On my z2 rides there are always a few hills that push my HR up and out of the zone.

Am I better off staying in a low gear, managing my cadence and breathing to minimise the effect (probably managing high z3 or low z4) or am I better off treating these hills like intervals and going like the clappers near max HR?

Ignoring the obvious, you’re a leisure rider aiming for a basic level of fitness, it doesn’t **** matter!, what say the hive?

I would have said if your training is specific enough that you need to do a z2 ride then you should go for the low gear and managed to cadence to stay in z2, and leave the intervals for rides when you’re supposed to have intervals?

Alternatively a couple of short, hard effort sections on hills probably won’t do any harm, but suppose there’s always the risk of “over training”

NB I know nothing and am just applying common sense, someone in the know would probably need to know more about your training plans to be able to advise accurately!

Depends on why you’re training at Z2.

If we assume that Z2 is the “Conversation Zone”, and is being used as a steady session, perhaps the day after a hard interval session, then I see no issue what so ever to ride the hill and enter Z3/4 if you still feel easy doing it.

I wouldn’t use the hills as intervals if you’re following a training plan with specific sessions for this type of intensity.

What becky says, if your doing zone 2 stick to it as much as possible, though from experience I appreciate its not easy and you can expect to drift a bit on the climbs, but try to control it.

Should ensure your fresh for the really hard intervals.

When I was using a personal trainer last year I was told *to try and avoid going higher than my stated zone 2 as it can take upto 40 minutes or so for your body to recover back to that state effectively ruining your training objective.

*This was his advice to me not mine.

I recently read an article where the writer suggested if it was a specific Z2 session, then you should stick to that even if it means getting off and walking, as the writer suggested he had to when he started.

mtbtomo…i read that too…here, just after list of zones

http://www.fatcyclerider.co.uk/2010/12/heart-rate-training.html

There was a hypothetical question in one of the training books, “if you’re not tired, what’s the point in recovery rides/products?”

The infrance being if you’re doing a ride every day or several rides a day then some will need to be lower paced to let the body recover betweent he harder ones, but if you only get 4 rides a week you may as well go harder every ride.

avoid hills?

How are you calculating your zones? If you’re using hr max it may be worth re-calculating them using lactate threshold, if you’re using a Garmin you’ll have to set the zones in connect and send them to the unit.

Cheers all.

Depends on why you’re training at Z2

I’m a recreational rider looking to improve my overall fitness and through that, my speed / endurance / distance on the bike. I’m doing z2 sessions to build a base level of fitness…long steady distance.

“try and avoid going higher than my stated zone 2 as it can take upto 40 minutes or so for your body to recover back to that state effectively ruining your training objective.”

Interesting…I hadn’t thought about that. 40 minutes seems like a long time, but also not beyond the realms of possibility.

avoid hills?

Ho ho! I’m doing my best; 250m of ascent in 40k is as close to pancake flat as I can get. Most of it is very gently undulating, just a few little ‘kickers’ spoiling the party.

…but if you only get 4 rides a week you may as well go harder every ride.

Counter intuitive perhaps, but…

Go slower, get faster It sounds impossible but this is the basic starting point for HR training. I started off by doing long Zone 1 and Zone 2 rides. It was slow, boring and tortuous at times. What happened over a period of months was amazing. In a nutshell I was still riding in Zone 2 but I was zipping along compared with when I started. By going slower I’d made my body more ef?cient. It was like a light being switched on: if I can go this fast in Zone 2 then just how fast could I go in the higher zones? Fletcher, who’s an exercise physiologist, is adamant that by going slow you will get faster. The Evesham-based coach even has a mug on his desk emblazoned with the words ‘slow is the new fast’. But he has some sage words for anyone who thinks that HR training is like waving a magic wand. “Training is boring. Anyone who says they can make base training sessions more entertaining and can introduce fun is kidding you. Just accept it that those long, steady rides on the bike will be boring but they will bring results. There are no shortcuts and no quick ?xes.” Because discipline for these slow rides is so important, it’s probably a good idea to ride them on your own, without the temptation of trying to keep up with faster mates, or rising to the bait of village sign sprints or traf?c light grand prixs. Key session: 3hrs in Zone 2. Stay in the zone and stick to it. Don’t be tempted to push on the hills.

Yes, I’m aware that the article above, the same one that mtbtomo & teamslug are referring to and the one that started me off on the z2 sessions, seemingly answers my own question! I just got wondering…if I can’t help being out of the zone for 5% of the total time (no, I am not getting off & pushing!) what are the overall physiological benifits (forget about cycling for a minute) of getting in a few cheeky short-burst intervals at max HR – thinking about the studies that Dr Michael Mosley has publiscised recently.

How are you calculating your zones?

Garmin & max HR at the moment, but I’ve just bought Joe Friel’s Total Heart Rate Training so I’ll be calculating my LTHR soon and re-jigging the zones based on that.

Meh…that’s enough for now. I’ll stick to what I was doing, which is trying to stay in the zone or as close as possible and save the intervals for a seperate session.

Jeez just slow down!

Goddamnit, I can’t man!!!

Here’s a handy calculator

I’ll stick to what I was doing, which is trying to stay in the zone or as close as possible and save the intervals for a seperate session.

Sounds correct

My take on this is:

Rollers + Netflix on laptop/tablet + lobotomy = Z2 session