Last week I did another one of my simple experiments to find the boundary between stable and unstable physiology. Some promote Critical Power tests, I just find it on the ride by riding around “FTP” without having to ride for some indeterminate amount of time.
Here is what my HR looks like when riding just above stable physiology:
Just uploaded today. Every time I listen to him or Seiler I want to change my training. Then by the time I work through all the realities, I end up back at low volume with 3 added endurance rides
Plus people think you should ride z2 all the time…
No, z2 has a metabolic cost and should be used in moderation. It can be more than above lt1, but needs to be considered in the overall training program.
Or worse: combine these ideas with other coaching approaches to form this “can’t we all get along/best of both worlds” Frankenstein training approach.
SweetSpot
ISM Z2
Long tempo
TAN Tempo
Look at lactate Tempo
VO2max intervals
Interval du jour (usually some sort of go hard then barely pedal 30-40s)
Full rest
Recovery ride
Two-a-days
Over-unders
Hard-start Vo2max
Hard-start SweetSpot
F*ck it, hard-start all the things, bro
Ride by feel
Ride by heart-rate
Ride by power, it’s “objective”
Long ride
Time-crunched long ride (i just made that one up)
Ok, got it all checked off. Gonna do all the things. Now, how to fit that into my training week?
I’m not getting the cult of Z2. Every time I listen to ISM, he says to ride Z2 - not some special, top secret, special sauce Z2. Just ride Z2 - talk test. Easy peasy, yet we have 701 posts in just this topic.
Are we fascinated because he’s the first TDF winning coach to talk to the people?
I’ve seen a few references, in various places, to taking ~ 30mins to start getting adaptations again from ISM Z2 after going too hard. Can someone point me in the direction of info/resources backing this up/explaining? Had a quick scroll through the thread but didn’t see anything.
Has he rewritten zones in a meaningful way? My Z2 is right at my coggan 5 zone Z2. ISM basically says for the amateur to train pyramidal. 3-4 days Z2, one hard day, one club ride day.
It’s not like an on/off light switch. He’s saying to stay in Z2 on Z2 days and not charge up every little hill. The idea is to stay in the zone to fatigue the slow twitch fibers. If you charge up a hill every 5 or 10 minutes you are activating the faster twitch fibers and generating lactate. It trains different systems than continuous Z2.
You can debate semantics, but there is a clear narrow zone that separates stable and unstable physiology. Its known by some as Critical Power, others call it FTP, others call it MLSS, …
That was my understanding, was just wondering where the 30mins was coming from, surely it’s just dependant on how quickly the lactate is cleared (i.e. a combination of how much excess lactate is produced and how quickly you clear it)
Getting lost in the details and missing the big picture. There is a boundary between stable and unstable physiology. Full stop. I’m an average Joe and can easily find it in a field test. It’s not that complicated. And this is the point I’ve decided to stop posting about it.
Does he really say this? Ride 3-4 days per week @ tempo. The talk test doesn’t put you at tempo IMO.
Yet, we see Pogacar doing 15-20 minute threshold intervals up mountain passes.
I agree that he is interesting. But the ideas aren’t that new or revolutionary. Selling zone 2 in a shrowd of lactate just makes it mysterious and complicated for the normal person IMO. Yet on the other hand, just do the talk test.
