Definitely trying to find the iterative training that keeps my interest. Any more weeks like last week might be doable, but I would compare it to a training bender. Three in a row, why not four? Five? All the days?
Quäl dich, du sau!
Not trying to be a hero; I’m ambitious and a bit of a gambler. You’re right about balancing the gamble of consecutive days of SS with the gains riding in Z2. I know you’re right, so I think my underlying plan should be to increase weekly TSS in a way that is sustainable.
My base plan for next season (start Dec) is the HV plan but 1 ride swapped for outdoor endurance
Mon - SST
Tue - SST
Wed - SST
Thurs - Endurance
Fri - SST
Sat - outdoor endurance / tempo 3-4hrs
Sunday - rest
If this proves too much is there any suggestion on best way to pull it back slightly. My thoughts are:
Swap Tue for tempo (Or endurance I’d really struggling) or swap Thurs for recovery.
I’m kind of thinking of doing an extended base phase starting in Sept, doing SSB1 and 2 HV as designed like I normally have, and maybe try and make my own SSB3 HV to try and build more uninterrupted time in zone into like 45, 60, 90mins and maybe up to 120mins, we’ll see!
I just read the following about Z2, never thought about it in those terms before:
Aerobic metabolism has essentially no fatiguing byproducts (water, heat and CO2)
— Tom Bell
The reason why a big aerobic base is a good thing to have. And essentially why you theoretically should be able to do very long Z2 rides (and even longer if you train to be truly “fat adapted”). I mean, the classic Coggan chart puts a duration cap on Z2 at 14 days…
“Honey, I’m going for a ride. I’ll be home by 2 weeks from now.”
Confused by that quote. What are ‘fatiguing byproducts’? Do we actually know what causes fatigue on a molecular level?
Also, isn’t the limiter more the amount of fuel, and how quickly you can refuel (which might be slower than you burn it, especially if z2 is comperatively high power)?
…and also of course, cycling is rarely pure aerobic, especially outdoors.
in anaerobic metabolism, lactate production is associated with an accumulation of hydrogen ions, which cause rapid fatigue due to acidosis and resulting contractile inhibition.
Yup. Fuel — carbs and/or fat — should not be a problem when riding Z2.
Gotta train your “intensity control”.
Besides, if you go for long enough, it’s gonna be pure aerobic.
‘pure aerobic’ might be a little strong, as your body is always producing lactate via anaerobic metabolism. The aerobic metabolism mainly burns fatty acids at very low intensities, then as intensity increases the aerobic metabolism uses both fat and lactate as a fuel source. Some well trained athletes have very low lactate and hydrogen accumulation at higher intensities, without looking for data I believe some show low lactate up into lower sweet spot power zones.
I don’t know, wouldn’t that depend on your ftp? Z2 could be fairly high for some people, and not neccessarily be correlated with how fast you can digest food and make it available.
Anyway. I just doubt riding forever in z2 isn’t as practically achievable as that quote makes it sound.
Z2 is a % of your FTP, regardless of how small or large it is. At that low %, fat will automatically play a major part in providing fuel for the effort.
Look at the TR Z2 workout Bandeira – a 4500 kJ burner. If you start the ride fully carb-loaded, you should have more than enough to complete the workout without eating at all.
But, only one way to see – try it for yourself! Good luck!
Thats not what I meant. We were talking about riding purely aerobically for days, maybe 14 days… you will need to eat. In fact, if you can keep this up for a long time, your pre-existing reserves should be irrelevant, because you just eat what you then burn.
And regarding the z2 - yes exactly, at high ftp, z2 in absolute W is higher, but the amount of food you can eat and utilise is probably 'similar’across people, at least more so than ftp. I’d guess that if you are a small, but strong rider, you can probably outride your ability to eat fairly quickly, even in z2.
This is either just wrong, or dramatically over simplified.
Water, heat and CO2 are absolutely byproducts of aerobic metabolism. That’s how metabolism works.
The reason Z2 does not require as much recovery as higher intensity is due to other factors - maybe disproportionate use of slow twitch fibers, low glycogen use/lactate production, less stress on the heart, etc… but it’s not because of an absence of the above byproducts.
By the way - I don’t know who Tom Bell is - if he is someone who knows better and is trying to simplify an explanation, or someone who espouses bro science.
That’s what’s being stated, just not in the most grammatically functional manner.
As far as fuelling goes, yes, perhaps if you’re a 145lb 4% BF 400w FTP pro, you’ll probably need to eat carbs on the long rides. However, I’m not too concerned with being part of the 0.001% of cyclists. The average TR user, on the other hand, with a ~230w FTP @ ~165lbs (and probably ~10+% BF), should have tons of on-board fuel for long slow rides…at least 3 days straight.
You will need to eat for any/all Sweet Spot Progression.
