Zone 2 training on the smart trainer has improved my enjoyment of cycling outdoors immensely, easily the biggest improvements have come from training in Zone 2. Great Video Coach !
In running you’re told to run slower to run faster, sounds counter intuitive but within 6 weeks of me running slower, keeping heart rate in the middle of my zone 2 I found I was running 12-15 secs per km faster, another 6 weeks and I’d taken off another 7 secs per km. and this was across the board no matter a 5km race or a marathon, I managed 1:26 off my 5km race time and 17:29 off my marathon after 12 weeks of running slow to run faster. So yes I’m doing the same on my bike this winter on the road to improve my cycling fitness, strength and power. Leave the ego at home and trust in the bodies ability to adapt and improve. So nice to see a cycling coach actually preach a sensible and well founded approach 👍
top advice coach ... its all about TITS, time in the saddle coach😆. tomorrow I"ll be doing Around the Bay 200+km in Melbourne, mainly z2-3, - leading up to a fondo next year - it works, 2.5-3 w/kg avg is the aim over 8 hours. Your advice is spot on; endurance and consistency is key and keep a smile on your face
Do you also breath out through your nose? I am always confused by this advice. I find it relatively easy to breath in through the nose but when I want to breath out too, it gets a bit harder.
I'm just watching this again. Brilliant, very helpful. Have I got this right-what I need is the level of effort that we feel when we're doing a speech at a wedding for example? A bit of effort but not straining? By the way, I love your accent, one of my favourites
Hello there. So got a question? I just got into cycling for a month or so, and there is a lot of information to take in. I am a long distance backpacker and for example on the Cape Wrath Trail I have done last April. I was hiking in Zone 2 for 2 to 6 hours a day. ( at least that is what my Garmin Fenix tells me) The question is will this have more or less the same benefit as zone 2 rides on the bike? or is it more like comparing apples with pears ?
Great information, Coach and I really enjoy your teaching style. I am 54 and started racing at 14 as a junior. One of the things that keeps me motivated to keep training is how much the sports science evolves (and even seems to come back around). When I first started, it was little ring only for so many miles to come out of the winter (which seemed to be a form of Z2). Years later, when the power meters came out it was tons of SST work seemingly all the time. At my age, I really appreciate the Z2 work.
Hi Coach,I have been cycling for fun,fitness and longevity for decades and was off the bike for five months and recently resumed training with an emphasis on the crucial zone 2 workouts for the past month.The zone 2 program is something I have done in my decades of cycling that requires a lot of patience and discipline because the temptation is to go harder and faster before establishing the aerobic foundation for the more strenuous workouts to follow in either zones 3,4 or 5. You are absolutely right about stressing the importance of zone 2 since it pays great dividends in the end aerobically.I do enjoy your material and thank you for the invaluable service to the cycling community and keep up the excellent work.
Thanks for sharing this. I've been cycling and racing since 1995. I'm 50 now, member of a new club. But these guy ride hard and fast everyday. I've told them e few times that that's not the only way to ride. That's why I do some long solo rides in zone 2. have reached podium 2x last year. But I was dragged along in the everyday fast group rides, and noticed it right away that there was no podium for me this year. lol🤣. I will go back to that and make it more efficient.
Thanks Coach! This was a perfect reminder for me to take into my scheduled workouts this week. I'm determined to succeed in my outdoor Z2 workouts this week!
I really wish I'd seen your channel years ago- I always thought no pain no gain was what we needed, then I started intermittent fasting as well and got really ill with CFS. This will really help with my recovery. Thank you so much!
Yes shove the power meter readings up the erse till completion of training and do the HR reading I did last night backing down (1 beat) before I reached maximum aerobic. My power meter has now readjusted and jumped up higher settings for the zones. I was finding my interval training zone 5 too easy for the past few months and was not even hitting anaerobic.FTP jumped up and had a higher average power last night too. Now I have all the elements to succeed and lose more weight. Now I am cooking on gas many thanks for that.
After close to 170,000 k's ridden I've become serious about Zone 2 training. Watched, heard, read quite a few opinions about where my Zone 2 is exactly. both Power & HR. Heart Rate calculates out to approx. 113 to 125 bpm, I'm 60 years old.. It's never felt right. My power numbers are low at 120-125 as well. When I ride 130-135 bpm, everything falls into place. Funny my most recent threshold numbers is 153/ 154 bpm.....20 beats below...imagine that, 133 bpm. Sold. Thank you. Gotta give these numbers a couple months effort. Now, how do I reset my Heart Rate Zones?
I've been using for a long time, doing the entirety of my indoor cycle session 'nasal breathing', as an indicator of being in zone 2. However, having just purchased a Polar H10 monitor I've found that my heart rate drift through a typical 75 min session (after a warm up to the target speed) although starting in zone 2 drifts up eventually into zone 4, albeit while keeping a constant pace throughout. My perceived effort level and breathing rate is constant; so, it begs the question as to whether I should be slowing down gradually through the session to stay in zone 2, or just ignore the HR drift but just register as to whether it's going beyond , or less than what typically occurs as an indicator of tiredness, for example?
Hi Coach! So, just so I understand completely, we should be able to talk or speak (or both) while in Zone 2? As you said speaking ups our autonomic response.. I guess singing is a good substitute.. My Wahoo will tell me my Z2 tops out around 119 (5 zones with a max HR of 170 based 220 - age).. guess I'll try a 20 min FTP soon.. do I just take my avg for that period and minus 20 per what you said in the video? Thanks!!
Thanks coach. My threshold is around the same level as yours - 162-164. I’m putting in an effort to really dial in my zone 2 workouts so I can build the base. One question I have for you is - when I ride with my crew, we occasionally do some pacelining workouts. Inevitably after 3-4 miles, or a couple of turns through, I will max out my HR and fall off the line. What kind of training do you recommend that will allow me to sustain in the group longer. These sessions are usually 23 miles or so, and I find myself riding solo once dropped almost every time.
I am assuming the paceline is sending you to threshold levels very quickly - I would work on some over and under sessions - you can start with time periods of 6-8 mins (eg one minute over and 2 mins under FTP) there are lots of ways to do these - I will be sharing them in some videos and in my Skool page
@@BulletproofCycling thank you - exactly right. I can recover quickly, but not quickly enough to get back on the train! Will give this a go as I train over the winter.
If you have a threshold hr then use 20 bears below that as upper z2 as a guide - experiment with breathing - also check your zone ranges - it may be you have 6 zones in TP and 5 in Strava??
Hi had a ride of 75k today mean heartrate is 133 . Drove 66% of teh time in powerzone 1 and 2 I am 60 years old when i calculate my zone 2 ... it is only 120 I have the feeling that at heartrate of 130 i am still in some kind of comfort zone I'd like to believe that the calculated zone 2 (hb 120) is too low Any thoughts? Thanks
Lot in there but mean HR is not a great value if you have 37% HR above zone 2 - this can equate to double that number in tempo and above power ranges. The spiking and surging changes the usage of glycogen etc - I don’t want to bore you but consider using your threshold hr - what is your peak 20 mins that you can hold. It is also possible to use 92% of max hr but I rarely use this due to many other issues - so you may have to test 20 min Heart Rate again - just set a 30 min challenging course and ride it hard - take the 20 min average from that (or the last 20 mins if your device doesn’t work out peaks) use this number to set zones 👍👍👍👍
im not sure, but for me it seems that im not pushing enough to reach the Zone 2 and im doing about 28km/h on a flat road. i can sing easily some iron maiden songs :P. avg heart beat about 80bpm...am i doing too soft? cheers
It’s possible - use 20 beats below your threshold hr as your upper guide - your breathing rate will be great guide - experiment as it sounds like you have progressed your cv system well 👍
You will generally be around 40-50g per hour in zone 2 - I share a calorie formulae as well for rough calculations in my Skool page. You can check calories from your cycling computer from previous 3 hour rides 👍👍👍👍
There is no set rule as everyone is at different points in their fitness. If you commute both in and home then consider adding mins to the home journey if you can. Maybe you try this 2 days and week and increase to 30-40-60 mins over the next month?
@@BulletproofCycling what about long ride/training ? Do I have to do 2,3,4h ? Or 90min is more than enough? For a newbie rider ? I’m doing 3-4days a week around 45-90min and not sure is this is enough 😢
Thanks for such an informative video. I’m 63 and returned to cycling after close to 15 years of rest/laziness Really struggling to truly understand by true zone 2 as big hills will often push my max hr over 182
Zone 2 being 65-85% FTP seems awfully high? Coggan lists it at 56-75% which makes my Z2 (with FTP of 320) at 180-240 watts, at 85% it would be 272 watts, which does not seem right for me?
There are lots of zone calculators out there but you’ll find yours with some trial and experiments - going to the top of zones is often a natural path but remember that using any % of a test (that was not designed to measure your metabolic responses at zone 2) will cause a big range. I would suggest using your experience as your FTP is high you will have high level of training experience. Aim to trial with 65% for an hour and see how it goes - use your heart rate and breathing rate plus feel to gauge it. You’ll find your level 👍👍👍
@@BulletproofCycling Thank you for your response, I do have a high level of experience and am happy with my levels, but watching this video made me doubt it. Your explanation about range is a good one which leaves me happy with how I am measuring it. Actually riding more to HR for Z2 with an eye to power. A great series of videos recently on Zone 2 btw, one of the best I have watched which is why I subscribed.
That was great. I’ve always battled with concept of power vs heart rate to accurately hit Zone 2. Power is certainly convenient. My heart rate can vary a bit depending upon my level of fatigue and that has always made me wonder if I am really in Zone 2. I like the idea of using physical feedback / feelings to gauge effort and to check that with the power meter and heart rate monitor.
