Huh.
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Milk comes from the grocery store! why would you overcomplicate things by talking about cows ??
Well because there is a lot of insight to be gained by understanding cows my friend.
Not willing to say more than that, your disingenuous answers are rather bad mannered and I leave it up to the reader to decide what is the “proper perspective” with full access to all available information.
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Huh, redux.
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Someone is deep into the koolaid
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Many folks prefer the simpler version. And in my opinion, most of us amateurs aren’t making fundamental training mistakes because we don’t understand the backstory, it’s because we tend to ignore the simple basic stuff (hard on hard days, easy on easy, etc.).
That said, I think this should absolutely be a place where we can pontificate to our heart’s content about training optimization and understanding the science/physiology behind endurance performance. Many of us enjoy that aspect of the hobby whether it’s materially helping our training or not. There should be plenty of room for the simplified version and the deep dives. I think where it sometimes goes sideways is when the folks who are into the details imply that everyone should be into the details and that training is compromised if they aren’t. I’m not singling you out (I’m looking in the mirror to a point), it’s just easy for it to slide that way when everyone has strong beliefs in their training “religion”.
Again, it’s not fun or interesting to a lot of people. We’re all wired different.
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Sadly, ISM tapped into the optimization crowd by going on health and longevity podcasts. He sold his version of 2mmol “zone 2” as the best bang for the buck longevity exercise. Guys like Peter Attia who are into bio hacking ran with it.
AFAICT, nothing supports that ISM “zone 2” is better for longevity than any other exercise intensity.
In fact, if one wants health and longevity, cycling is probably not the best exercise as it is a non-weight bearing single plane exercise.
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I just ride slowly and aim to keep my heart rate in the middle of the HR Z2.
When I get to a hill I put it in the easiest gear and concentrate on going as slowly as possible.
If I feel even slightly like I need to breathe a bir heavier, I know I’m tipping into z3.
We have difficult terrain here for zone 2 riding based on power. The safer, quieter, more beautiful lanes are rolling and have some unavoidable hills. I have at least an hour on those to get to the flat valley roads, where, if I can convince myself dodging traffic is worth it, there are long stretches to do a more power based z2.
I never really have any problem holding z2 hr or z3 hr for hours, but if I keep the HR in the middle of Z2 (and not worry if it slips into z1 on descents) then I tend to feel good the next day, but if I constantly focus on keeping it at the upper range or working at lower z3 I will feel knackered the next day on rides longer than 3 hours.
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For most people, ~70% max heart rate is the breakpoint for creating a lot of stress on the nervous system. That’s generally around the mid point of “zone 2”. Pretty much everything above that comes at a higher stress cost vs adaptation signaling. You absolutely need time at those higher zones, but it should be used strategically, where below that line you can crush lots of consecutive days of higher volume < 70% MHR and get quite a bit of signaling for very little stress.
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It sounds like I wasted 10 hours of riding (which is a lot for me) in 3 days riding at 50-55% of ftp.
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I don’t see a waste in that 
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I was being a smart a— 
I normally ride by RPE for endurance and kind of make sure I’m not riding 100 watts or something. If I’m riding that low I probably need a day off.
So far it seems to be working by how my fitness is improving.
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Anything I can do to make sure I’m getting the benefit of those Z2 miles?
You’re getting the benefit. If you find you’re having trouble on the intervals days, or you are a bit more tired the day after an endurance day than you think you should be, just back the endurance intensity down the next time.
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I follow Empirical Cycling’s cue. It should feel suspiciously easy which allows my hard days to be high quality and not a struggle fest.
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Care to elaborate ?
A much better job of saying what I was trying to say. Couldn’t agree more.
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I don’t want to speak for him but
He’s probably referring to people or coaches out there that push the idea (kool aid). “It’s not a real zone 2 ride if your power isn’t X% of ftp/ heart rate”.
Off the Kool aid subject this was a good episode.
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My fitness and well being with training has improved by keeping it a lot simpler than focusing on minute details.
To each their own, sometimes knowing what your blood lactate matters. It hasn’t mattered for me, ride hard a couple days with a specific focus and then ride easy, very easy the other days.
I’ve been riding since I learned how to ride a bike Knowing what my blood lactate is at a certain percentage of my ftp isnt going to change my passion for training.
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Thank you so much all! Can’t say how awesome it is to get feedback, sometimes this sport is hard to navigate.
I find it reassuring there’s a lot of variety in response, it seems likely is wasn’t missing anything too obvious other than making sure easy rides are easy. Perhaps a better question to ask is whether ‘z2 rides’ to be effective in increasing ftp should feel like an easy ride? I might go back and listen to the podcast on this, look for some clues.
Thank you all!!
Jamie
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First off you need to define what you think ‘z2’ rides are - there are many definitions. Personally as we’re TR users I think the Endurance zone 55-75% of FTP should be our basis for the conversation.
Effective in increasing FTP? Officially sweet spot zone is the most efficient, but all levels of training are effective some degree. Appropriate Training in the endurance zone will develop aerobic endurance for you so a good thing.
Whether you need Endurance training or Active Recovery can be guided by Red Light Green Light, adapting down your endurance workouts to recovery if the preceding day was a hard day.
Your overall load and recommended types of workouts will be presented to you if you use a Custom Plan rather than put together your own plan, and will answer a lot of these questions for you.