I agree that point is interesting, and its also interesting to see what he stresses. I'm the kind of endurance athlete (am I qualified to say that) who can best train by doing what I am willing to do. I am willing to get on my bike and go pedaling in relative solitude, thinking about "that feels good!" or "that was harder for sure, but it still feels good!" to "too hard, but I recovered ok" to "this is so dang lightweight I can't even keep up balance and a cadence!" I am not one for setting up zones, recording the times, plotting them, running an assessment code, and then revising next weeks role in the "campaign." Been there, it's not fun. The riding is fun. When I attempted serious training I did make improvements, but I think that is just because I rode the bike.

Dr. S's recent revised thinking seems to be to spend a high percentage of my ride time at a level below the ability to converse, but not significntly lower. In the routine of a week, or other unit of time, spend 10 to 20% above this marker point, regardless if it is his Z2 or Z3. It it's above VT2 fine, but if it's between the two VT's that's also fine. That's easy to manage and to control! I have a 4 to 6 hour ride pencilled in for the weekend after 7/4, and this sounds like a good way to use my urges and tendencies to make reasonable improvements, at a rate of 60 to 90 minutes a day, 5 days pedaling, with two recoveries.