I am trying to understand if there is a benefit to riding longer in a lower endurance zone over the plans default recommendations. I attached an image of my current week. It calls for 2 short rides on Wed and Friday for only 30 minutes. I typically complete these while working so there is a benefit to having slightly lower power requirements for increased concentration on work items but nearly infinite time to sit on the bike and spin. Longer true endurance blocks and more anaerobic blocks are done outside or with dedicated time on the trainer. I see a lot of hype pointing towards longer lower Z2 having larger impacts on performance if you have enough volume so it seems like my proposal below would be beneficial.
What impact would swapping out to a 60 minute ride with similar TSS but much lower IF score have assuming the rest of the week is left as is? Riding would be in the very low Endurance zone to Active recovery.
A good example would be swapping out:
King (30min, Endurance 2.6, TSS 25, 0.71 IF, 403kJ)
with
Recess (60min, Endurance 1.1, TSS 25, 0.5IF, 580KJ
Training stress is the same for both and work is more for Recess. My assumption/understanding is that the additional work completed for Recess is more but in a form that is more recoverable allowing for the same overall training stress to be added.
Any benefits or negatives? Is this a good move if I have the time? Trying to keep easy days very easy but add time in the saddle and hard days hard.
