Originally Posted by
MonsieurChrono
I find this plenty scientific already. So, if we were to form a training plan for individuals with < 10 h per week, any distribution of time among Z2, tempo/SS, Z4+ would work more or less, except that it cannot be all Z2 because there is not enough hours, and probably not all Z4+ because it would create fatigue issues pretty quickly. (?)
In autumn I found a nice groove where I would do a tempo ride every second or third day, about 70 to 75 km, but in the windy and cold winter I find that I cannot ask too much of my body so it is mostly Z2 with some intervals here and there.
Yes - my Z4+ work blows me up. Ruins much of the rest of my week.
I am not an athlete. I am not fast, I don't have a built in high VO2 - I don't respond or recover well to intense aerobic training. Nor am I naturally thin/slim... I bounce around at 185+, anything below is very difficult to achieve.
That being said, I like to pretend that I am a mountain billy goat and have the goal of hitting every major climb I can manage to travel to.
My goal is to perform at a higher level, more efficiently, in the lower zones. As my upper zones are capped by genetics/abilities.
This year I'm trying a slightly different approach - since most of my riding is "base miles", and I don't really take a break, I'm not worried about a base phase. I'm incorporating more Tempo/Sweet Spot work. I can tolerate and recover from doing long climbs or efforts of up to say an hour at tempo, and can handle 3x15 or 3x20 min efforts at sweet spot. I can recover, and continue to up my overall volume. I will cap it off with a 2 or 3 week block of VO2 sessions before I head out to my first major goal of the season.