Here is part 1,
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Started following a Polarised plan start of June.
I’m keen to take on board ISM thoughts/theories, both for cycling benefit and maybe more so, for the health benefits.
Trying to edge up to a steady 10 hrs a week on the turbo, probably a bit more if I make a group ride outside on a Sunday.
No problems enjoying turbo work and my weekly long ride is now up to 2 1/2 hrs, should be able to condition my rear end to 3hr rides by winter. At this stage I don’t have plans to go beyond 3hrs.
I have to keep declining AT adaptations as it is always wanting to give big jumps in either PL’s or workout length!
I’m on a high volume plan and really enjoying this new way of training.
59 yrs of age, FTP is 320, I’m happy with 178-238 watts for the zone 2 and HR 116-135. I’ll do one workout a week pushing against 134 HR, the rest of the Endurance workouts HR lower end of scale. I also seem to have dropped a few pounds of fat!
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So after reading about 2 hrs of physiological discussion of what is my Z2, I think I know my numbers.
Now what? Im supposed to strength training, flexibility, Z2 long hours, Z4 intervals, then o build and peak phase some VO2 intervals as well, but maintaining Z2 maintenance and strength training maintenance. I also need to ramp up volume/tss depends on which phase, but with out getting over trained. Also take care of my nutrition, sleep enough and well. Sit down and think/plan/write down all of this stuff in a training calendar. Study, of course, to understand the relationship between MCT 1 and 4 transporters, muscle fibers types, hormonal changes during training, substrates utilization during exercise, training periodization, nutrition, etc…And suddenly I need to quit my job and get a divorce to have enough time to prepare for a race for which I don’t get paid and to drop my friend in my nearest local climb.
So, this is when we dropp ISM method and choose full SS intervals TR method? Or there is a simpler way, more practical, less physiology centered way for us mere mortals without 18+hrs/week?
(not that I don’t thank the physiological explanation, but im trying to get back to real life)
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What gives you the idea you need that many hours for weekend warrior level?
I have been doing some lactate testing over the past 2 weeks and after an initial low resting value (1.1) and am now getting 2.3+. Curious as to why this may be, I did a search for “resting lactate”, found this post, and also coincidentally am in the UK and have bought an Edge.
Surely this cannot be right? What in the UK diet would affect it? Did you ever try another lactate meter that gave lower results?
You just do the 7-8 hour version.
Periodizing your training so that you are peaking when you want to be strongest during the season will give you an edge over your friends that try to be fit all the time and are never flying.
But maybe base miles are no fun when your friends are having fun on group rides all year long. In that case, you try for some kind of undulating periodization to stay as fit as possible all year long. It’s still a better plan that what your friends follow.
I don’t know why you need to study mct transporters or hormones.
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I have read quite a lot of the discussion here but I am still not really sure how to apply the “ride in z2 and never stray from it” concept.
I have pinned the discussion present on this forum on Dr Ferrari’s training model.
He was far ahead of the field already back then and it’s worth revisiting his training principles (which includes lots of medio).
He also specifically said in one of his answers that pros do not only keep Lento pace in their rides.
Who’s right then? 
There’s a school of thought that if you are limited to only 7-8 hours a week, there is no point periodising your volume. You would be leaving gains on the table. You may as well max out that volume each week and take rest / recovery weeks on demand as necessary.
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Periodizing training doesn’t necessarily mean changing volume. I’m referring more to base/build/peak cycles.
Most club riders I know don’t organize their training. They just ride and do whatever. Chase KOMs. They smash themselves on the group ride on Sunday. Then they forget about their bike for long stretches during the winter.
I think it’s easy to beat most of them with a little organization, intentional training blocks, and staying on the trainer even if it’s just an hour of endurance through the winter.
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Sure change the high intensity mix through the year, but keep your volume maxed out.
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Interesting output of research study dropped into my inbox.
- The world-class athletes in this study didn’t do more intensive training (in terms of volume) than you’d typically see from average-level athletes. The key difference between the training of elite and amateur athletes was overall training volume, which amounted to 700-900 hours/year in this study.
- Towards the beginning of the training year, the athletes’ training was more pyramidal, and became progressively more polarised as they got closer to their main competition
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I’d forgotten about that. Yes I got a Lactate Pro2 and have had no problems with it.
I just assumed that they thought I was coming straight of the couch with an appalling processed food diet full of simple carbs. As it happens by base Lactate level turns out to be 0.9 mmol.
Interesting. This makes me think I should try a different lactate meter, but surely lactate is lactate? And also not wanting to throw stereotypes but the UK diet can’t be any worse than the US.
Where the US lead we follow. 
The irony was it was a British company I bought it from
I may look at getting a Lactate Pro 2 then, but I am hoping 23 will be the year we see continuous lactate monitoring.
It’d be a stretch to be worse 
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In my experience this is the way to make compounding gains that add up over time versus the peaking and dipping and never really getting better than you were in 2013 deal…
My diet has an influence on my baseline levels, which can be as low at hovering around 1 mmol, up to around and just over 2 mmol when eating high carb (and likely in a caloric surplus at that specific time). This is why absolute lactate isn’t very helpful, but knowing the inflection points is more important.
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Im obviously late to this thread. Been racing 10 years and still learning. So where does this metabolic Z2 fit into TR training plans? I tend to select a low volume plan and even with that i focus on only doing TWO meaningful interval workouts per week and the other days i used to focus on Coggan Z2 Endurance rides. Im assuming if i swapped Metabolic Z2 for Coggan Z2 then when i go to do my Interval workouts my ability to go harder will be compromised? Does anyone have experience with this?
From my experience it depends, if you have the long- or shortterm view. If you are used to ride Z2 at e.g. 200W and VO2max at 350W and then suddenly start doing Z2 at 250W, the intervals will feel harder. On the other hand, if you get used to riding Z2 at the higher level, the intervals will get easier over the longterm. At least that’s my experience, but patience is required and no or less intervals during the time, when you get used to the higher Z2 intensity.