My values, but shows the general comparison of 7-Level (used by TR in most cases) and 3-Zone (specifically for POL use). Note that Coggan is using βLevelβ as the term vs "Zone. But most people (me included) slip and use βZonesβ when itβs not the best, which leads to some of the confusion.
Depends on who you ask, not to mention the rider in question.
My chart was made based upon some wishy-washy information from Seiler on the 3 or 4 podcasts in late 2018, that kicked off the POL craze. I had to interpolate multiple data points and try to connect the dots they never offered.
I donβt claim my sheet is perfect and is likely not something you want to rely on for fine tuning. But based on some review and comments from others, itβs reasonably close and can help understand the basics of POL zones.
Seller in particular says you donβt necessarily want to flirt with the zone boundaries in most training. So hitting something in the middle of Z1 and Z3 should be fine for most planning.
Yeah and reading about Pol a lot on forums here latelyβ¦ seems itβs still not clear.
Iβm interested in upping my Z1 efforts and seeing if I can still complete the Z3 work. Will try more this week and see how it goes. Might try a week or two around 80% FTP for Z1 and see that goes.
Would be very interesting if you could ride a ton of 80% FTP all week and stay fresh enough⦠Would turn you into a beast I think.
Some sort of beast - but generally what happens when you push LT1 higher and higher is that you lose some of the ability to increase your VO2 work. So basically you start to turn into a Luke Rowe or Tim Declercq type rider - a bigger and bigger engine who can ride at high power (relative to threshold) for long periods of time, but cannot punch much above threshold at all. If that suits your goals, then by all means carry on
Was thinking that VO2 max is kinda always capped short term anyway season on season. Seems to be volume that can really push it into new areas over the years. Surely you could just take an easy period and sharpen up each season.
Best of both worlds?
Iβm actually doing loads of Z1 work now to see if that boosts my VO2 max in the years ahead. But if I can do a lot of that work at say 75 or even 80% then that would be even more fun.
Based on what he says in YouTube videos, I think 80% HR max is the cutoff for endurance work - not 80% FTP. Depending on your body, 80% FTP may take your HR above that cutoff and your endurance rides might not be easy enough.
Thanks Matt, will try that this week. See what watts my 80% HR is and compare it to 80% FTP. Thing is Iβm not really sure what max HR isβ¦ especially as I had a habit of riding without HR strap in past year. Might have to did back though old workouts in years past and find some standout efforts that might have taken me thereβ¦
First week of MV completeβ¦ Plan is drop my running from 5 days to 4 days to work alongside this plan which has gone fine this week. Is it normal to be getting (5 zone) Z1 heart rates when doing POLZ1? My endurance HR ATM is around 30 BPM lower than the equivalent when Iβm running.
Happy with it being easy as this is the point, just wandering if I shouldnt be concerned too much about hr with this
Yes, it is possible that your/ours ftp is higher during the polarized training each week, thatβs why your last ftp intervals accumulate to a 2x16=64m at 102% and 104% of ftp but you have to take in consideration your fatigue and TSS , and i think the algorithms also take that into account.Outside you/I can do easily that 105%.
LT1 around 80% FTP is very possible, probably even common.
No evidence for the following statement but I suspect it is generally higher the better shape one is in.
The middle to end of the session mine seems to be about 80 - 82% of FTP
I noticed when I was pretty badly detrained (back in 2017, almost 6 months off except a ride or two a week) it was about 78%
Agree with those saying its not a target, you donβt need to be training up to the limit. Not using a POL TiD at the moment but typically if my LT1 was ~80% Iβd be doing my Z1 rides around 70 - 75%
(When it was around 78% I did my Z1 rides around 65 - 70%.)
Shared numbers are helpful, so we can see the level of variation out there. I donβt consider myself unfit or detrained but I definitely have the power curve of a sprinter. Today was warm and my ratio was 64% FTP : 73% HR max.
There is pretty much always a difference in HR zones betwen running, cycling and swimming. It has been documented for around 30 years. Have a read of βSerious training for endurance athletesβ. It is basically because cycling is NOT weight bearing, and swimming more so.
When a serious triathlete (Ironman etc.) I had around a 7-10 beat drop from running to cycling, and again a drop to swimming, across max and my threshold and endurance zones.
That should be cycling is NOT weight bearing unlike running. Which is why walking, jogging, hiking, running is suggested for your bone health but cycling isnβt.
The basic rule is the more muscle that is recruited or the more weight that is beared the higher the that HR can be achieved. Rowing and Swimming typically come out similar (whole body excerise), for me rowing is higher but then I am crap at swimming and dont use my upper body properly.