Zone 2 on a turbo trainer…

so basic strava gives enough data to Intervals for it to work properly ? (I’m on paid Strava currently and want it to work “just the same” with Intervals)

I’ve never had premium Strava & have used Intervals for a couple of years now.
It works perfectly well & all data that I think you could ever want to be uploaded ends up in there.

Obviously if you are riding outside & don’t have a power meter, you get no power metrics so the info isn’t as detailed as you’ll get from a ride with a power meter; whether that’s Zwift or a bike with power meter fitted.

magic – thanks stumpy

Re. intervals.icu apart from Strava it uploads directly from Garmin, Wahoo, Polar, etc. if you want to go that route.

If you decide after a while you like intervals (you will ) do consider becoming a “supporter” at £36 pa. to help keep it running.

Yeah I do like Intervals (and whatever the other one is – golden cheetah) and do support – just that strava was such an easy way to get data on, so I’m happy that the non-premium will do it too

So crosshair, if you stayed in zone two on your ride today I think we can say the trainings paid off!!! How was it?

Yeah was good thanks. It’s my last week of Base 2 so I’m looking to properly fatigue myself into recovery week so I have something to recover from 😀

6 miles noodling into town, then an hour sat on the back, a couple of hours properly smashing myself, including a full send solo break on the b4000, then 6 miles noodling back to Herm and then 25 miles endurance at around 200w.

Not a bad days work 😀

Good effort tyat

how did you structure and how often did you have recovery weeks crosshair?

Before Christmas they were more like little blocks of easy rides or an extra day off here and there. Since then it’s been 3 weeks of progressive overload followed by a week of half volume and nothing harder than mid Z2.

What I will do this week though is a few short easy spins in the week and then take next weekend by feel. If I am already fresh and raring to go, then I’ll probably do the quicker group ride again and if still tired, drop down to the easy one or ride solo.

I have been trying to do more structured training this year and have been following this thread for tips…. one of which was to try intervals.icu (thanks to whoever suggested it). My question is how to address discrepancies between how it defines Z2 for power and HR. Intervals.icu defines my top Z2 HR around 153bpm and my power around 191w. If I’m pushing 191w my HR will be around 130bpm, conversely if riding at 153bpm my power will be nearer 250w?

Maybe I need to edit my threshold HR? This has been auto populated at 172 based on my max HR of 190?

If you go to settings, you can customise your HR zones as you like. There’s a list of presets (Coggan/Friel/CTS/80_20 etc) to choose from or you can pin them to ThHR or MAX HR as you wish.

Intervals will notify you of HR threshold improvements based on 98% of a 20min effort and tell you  in the activity where you exceeded the current value.

I had notifications twice yesterday in the Zwift Insider Worlds Experiences trio I did yesterday morning, still feeling rough this morning, first time I’ve done more than one 19min+ race in a day for months… Nevermind three in under 80mins.

Just checked settings tab and it doesn’t auto-update, you need to manually change it.

cheers crosshair, just finished a progressive set of 4 weeks, did 4 as half term next week so some of the days I’d fit it in I have the kids, and legs are deffo feeling like they need a rest

It sounds silly given how little training I do compared to some people, but I more like the mental break for a couple of days. Just chilling in between jobs at work rather than rushing to get 2hrs in on the bike at lunchtime. I usually take it as a good sign if I’m missing riding or get back off of a recovery week spin wishing I could do more.

My next ‘breakthrough’ workout is Tempo on Tuesday 21st and I’m hoping to get a nice surprise on the HR front. If I can do that session at Z2 HR, tightly coupled all the way through, I’ll know recovery week went to plan. (It’s at last week’s wattage)

I’m more ready for a mental break from breaking bad 😂 3 episodes and 2hrs done,

In another thread I spoke about moving the turbo somewhere it was in sight, makes such a different, like a reminder to get it done rather than lock it away, still got to want to do the work, but you’ll know

Another 3hr was scheduled for me today but I bailed at 2:05.   I joined the ZZRC ride again, lost the pack and ended up helping to pull the chase group for an hour at a contribution of 3.2wkg average with 5 min efforts at 4.2wkg.

In summary, I was **** and didn’t stick to plan because mentally I didn’t have it within me to ride solo for 3h.

Well done Kryton 💪🏻

Still a great session and presumably you’re adding more intensity around now anyhow?

I asked on the local WhatsApp if anyone was going out but got tumbleweed in response 🤣 So I had a lie in.

Then I went to see Weeksy and Weeksy Jnr on my MTB as they were doing a photo shoot / training session just up the road and then ended up with Weeksy and his mate on e-bikes attacking me in turns on the way back to his house 🤣

A nice cup of tea at Weeksy towers and then seeing as I was there, set off into Oxfordshire on the byways and back via the Ridgeway. 3hrs at a nice 150w to round off base 3.

I found out that the power graph on the bottom of the Zwift screen is ten minutes’ worth of readings.  I managed to get ten perfect minutes in the blue zone without any spikes or interruptions in pedalling on Saturday.

Bloody headunit packed up this morning so no power for todays group ride.

Some cunning chap plotted a route with a couple of steep climbs so I couldn’t even stay in Z2 HR 🤣 😉

It’s actually pretty fascinating how everyone’s w/kg and raw watts shake out over varying terrain and I’d say the best thing anyone who wants to do a local group ride can do is be in the middle of the bell curve for weight in your local scene 🤣🤣

At times I had to let gaps of 20-30s open up or I wouldn’t have survived the course. A quick aero tuck and a bit of power on the flats brings it back together though.

Really enjoyed the ride- it would have been cracking views on a clear day.

A quick aero tuck and a bit of power on the flats brings it back together though

Only because I waited at the top of Coombe!! 🤪

It’s actually pretty fascinating how everyone’s w/kg and raw watts shake out over varying terrain and I’d say the best thing anyone who wants to do a local group ride can do is be in the middle of the bell curve for weight in your local scene 🤣🤣

I thought the long draggy climb was the interesting one, I started it a bit far back as I had to wait for a car at the junction at the bottom but I could not bring you back unless I went seriously into the red, on the steeper climbs I could ride away. It is a bit annoying though when on a false flat descent I’m out the saddle sprinting to catch the front guy and you come pat not even pedalling 😟😟😟😱

Lol!
Nestor said once “ooo there he goes, divebombing the descents!” yet doing the opposite UP the hills is deemed one of the most impressive feats in cycling 🤷🏻‍♂️ 🤣

Yeah, I wish I’d had power up Vernham Dean. I averaged under Threshold HR so perhaps 320w or 3.3w/kg?
Edit- Strava actually guesses 322w so not far off.

Latest GCN vid says 7w extra per kg on grades above 7% so that means when I try and match Rich, I have to do 140w more!!!

So then downhill, provided I close most of the Aero disadvantage of being built like a bus, I can use all of that potential energy to go fast for almost zero cost.
My biggest enemy is having to brake 😱 🤣

doing the opposite UP the hills is deemed one of the most impressive feats in cycling

The biggest problem with cycling is that if I get dropped on the flat I get get dropped but then I have to wait for a re grouping at the top of the hills

when I try and match Rich, I have to do 140w more!!!

He is very strong and pretty light though

I got on the Z2 on a turbo bus in December… mostly because I didn’t think I could do Z2 on my local hills (the Quantocks). Have done a solid 8 weeks of Z2 with the occasional VO2 max session (Gorby or a race) and numbers seemed encouraging. I couldn’t resist the sunshine this morning and was surprised to be able to do a 2+ hour ride in Z2 despite >800m of climbing. If I can get up my local stuff in Z2 then the turbo stuff was definitely worth it

Yes! I do wonder if just concentrating on drafting and weight loss wouldn’t be a better strategy for me to keep up on local group rides. It would be interesting to give everyone a long hilly loop and set off together and see how it shakes out with nobody waiting for anyone.

Today, the 8am lot dropped me at Baydon. A ten second gap at the top of the climb took me over twenty minutes at 290w (all the way to Aldbourne!) to close back again solo!

Yeah Rich is a beast, he very very rarely lets it all out though- he’s too nice 😇 🤣

@Sheck Well done! It’s definitely a very rewarding form of fitness. I just like getting back from rides that used to leave me on the sofa all afternoon and feeling as fresh as a daisy.

Today, the 8am lot dropped me at Baydon. A ten second gap at the top of the climb took me over twenty minutes at 290w (all the way to Aldbourne!) to close back again solo!

Look on the bright side, I could hardly walk this morning😄😄😄

Not enough recovery doughnuts 🤣🤣

Not enough recovery doughnuts

Yeah, that must have been it!!
Actually my calf’s were twanging right from the off yesterday, I think it was riding that bike for the first time in ages, it felt all wrong from the start. Saddle felt too low so I raised it a bit at the shop before we left.

First ride back after recovery week today. Picked up the tempo progressions but back at 260w.

I was going to just repeat the process but then I suddenly realised, I could add time to the power levels I’ve done before.
So instead of doing 120mins @ 260w again, I shot for 150mins @ 260w instead.

The first five minutes felt horrendous, with a short warm up, but soon I settled in and after a while, I’m not so sure I wasn’t under the talk test 🧐
I’d have loved to have known the lactate level.

The effort ended up at really consistent 267w for 150mins at 20.8mph, 51.8 miles, 2200ft climbing. Even better, I didn’t even drink a whole bottle of carbs!
I’d also love to know my fat/carb ratio! Just not enough to pay to go to a lab 🤣

I know Tempo is a bit out of fashion but I’d highly recommend it as a way of of taking your Z2 once it hits a plateau and moving things forward once more.
I feel awesome on it 😀

Seeing as this is becoming my un-official training blog, I’ll post here 😀
Nice hillier group ride today with the birthday boy @anagallis_arvensis 🥳. Things are progressing into Base 3 now and instead of mainly ‘intense’ upper Z2, I had a ‘form sprint’ day on Thursday which was just an hour spin with 10x sprints done on downhills so there wasn’t too much torque.

Then today was the 1h easy Z2 I skipped from yesterday (the time spent riding to town and back) and “Moderate Hills (Force)” as Friel calls them- which was the group ride itself.
I was just looking to ride steady on the flats (although I did press on a bit here and there too) and then aim for Threshold up the climbs.
I don’t actually know my Threshold so I kind of guessed it at 350w. I rode Hungerford Hill for 5 mins at 375w and my HR went out of Threshold by the top so I definitely don’t think it’s 375…
Another hill was 348w for 4m30 and that did feel pretty stable HR wise. It doesn’t really matter I don’t think and I’m still determined not to test my FTP, just in case I’m disappointed 🤣

Time to chill and eat lots of food to do it all again tomorrow morning.
I’ve decided to ride steady upper Z2 regardless of the dick-swingers who may or not turn up so it could be a solo podcast ride 🤣

I rode Hungerford Hill for 5 mins at 375w and my HR went out of Threshold by the top so I definitely don’t think it’s 375…

Which one was Hungerford Hill? Was that the one I was on your wheel trying to fathom how you were in the small chainring and I was in my 53 pedalling like the clappers to keep up 🤔🤔

Nice hillier group ride today

I thought it was flat 😄😄😄

Did a gentle post donut 25km to try and help my legs recover a bit better than last week.

Yes that’s the kiddy ⛰️ 😮‍💨 🤣

Ah nice one- yes it can be a bit of an abrupt stop 🤣🤣

Nice, and happy birthday AA, exactly a week before mine.

A steady 3hr for me today https://www.strava.com/activities/8619497875

Well done Kryton 💪🏻 A cracking dose of Z2 that 😎

All the sharp stuff is in the week. Combo of threshold, sweet spot, Zwift racing and 40/20’s leading up to the Southern XC.

Another 3h z2 on the race MTB tomorrow for specificity. Just spent an hour revitalising it from being left in the shed from last October 😀

Nice!! That’s a tough old week 👍🏻 Fingers crossed you’ll notice the payoff for all your hard work.

Had a really nice group ride today. Started with the expectation of joining the 15’s for a long one. But the fast lads were riding the same route initially. So I decided to loiter at the back of their ride for a tow and then double back for the long route gang when the two courses diverged.

But as it was, another chap had the same idea. So we carried on along the long route together. 3 others had since decided to do the same and caught us up.

So then we were 5-up for the rest of the entire route. After feeling awful all week with a bad toe and nausea from the pain, I was pleasantly surprised with my legs. The route helped as it was only 3000’ climbing in 73 miles.

We ended up at 18.7mph including the dawdle to town and power was 227w/265np for 4 hours.

This is where genuinely lifting your actual Z2 (as opposed to raising your ftp and imagining your lower zones have scaled concurrently) pays off because as long as the hard efforts even out to Z2, you can still cope with the workload.

Now to eat and recover for the 8am smashfest tomorrow 😴

Swapped the Sunday ride for a 3hr Z2 gravel bike spin so I could ride later in the day and have a cheeky lay-in 🤣 Then Monday was recovery day.

Back to tempo today. I was aiming for accruing 2hrs at 280w. Had I gone outdoors I’d have probably split it up into 4×30 as finding enough road gets stressful 🤣

But with the forecast as it was, I made the decision early to go indoors. But my motivation wasn’t really there for intervals so I decided to just keep doing Zwift races until I hit my goal 🤣

2.5 races later and we made it. It wasn’t remotely high quality as it was vo2 up the hills, threshold chasing back attacks and Z2 in the bunch but meh, let’s not let perfect get in the way of good hey.
What’s depressing is how little these rides nudge my fitness score on now 🤣 But cool how a 2500kcal session is now just pretty standard.

That’s not bad Crosshair.

I did 2hrs z2 on Saturday and a 3.5hr very hilly road ride on Sunday. And I felt pretty good. It works.