I love long Z2/65%-75% type workout, it’s a kind of mediation, zen thing, it’s more of a psychological battle than a physical battle. If I conquer it, I know I am going to have a good week, (I do them on the weekends).
I usually listen to meditation like app/podcasts which let my legs pedalling and my mind wonders. I look at the numbers and I keep waiting thinking about life and other things. It only get long and tired by the last 30mn of it.
My favourite one is Mianzimu (5h), I usually would start around 4AM so I can be up with the family by 10AM.
I could tell I didn’t have it in me to do last weeks Saturday ride (Juneau -1) so I swapped in a 3 hr Z2 workout and had fun.
I actually was able to give juneau a go on Sunday.
I like doing the long Z2 work as well. I had some really challenging ones during my little POL 80/20 test late last year. I even got some real DOMS from a long 4+ hour ride with all of 15 seconds of coasting (IIRC).