The weight training is its own thing, it doesn’t factor into the z2 / high intensity tally for cycling. It’s obv v important but no one strong at cycling lifts five times a week. If you could dial that back it would give you more options on the bike.

Not sure if I agree with that but lets say, for the sake of argument, that you’re right.

Even with only 2 mtb rides per week, if you stick to the 80% rule, that means you should be doing 10 zone 2 sessions per week.

Is there a more ‘real world’ guideline for the amount of zone 2 work we should be doing?

It doesn’t mean that as a mtb ride isn’t high intensity z3 for most people.

Basically, Bruce, park the plates for a day or two, go for a 2/3 hour ride and all will be well for the weekend. This ersatz z2 accountancy is meaningless at the volume / intensity you’re currently doing.

I do weight training 5 days a week (little and often) and mountain bike at the weekend. I feel great for the first hour but then it just seems like my body feels terrible. I also feel pretty shit the next day.

Are you sure you just aren’t over-trained? If your weight lifting and your MTB is really ‘high intensity’ then I’ll bet there are very few professional riders even doing that level of high intensity per week! Even if it was lower intensity it might still add up as sort of Z3 type effort which is still quite a lot at 8-9 hours a week.

Dylan Johnson (my go-to on pretty much any training subject) suggests that if you’re really lifting at high intensity you should be doing it 2-3 times a week maximum, and the rest of your riding should be Z1 or at best Z2 at the weekend. Then come summer you drop your lifting frequency and start adding in riding intensity.

Are you sure you just aren’t over-trained?

I’ve been lifting like this for two years.

The only thing that’s changed in the last year is my commute has disappeared.

I didn’t think this would matter since I assumed my 50 – 60 minutes of commuting each day was contributing very little to my overall fitness.  Apparently I was wrong.

So now, instead of ‘accidently’ getting some zone 2 in I’m trying to find some guidance about how to ‘intentionally’ get some zone 2 work in and it’s proving difficult because, frankly nothing seems to be getting written about it.

Everything I read seems to be about endurance athletes rather than the type of mtbing I do (winch and plummet) which is probably closer to what a footballer or rugby player does in terms of the duration of efforts.

You could go back to commuting 10k each way by finding a longer way round, and make sure all that is Z2. Then you’re intentionally getting a large block of Z2 in the week to go with the higher intensity weekend jaunt. Or you could slow down/rethink the weekend MTB and intentionally make more of that Z2. You could do laps of the WC XCO course 😉
Maybe try a different weights schedule so you do fewer but harder sessions and use the time you’ve saved there to get some Z2 bike in.
The Z2 is going to help regardless, but don’t you also need to do one HIIT session to boost that kind of effort if you’re winch and plummet. You could make a couple of return commutes full chat to get that in.

You could go back to commuting 10k each way by finding a longer way round, and make sure all that is Z2.

Yeah, could do, although the time I’ve saved has already been ‘taken’ in terms of weekly schedules for picking up the kids/shopping/cooking/etc.  I could reclaim it but I’m not sure if 5 short zone 2 sessions is better than 1 or 2 long sessions which I now have the option to do with the saved commuting time.  From what I’ve read, little and often isn’t so much of a benefit for zone 2 and it’s only after the first 30 minutes or so you really start getting the benefit.  Obviously there is some benefit to those 30 minute (or less) sessions as I’m definitely feeling the lack of them.

Or you could slow down/rethink the weekend MTB and intentionally make more of that Z2.

That is an option, although it would mean a lot of getting off and pushing for the kind of trails I ride.  Lots of short but nasty climbs.   The other thing is that I like to kind of keep the mtb for fun and not worry too much about heart rates and what not.  Also, I’m quite time limited and want to get as much bang for my buck as I can in the time I’ve got available.

Anyway, reading some of the Hybrid Athlete stuff, it looks like 150 to 180 minutes is a good target to aim for.  I think what I’ll do is try a 1 hour session during the week and a 2 hour session on Saturday or Sunday morning before the kids are ready to start doing stuff.

It really is crazy just how much time and thought has to go into keeping yourself fit enough to go mtbing after you’ve had kids!