How to Stay Motivated During a Zone 2 Training Block

[@sccxvelo]

Just finished up the base phase (oct-dec) as race season starts in a couple weeks for SoCal for road, mtb, and gravel. Used RF 500 as last week of base 3 block as motivation to get through the long 2hr+ rides. Steady pace with only sightly intensity ramps when needed, and limit zwift races or sustained hard efforts was key to get through the weeks. 4 weeks on 1 week off x3 is how it worked out.

[@richardmiddleton7770]

I'm always motivated to do zone 2. In fact, it's the intensity I go to whenever I'm NOT motivated to 'train'!

[@edlaverack]

Well, that's awesome!

[@marcus_velo_9970]

Well said Mr Ed, I've purposely done all my Festive 500 riding indoors (doing Zwift F500 rides, 50k) for a few reasons, I can contain fatigue and its uninterrupted and time efficient. Not to mention that I can have the TV on for distraction if needed. How's this for a training model? Zwift Z2/Base, mostly indoors, controlled - do group rides for community and fun, available 24/7 total convenience; occasional dirty Z2 with a hero sprint at the end. Intervals, indoors, follow plan, training to power/hr. Event specifics, say +3-4 hours, outdoors on event type terrain. Now if you're new to cycling you 'must' ride outdoors to build the skills and experience - descending skills and bunch skills as we know are crucial. For more experienced riders I'm tending to follow what I said. All the best for the new year.

[@edlaverack]

Very well put Marcus, and I think even more so nowadays as many "new" cyclists discover cycling through riding indoors rather than out.

[@marcus_velo_9970]

@@edlaverack yes true; why don't you come out and do Peaks Challenge in 2025, good project for you - the guy from TrainerRoad is doing it Johnathan Lee. Would love to see the Welsh man smacking out the climbs.😀😀

[@TheFloridaBikeVlogger]

another banger of a flik mate!

[@matskelton9589]

Wise words 👌

[@anthonybennett6089]

This maybe weird, but I actually enjoy riding zone 2. It gives me a chance to clear my head from work related issues and enjoy the outdoors. However, the one issue I have is, with a relatively modest FTP of 260, my zone 2 sits between 143-195w. Even if I ride out on flat terrain, I find it incredibly difficult to complete a 3-to-4-hour ride at an IF (intensity factor) of 70% while staying in that zone 2 range. I normally need to ride upper zone 2 to lower zone 3 which I am guessing is actually classified as tempo. Interestingly, if I do a zone 2 endurance ride indoors on Zwift its quite easy to sit in zone 2, at least for a couple of hours before boredom takes over. I am guessing the reason it’s difficult outdoors is because we need to take into account the stop and go you encounter while out on the road. Do people factor this in to their training plans i.e. adjust their target intensity?

[@martincburns]

Why do you need to ride higher than 195w? Brief spikes over 195w doesn't ruin your ride. Power should only be part of the equation anyway, RPE and HR / Talk Test are just as important. Zone 2 should feel easy -> comfortable. If you can't stay in Z2 on hills get more gears. I swapped from a 30 cassette to a 34 for a trip to Tenerife earlier in the year and left it on as it's great to have easy options for doing outdoor rides at low intensities.

[@anthonybennett6089]

@@martincburns Try lugging 80kg up a 4% gradient at anything above walking pace 😉. I have a 34-tooth cassette, but it doesn’t really help. To be honest, most of the climbs I encounter only require me to sit at about 230w for a minute or two. I think the problem I have is that I am looking to maintain an average power over the entire duration of my ride at around 182w. If I stop for traffic or to negotiate a small village, it drags my average down. As you say, perhaps I just need to equate my effort to RPE rather than trying to match my planned workout in Training Peaks.

[@martincburns]

I’m also 80kg 😁 just gotta slow down for the climbs and accept you won’t be going quick 😅

[@richardmiddleton7770]

OK, a few things that may help here. What is your small chainring size? I swapped mine for a 34 so I now have 54/34 chainset, this allows me to stay in zone 2 power range even on hilly rides. Sometimes I'm still down to 50 rpm to keep the power down on steep climbs. If your FTP is 260 I wouldn't go anywhere near 195w on a zone 2 ride unless it's only 1-2hrs. Doing a lab lactate test to determine your true LT1 is the only real way to know though. Another thing I interpreted you were saying is you're trying to keep average power at zone 2? This is not the way to do it, your average power should and will be lower than your targeted zone 2 power. For example, my LT1 is 190w so I try to stay around 180w but my average will come out around 165w.

[@edlaverack]

Be careful, I wouldn't worry about the average power being dragged down by traffic etc, because the important bit is that you do what you can around those moments.

[@kon1402]

Everything you mentioned relates to sport psychology.

[@johnthebiker300]

I was going to order a mug advertised at £8.77. Goes to checkout and it is then £11.02 + £0.47 handling and £4.50 postage. Over £15. Gave it a miss.

[@edlaverack]

Cheers John, ive only just set it up, appreciate the feedback but I’ll take a look at the price breakdown and see what I can change👍🏼

[@zebeddy]

Can I ask Ed, when in zone 2, do you use heart rate or power as your metric for effort please? I've been strongly advised in both directions and am so confused. 🤕 It seems a very 'it has to be done this way' by so many cyclists which would be fine if they all agreed...but half say one, the other half say the other and both say they are right

[@MichaelBoogerd]

i'd expect the most effective is both... with both you can ride in middle of Z2 power range and take advantage of tracking HR:Power measurements like decoupling. The longer it takes for the decoupling to occur the fitter the rider.

[@edlaverack]

Yes, both. HR isn't always a metric that can help you right now but when you look back on the data in a few weeks or months or sometimes years you can learn a lot. I too, get discouraged when I hear people have conflicting views but the chances are they are both right in their own way. The best thing to do is to take the advice, trial it yourself and see what works for you :)

[@gavinsmith1176]

Having fun is important, it can make the time spin by - and I need to apologise to the Festive 500 50km 2.2 10am ride today, sorry for the jokes, bants, stupid chat, I was SOOOOO bored. It actually felt like turbo riding in the 1990s

[@andrepohlann]

As soon as I ride above or at LT1 it is no longer borring. Strangely. I can go for 100k and time flies. If I go in real zone 2 the 100k are maybe 15min longer but it feels like days.

[@MichaelBoogerd]

Zone 2 ride targets - - tracking HR decoupling, challenging to ride as much % of the ride in pure Z2, on flipside, limit the % of ride in Z3+, if using just HR keep below LT1 for whole ride.

[@edlaverack]

Love it!

[@nagasava8439]

👍

[@DannyColetrup]

A little off topic but what’s your opinion on using your best bike on the turbo trainer carbon DI2 VS buying a cheap one specifically to keep on there?

[@edlaverack]

I use an older bike on the turbo, mainly because of sweat and having to take the bike on and off. Only because I had an old bike laying around doing nothing though!

[@neilmckenna236]

A group ride just doesn't work for a Z2 effort. More than likely you are in Z1 sitting on and Z3 on the front.

[@edlaverack]

Yes, it might not work for a constant Z2 effort but you can still opt to ride at the front at that effort. From what I've learnt group rides can have many benefits.

[@alexbonzi]

What’s the joke about die hard being the best film to have come out of wales about? Was hoping someone would pick up on it in the comments but have not seen anything so far

[@Jeromewhite123]

It's more a play on words... Dai (pronounced die) is commonly a shortened name for people called David or Dafydd in Wales.

[@alexbonzi]

@ is ‘Hard’ a fairly common Welsh last name? Not necessary for the joke but would tie it all up nicely if so 😏