Been cycling for three years and probably about 1.5 to 2 of those years have been with structure. First ramp test in early 2021 was 211 FTP. Got into 2022 Leadville 100 and by then had pushed it to 267 (160 lbs). After completing Leadville I took some time off to remodel a rental house and got back to a training plan around Christmas and FTP was 232. Eased back into things with just one intensity session a week and in five weeks back up to 241. I found last year that I responded best to a modified polarized plan where during the “build” blocks I would throw in one SS session per week. Historically outdoors on climbs in beginning of ride I can replicate my FTP as my average power for an hour. I seem to struggle to put in efforts of SS or higher or hold upper end of endurance after about 5ish hours. So I had the thought of maybe doing 3-4 weeks of everyday doing a zone 2 ride that’s at least an hour during the week and then do 2-4 hour rides on the weekend. I was thinking about starting this the second Monday in March and in the meantime doing polarized build except for one of my weekend endurance rides sandwiching an hour SS ride between two 1.5 hour endurance rides. That would give me roughly one month of that protocol before switching to zone 2 and upping volume for 3-4 weeks in March. This would then give me about 6 weeks after that to bring the intensity work in before my first event end of May (Assault on Mt Mitchell). Thoughts on this style of approach?
Periodization is often used in planning out a season. It works.
so 9-13 hours / week, if I am reading this correctly?
I would absolutely do that…
In Nov/Dec I did those hours, but riding 5 days/week with 2 off days. And some intervals, not just z2. Really nice fitness bump in January.
If you can hold high Z2/SS for five straight hours I’d say you were doing pretty damn well! How’s your nutrition/hydration?
Inigo San Milan recently did a month of just Z2 riding, and got a PR out of it:
Sounds like it could become a bit boring, but I’m sure it will be a good month for you and your fitness.
It’ll do you good, but remember you want to keep Z2 in the mix throughout the year. It’s not a case of 4-6 weeks and you’ve achieved all the gains from it you can. You gains can keep coming year after year after year. It’s like a slow cooker on a low heat. It takes longer but the flavour is that more delicious.
I got a headache reading the words “boring” and “riding” together in one sentence. 
Do 30 consecutive days of Z2 work and get back to me on that. 
Kidding aside, if done outside, it’s very doable., though i find it impossible to stay in z2 out on the roads.
Difficulty remaining in Z2 is more personality trait than that Z2 is inherently harder than Z3+ zones 
I’ve done 371 consecutive days of mostly Z2 (HR) workouts, all above 30-mins.
Made up of 3-4 runs (5-10km) and 3-4 rides (ranging from 30-150km) per week. Someone challenged me to do a 365 in 365 challenge.
Edit: spelling mistake and added (HR)
Right now I’m doing something similar but not pure Z2 only.
Monday -1.5 hour sweet spot with 45-60 minutes TIZ the rest Z2
Tuesday - 1.5 hour Z2
Wednesday- 1.5 hour tempo with 45-75 TIZ the rest Z2
Thursday off
Friday- 3-4 hours Z2 building to 4+ hours
Saturday- same as Friday
Sunday - off
Comes to around 9-12 hours a week, it’s pretty tiring. Not sure what it will do for my fitness in the long run. I’m debating doing a mid volume plan but only choosing 2 hard workouts a week (over unders annd Vo2max) and 2- 4 hour back to back weekend rides if life allows it.
I do enjoy the long outdoor rides and I live in Florida so it’s pretty easy to do very long stretches of Z2. With a headwind of 15+mph it feels like erg mode outside.
Reminds me of this vid
Works for him 
Multi hour Z2 erg on the trainer, 100% TIZ, completely different beast to Z2 outdoor ride.
you beat me by 2 hours. I started following him on strava when I first saw that video, truly strong dude!
I did a similar thing last year! Think it was 28 rides in 30 days, mostly tempo with some endurance as categorized by TR- I had a newborn and didn’t want to think too hard about training. Then took 2.5 weeks off after having a vasectomy prior to starting a plan created by TR plan builder. It did provide a nice bump in fitness and I had a slight PR in my A event for the year at the end of July despite an imperfect prep in the month leading up.
Going to do something similar in starting in March this year and probably continuing for about 6 weeks, but will pay more attention to make sure I’m abiding by ISM’s zone 2 rules. Likely 60-75 minutes on weeknights and 90 minutes on the weekends with probably 2 longer outside rides thrown in during that time.
Out of interest, - how do you define ISM zone 2?
I’m blessed with a strong stomach. Can hold 80-100 grams of carbs an hour without fanfare. Get most through liquids. Then use less concentrated mix like scratch in place of plain water. Both has sodium and other electrolytes.
I really like Jesses’ channel, and i get the impression he knows what he’s talking about.
In this particular instance, it may be worth noting that he did one heck a lot of volume per week,
This video is actually what got me thinking about this!
