[Closed] Riding at zone 2 hr rates

Slowly, as you get fitter it will be easier to stay in the zones.

You need to fing a flat route ie a road ride or family cycle route if off road even an old railway cycle track and then just tick along mate. I hate doing it to start off with but then you just relax into it.

Worth testing yourself to find your HR zones rather than relying on the prescribed formulas, you could be way off the average.

Is the old ride slow to race fast school of thought?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/zone-2-training-yawn

MSP - Member
Worth testing yourself to find your HR zones rather than relying on the prescribed formulas, you could be way off the average.

[i]Slowly, as you get fitter it will be easier to stay in the zones.[/i]

I am reasonably fit, weight 72 kilos, ride around 7000 miles a year but I fancied doing something different this year and doing some structured training. Yeh maybe I need to find my hr max and take it from there.

[i]Is the old ride slow to race fast school of thought?[/i]

Yeh it is, not sure it's going to be my thing though.

I am reasonably fit, weight 72 kilos, ride around 7000 miles a year but I fancied doing something different this year and doing some structured training.

600 miles a month, really?

Really, over 800 on a good month. 20 mile each way commute on the bike soon adds up.

Plenty of different ways to structure your training. Make sure you add some skills/technique sessions in there too as that is where big gains can be made for least effort IMHO.

You ride 40 miles to work and back every day, pull the other one.

20 miles each way isn't that far. I've got a 25 mile route to work I'll do 3 x a week when I'm doing lots of volume.

EDIT - of course it's quite far, I meant it's not beyond the realms of comprehension.

Where did I say I do it every day?

Theoretical and actual L2 can be miles apart. I did a self test based on Joe Friels Training Bible and my L2 came out at about 110 - 136 BPM. I then had a metabolic test done and found that I have good fat burning zones therefore my actual L2 is 136 to 152bpm. Completed 50 miles on Sunday averaging over 17mph in this zone.

Point of this post is there is a lot of guess work in books as everyone is different. Trickydisco and I both used the same person and we both had similar goals and fitness and our L2's are completely different. The best way to do it is speak to a professional.

skywalker - Member
600 miles a month, really?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/how-many-miles-have-you-riden-this-year

I have the kit to do metabolic tests to prescribe individualised training zones and to identify a multitude of thresholds and VO2max etc. Drop me an email if interested.

skywalker - Member
Slowly, as you get fitter it will be easier to stay in the zones.

AS you'll see I posted the "zone 2 training - yawn" link. Since then I've ridden on Zone 2 on all my training road rides. My first (MTB) event is at the end of february.

My observations;

a) as Skywalker says, the more I've done it the easier I find it to stay n the zones. Right now, I can "feel" the amount of effort I'm using in my legs that would cause me to increase my HR to zone 3 and its easy for me to back off / change down to reduce it.

b) Becuase I'm changing down to reduce effort, I'm increasing cadence. Now I'm not knowledge about this but I've read in several places (the last being the Livestrong site) that cycling at higher than necessary cadence trains you, from a cadence perspective, to ride faster

c) Since that thread - yes not long - my longer rides are much easier than the last on a weekly basis

d) Roughly speaking (because a myriad of conditions effect it) the trend of my average speed over the same distances all ridden at Z2 is increase - I assume I am getting fitter.

e) Mentally, I'm much more relaxed.

d) slightly negative, because I ride a compact double there are some hills where I just can't stay in Z2, but cest la vie....

For me personally, I'd reckon that all the above plus the general experience will be doing me good whilst MTB & Road racing this year.

But thats just my opinion of course......

600 miles a month, really?

Why are people suddenly so disbelieving!? That's less than 150 miles a week, which with a couple of 40 mile commutes is not tough!

I can't be bothered with the really steady state stuff any more frankly - I think it's great if you've got 30 hours a week to ride, but if you've got a reasonable base fitness and less time I reckon mixing it up works better. Sub-FTP intervals FTW!

I'm not disbelieving at all, I just don't see why someone would possibly want to ride 40 miles to work and back. Especially in the dark, being winter and all.

lots of people, me included, go too hard in the easy sessions, and too easy in the hard sessions.....

I,m also trying zone2 and cadence drills. Seriously dull and haven't seen an improvement yet. Will find out on the 22nd

LSD....

Long Slow Distance - cornerstone of most training programs. Theory is that you find it easier to ride at a given speed with progressively lower effort (or you ride faster for same effort).

Good when used in conjunction with zone 3 and zone 4 training, but as above - get your HR zones right.

Will find out on the 22nd

[i]I'm not disbelieving at all, I just don't see why someone would possibly want to ride 40 miles to work and back. Especially in the dark, being winter and all.[/i]

Starting a post with 'really' suggests disbelieving to me but that's up to you.

Why would I want to? I enjoy riding my bike.

I'm not disbelieving at all, I just don't see why someone would possibly want to ride 40 miles to work and back. Especially in the dark, being winter and all.

2-3 days a week I drive 25 miles then ride 23 miles into one of the busiest cities in the world through 130 sets of traffic lights.

The alternative is to pay £40 a day for a train which is totally rammed and frequently delayed. By riding I get nicely fit, without needing to do any additional riding during the week.

It's a good incentive. 20 miles is just over an hour at a sensible pace, not really a massive undertaking, particularly if not done every day.

A friend of mine regularly does over 1000 miles a month, with no commuting. That's hard core.

I'm at the last brass monkeys, finished rd1 in the top half but completely died after 2.5 hrs so the last 2 hrs were about finishing not racing. Hope to be racing the full 4 hrs this time.

Biiiiiiiiiig hills 🙂

[i]Since that thread - yes not long - my longer rides are much easier than the last on a weekly basis[/i]

How can you seperate the training at zone 2 with riding in general though. Surely if you ride more you'll get fitter so how do you know the zone 2 stuff is doing its job. Unless you did the same mileage last year for example and are fitter this year through riding at zone 2.

So is it not becasue you ride a bike more you're getting fitter.

Zone 2 riding is about efficiency and increasing your aerobic zones meaning you can ride longer and faster before going anaerobic.

lots of people, me included, go too hard in the easy sessions, and too easy in the hard sessions.....

From reading Joe Friel's book this is something I had never twigged - I ride my bike most days, I ride at a decent pace, so surely that's enough. Having bought a garmin last year and looking back over the stats I pretty much exclusively ride in zone3 (unless racing). Friel's book made me think I should vary my sessions, try to build a base with zone2 etc... all of which I have never tried before.

Question - where can I go to get LT and V02 max etc... properly tested? And do they deal with average Joes, rather than honed atheletes? Southampton based - recommendations appreciated!

Yeh I know the reasons behind it but I just can't get there. On this morning commute for example my average hr was 150 which is zone 4.

Although having now looked at the hr graph I had a max of 192, (I reckon thats the point where some cock tried to run me down), so I'll change the max on the Garmin.

I'll do a test for my max at the weekedn though as I think on a big hill going hard it would be higher than 192.

Question - where can I go to get LT and V02 max etc... properly tested? And do they deal with average Joes, rather than honed atheletes? Southampton based - recommendations appreciated!

Uni's are often a good bet. Solent may be more sporty than Soton Uni itself.

Although having now looked at the hr graph I had a max of 192

Check it wasn't a random spike too.

Gary, Garmin has 5 HR zones, 3 being the 'long slow' one and 2 being recovery IIRC, did the article you read have 4 HR zones? that may be why you can't stay in HRZ2 on the garmin?

the article had 6 zones and I've set my garmin to 6 zones.

Doesn't look like a random spike as I can see my hr going up from 154 to 137 when I got to the pootle through the park.

whats the percentage of Zone 2 in that article?

I'm using zone 3 on the garmin on my long slow rides, and it feels good, honestly can't see how I could go into zone 2!

Nope, I'm barely moving at Z2 either, but I seem able to maintain a high HR without much bother. Happily chatting at 180bpm.

DT78, YGM.

[s]Slowly[/s],[u]quickly[/u] as you get [s]fitter[/s][u]absorb the feedback[/u] it will be easier to stay in the zones.

i think one of the big benefits of using a HRM is working better at recovery and not over exerting when shouldn't be - relatively to blasting out a route, working on endurance/recovery can be dull

PS are you really sure you need to work on endurance?

I'm not disbelieving at all, I just don't see why someone would possibly want to ride 40 miles to work and back. Especially in the dark, being winter and all.

I do 32 miles there and back on a commute, usually once a week over winter, maybe more in the summer, and I am in no way fit.

If you don't get it, you probably need some more children at home 🙂

[i]whats the percentage of Zone 2 in that article?[/i]

Don't think it mentioned percentages and I don't have the article to hand.

[i]PS are you really sure you need to work on endurance?[/i]

Possibly not but I wanted to start somewhere.

Zone 3 feels a far more realistic aim for me.

I'm with you on that njee20 at 150pbm I'm not putting a lot of effort in at all and coule easily whistle a happy tune. May just spend January working on cadence and forget about hr for the moment.

Question - where can I go to get LT and V02 max etc... properly tested? And do they deal with average Joes, rather than honed atheletes? Southampton based - recommendations appreciated!

Uni's are often a good bet. Solent may be more sporty than Soton Uni itself.

winchester uni (king alf's) has the kit. not sure if you can get on it though... 😀 let us know if what you find oiut. i know several people interested.

Gary - I have tried repeatedly to stay in Zone 2 on the slog from Jackton up through Eaglesham and over the Moor to the 77 - cannae do it 😳

Zone 2 up through Eaglesham and over the moor is nigh on impossible in zone 2, I can't even stay in zone 2 when I drive it. 😀

why [u]wouldnt[/u] you want to ride a 40 mile commute every day?

mine is only 14 miles each way and I would ride it every day if I could. I only get to do it during the school holidays.

I need to get on to this zone-2 malarky, I find it almost impossible to ride at anything other than 85% / 90% max.. which takes its toll after a while.