Obviously z2 is worth, but how worth it is it to follow an actual TR outside workout when you live in a part of the world that has never heard of flat let alone made anything flat?
Below was me trying to follow 45 min outside session on Friday as it was lovely weather so why not do my scheduled effort in the sun? I took it as easy as I could but with the climbing here my power had to go over z3 and prob into z4, then it would drop into z1 as I went downwards.
Is it better, now while it’s lovely, to just ride with an RPE of easy and skip TR z2 sessions or do them poorly?
I always recommend looking at gearing first if you’re unable to stay in Z2 or Z3 on your rides.
Z2 is important, but if you’re able to do these types of rides and still knock out your key workouts without building too much fatigue, I’d go for whatever makes you feel good.
If you’re focusing on keeping the ride easy and paying some attention to HR or power, that’s better than riding with absolutely no structure.
I won’t lie – I’m not doing any Z2 “workouts” outside this time of year. I do watch HR on rides that I want to keep easy, but I’m also riding an XC bike most of the time, so I have the gearing to keep my HR in Z2 for the entirety of my rides.
The main goal is being able to knock out those key, hard workouts. Then some easy riding. Obviously, the best-case scenario is being able to follow your workout, but if you can’t, the next priority is to enjoy your ride and keep the rest of your training in mind when you’re adjusting your effort.
I was on the 1x bike this time as I wanted to sit in the aerobars so 40 front and 46 rear but it’s kinda a moot point if I was on the aero bike and on a different route I’d still hit the short sharp hills that put me massively over or under targets.
I just don’t live anywhere with steady gradients which is fun for riding but harder to structure.
I repeat two flat segments during my outdoor endurance workouts and have really improved at holding target power. That said, I’m constantly working the rear derailleur to keep cadence steady.
Would be nice but it’s bloody heaving main road or you’re on a shared use path that’s 1 bike and 1 person wide at best!
I think I might be best if going outside keeping a steady lower pace for as long as I want or staying inside doing a proper workout. I just don’t have suitable roads for it.
+1 on gearing. I live in a hilly area and have mtb gearing on my gravel bike to keep easy rides easy. The challenge isn’t the climbing, it’s the descents where no amount of gearing will keep the power up. I’ve heard of some people riding brakes to keep power up downhill, but that’s a bridge too far for me.
That’s exactly it, I could get a smaller front ring but that’s going to be to the detriment of normal riding and I’m still going to not put the appropriate amount going down.
The question never was how to keep the power low enough but whether it’s more effective with TR to do it imperfectly or skip and ride off plan.
I do loads of imperfect zone 2 outdoors, imperfect because traffic and lights (long commute). Have low enough gearing to climb anything. I don’t load them as Outdoor workouts but Solo rides and let the system deal with analysing them.
I think nailing the hardest sessions is more important but there is still value in generally keeping at z2.
I have nothing but short punchy climbs on my main gravel route. I can manage to keep it mostly in zone 2-ish for the majority of the route outside a couple of short steeper climbs. So I’m not to worried about that. But it’s challenging to keep power up on some of the descents and also a bit sketchy as well.
I like to load up a really simple Z2 ride just to have some targets that keep me focused on staying low. I don’t try to religiously stay on target, but instead use it as a way to see if my lap avg power and hr are approx in range. It keeps me from deciding to hit a climb hard, reminds me to shift into my easiest gears, etc. Something like Boarstone-1 or -2, for example.
Back to imperfect vs. not riding. . Always better to ride, if it is not impacting the rest of your training. I would try to avoid going into Z4 but a bit of Z3 on steeper hills, I would not get too concerned. If it becomes pure Z3 that is a shift worth noting.
Just to add to this, no way I would stay inside to chase perfection over going for a long ride outside where I may go above or below target due to terrain. The AI may not like that as much, but my body does, and it’s good for the soul too.
For outside z2 rides since AI FTP I follow the workout on my head unit as best I can but if the road conditions, terrain etc mean I can’t hit the numbers then I don’t worry about it during the ride. When presented with questionnaire from TR if I know I’ve not followed the workout then I go with the “I didn’t attempt this workout”, but still rate the difficulty.
In my mind this is closest to what I would do with a real coach, and I hope I get credit for the work I did.
Trying to keep a strict Z2 on rolling hills is nearly impossible. Honestly, riding by feel on the climbs and keeping it enjoyable usually beats stressing over the exact power targets.
With the outside workout bug, I don’t think it’s worth trying to do an endurance zone workout outside.
I’m more on what @Pbase said, I’ll see on what Endurance workout TR gave me for the day, so I have and idea of the power target but then I’ll change the workout for that day back to Outdoor Solo Ride on the calendar and enjoy the ride.
