Bike Forums - Zone 2 Rides

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermes (Post 23181120)

rsbob Posting copyrighted material is against the rules. You may paraphrase what was in the book, provide links to the referenced studies and pick out a sentence or two and quote them exactly giving credit to the author. Scanning and posting entire pages from books or articles is not allowed.

Please redo your post, as indicated above, if you are so inclined to do so.

Thanks for letting me know. Much appreciated

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymorse (Post 23107127)

I think the research suggests that mitochondria content (number of mitochondria in muscle) is increased by the volume of exercise, which mitochondria function (ability to take in oxygen) is affected by the intensity of exercise. Both are beneficial.

So long rides promote the growth of mitochondria, and hard rides promote the ability of that mitochondria to do their job supplying energy to the muscles.

Thanks Terry! Takes me a while to glom onto a discussion sometimes, but thanks for that clarification!

The claim you mention is if you are doing a zone 2 ride and during the ride increase to zones 3-5 you've adversely affected you zone 2 training. There is a GCN YouTube video that references this by Tadej Pogacar's cycling coach who is a MD. A great Zone 2 video.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tobey (Post 23218333)

Yeah, that claim is controversial. Andy Coggan, an exercise physiologist, says there’s no evidence that doing a hard bout in the middle of a zone 2 causes a lingering metabolic shift. Coggan basically say San Milan is full on wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymorse (Post 23107784)

Yeah, some people call that the "zone 2 trap". It feels so pleasant that people want to do it all the time, so they get stuck in that slow plateau.

I think of zone 2 in a similar way, as a recovery ride pace. If I'm feeling fatigued from the prior day(s), but not so fatigued that I need a rest day, it's time for an easy zone 2 cruiser. But the notion that you must stay in zone 2 for the whole ride or you'll undo the zone 2 "benefit", or flip some metabolic switch, seems just plain goofy.

Pootling along at zone 2 for hours is boring. My favorite type of ride is plenty of zone 2 cruising, broken up by some harder efforts lasting 1 to 10 minutes. Mixing up the pace keeps things interesting, I'm getting a more well rounded workout, and I don't get so thashed that I can't go again the next day.

feeling personally attacked. haha. if the shoe fits...

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymorse (Post 23107784)

Yeah, some people call that the "zone 2 trap". It feels so pleasant that people want to do it all the time, so they get stuck in that slow plateau.

I think of zone 2 in a similar way, as a recovery ride pace. If I'm feeling fatigued from the prior day(s), but not so fatigued that I need a rest day, it's time for an easy zone 2 cruiser. But the notion that you must stay in zone 2 for the whole ride or you'll undo the zone 2 "benefit", or flip some metabolic switch, seems just plain goofy.

Pootling along at zone 2 for hours is boring. My favorite type of ride is plenty of zone 2 cruising, broken up by some harder efforts lasting 1 to 10 minutes. Mixing up the pace keeps things interesting, I'm getting a more well rounded workout, and I don't get so thashed that I can't go again the next day.

again with the personal attacks. so much truth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by work4bike (Post 23162448)

I've destroyed my aerobic base with tons of hard riding in zone 3 with tons of sprints. Since Thanksgiving (2023) I started seriously doing Z2 training, but I don't do it on the bike, I do it at the gym on a combination of machines. The Stairclimber, Treadmill (at max elevation) and an Arc Trainer (not an elliptical).

It's really helping me. But I still do a little hard efforts as a test, but never too hard that I need to take time off. I do cardio 4x a week and strength train for the remaining 3-days.

P.S. I don't attempt to stay in a certain HR zone, I simply do it by feel, in that I do the hardest exertion, but still can talk. I have yet to burn myself out, unlike my bike rides where sometimes I just passed out after a bike ride.

.

Earlier in this thread I mentioned how I destroyed my aerobic base, which some had issues with and maybe I worded it wrongly, but what I meant to say was that I'm the type of person that pushes it way too hard and was always feeling burnt out, but still pushed it on the bike. So I decided to do only zone 2 training, starting on Thanksgiving Day (2023). And I finally stopped at the end of March (2024).

I do feel much better, but zone 2 left me not able to maintain zone 3 for as long as I use to, but I am now getting that back and it is coming back pretty quick. BTW, during this time I did do some zone 4 & 5 stuff, i.e. 80/20, but still zone 3 was difficult to maintain when I started back in March.

My thoughts is that one can and should do some zone 2, but if you do it for long periods of time (in my case 4-months) you will lose some zone 3 fitness, which is the zone I think most use for racing, or in my case, in commuting. I no longer believe zone 3 is a gray zone that should be avoided. Rather it's a gray zone if that's where you spend all your time, just as zone 2 can be a gray zone, if you spend too much time in that zone.

What proportion of your time in each zone?

I'll get back to you on that question....:twitchy::wtf:

:roflmao2:

.

This is my idea of a short Z2 ride. I usually add a little tempo effort to make it more productive on a relatively short ride like this. This one also included a sprint finish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymorse (Post 23218397)

Agree. There is no clinical evidence for this claim, as far as I know. And said coach, shining achievements aside, is a PhD, not an MD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoAlpha (Post 23218496)

And said coach, shining achievements aside, is a PhD, not an MD.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RChung (Post 23218631)

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

As my father used to say, "I'm a doctor, not a physician."

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoAlpha (Post 23218644)

As my father used to say, "I'm a doctor, not a physician."

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...eb69ecf7d0.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoAlpha (Post 23218644)

As my father used to say, "I'm a doctor, not a physician."

When I finished my sister said to our mom, "Well, now there's finally a doctor in the family," and mom said, "I didn't mean that kind."

I was JRA, very happily trapped in my planned zone 2 haze when I got together with a strong guy from the neighborhood. Colombian ex-racer. Next thing I know he's hammering the hill and YELLING at me (in Spanglish); C'MON! YOU CAN DO IT!! etc. So much for zone 2, I'm not getting yelled at. So I passed him on the hill, and then he passed me and you know how this went...all the way to the cafe!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by BTinNYC (Post 23220607)

We ride Zone 2 not to ride in Zone 2 but to prepare for not riding in Zone 2.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RChung (Post 23220738)

We ride Zone 2 not to ride in Zone 2 but to prepare for not riding in Zone 2.

I mean you really cannot say it better than that!