hour rides at a higher intensity with regularity. Doing a 1 hour z2 ride is not necessarily going to boost your aerobic endurance. It is more of a recovery ride….see Pettit as an example. (Yes, adding volume overall has some capacity to boost your aerobic endurance, but that starts getting into the weeds)
Ideally z2 rides should be of sufficient length to stretch your aerobic capabilities. For most of us, a 1 hour ride won’t do that.
2 Likes
In terms of Z2 ride on Trainer road, can you stop or pause a 3 hour workout without failing it? Would like to be able to have a pee break, refill bottles. Unsure if this can be done or if I should do 2 one hour and thirty minute Z2 workouts instead? Can and have done 2 hour endurance rides but would like to do some 2.5 to 3.5 hour rides over this winter and wondering if I can stop or pause a workout and then continue on or if I should get that volume in through 2 workouts. Being able to take a few minutes to pee, refill bottles and maybe swap bib shorts (if soaked in sweat) would make it a lot more tolerable to get into the higher volume for Z2.
1 Like
The Pause button is your friend 
So you can pause, then resume and it won’t effect your success of completing the workout? Would make some of those workouts >2h long more realistic over my winter base attempts.
2 Likes
Should be absolutely fine, yes.
Yeah, TR doesn’t take into account pauses on any workouts, I am T1 diabetic and after HAVE to pause a workout to sort myself out, and this has never causes a workout to be failed (short interval or long Z2), just make sure auto pause is on or you pause the workout
ISM seems to think that as long as you are not Pogacar, 1 to 1.5 hr Z2 rides already start bringing benefits.
Seiler also notes that polarized is already the preferred approach for people in the range of 5-10hr per week. It is only when you get in the 3-4 hours range that you should just hammer every ride and “hope for the best”.
1 Like
the point is to keep lactate levels consistent. spiking often into z6/7 (i’m not sure why you are sprinting) will produce lots of blood lactate, from which you must recover over many minutes.
1 Like
This isn’t a dig at anybody but I love how opposed opinions/methods are!
1 Like
They’re both right, as it’s a case of…it depends.
Any training stimulus is within context of your overall training, health and fitness.
So a newbie on 3h per week is going to get more benefit from a 1h endurance ride than a multistage tour pro training tens of hours per week.
Also, any workout needs a goal within the goal of your training phase. If I’m peaking for an Ironman event and my endurance ride for the week is 1h…I’m not stretching myself enough with that workout to gain for a race that will need 5/6/7h endurance riding. If I’m early season building power then a 1h endurance ride in a week of interval workouts gives me a totally different stimulus and relatively-speaking much more aerobic benefit.
2 Likes
I know this, and sadly some might say, I only do endurance rides indoors now. I’d say 3-3.5h is my run limit. I spice up the occasional 4h+ as an endurance race with simulation apps.
Go ahead and try the mixed indoor/outdoor rides, time in zone is a good indicator for the outdoor portion and you can ride uphill at endurance outputs…it just takes a lot of patience and balance sometimes. The downhills will likely be zone 1/active recovery so I’d skip pedalling those.
After some practise you should see minimal time at threshold and above, and the majority of time clumps around the endurance zone.
Just another Z2 question to throw into here as there seems to be a fair amount of Z2 knowledgable people in this thread. Yesterday did my scheduled workout Deerhorn -5 which was only 30 mins (added a 5 min cool down so 35 min total), afterwards (like 5-10 mins after) added in Volunteer (30 mins added a 5 min cool down so 35 min total) turned up to 106%. However, my HR was a bit higher 134 avg, 168 max.
Did I effectively ruin the Z2 effect by cranking it up and essentially do a tempo workout? For comparison Bald a week ago was HR 119 avg, max 140. Beech HR 117 avg, max 132. Half Dome last week (SS) HR avg 150, max 163.
I think that focusing on easier rides and volume does exactly this - decreases autonomic arousal and generally lets you do a lot of work while also “cooling the jets” so-to-speak. Another concept that’s important - letting top-end fitness go for a while so that you can avoid burn-out and over-extending yourself. Doing a period of Z2 training really helps with this. Your FTP will definitely fall, but you’re still getting work in and laying the foundation for gains next year.
4 Likes
It’s not that you ruined the Z2 training, if you got the right time-in-zone then you got that specific benefit. But you may have missed out on the flipside of the coin - doing low-intensity rides should be a period when you are letting the autonomic system recover so you can do even more power/work during your next hard session. Hard to get that autonomic recovery with a HR in the 150’s and 160’s.
4 Likes