Interesting discussion. I do shorter and harder in the winter. Because I'm either indoors or its cold outside. In summer I ride longer and steadier. And get my intensity from racing. When I was a teenager I rode with a local cycing club. They had a small-ring until Easter policy. Yikes. Couldn't do that now.
Really enjoyed this chat, so right, it depends on lots of things, as you mentioned, the individual, what their goal is and how much time they have. Some great advice out there on the net but as with everything, it can be conflicting, from an age group triathlete perspective, as Joe Friel states it is all about your goals and planning, for me if I haven't got those in place then what's my why? That includes type of racing, sprint olympic, middle, long, which will dictate the type of training. Training in your aerobic zone you can become more efficient and help build strength and muscle if you include a strength programme along side it.
I keep some sort of 'intensity' all year. Tuesday eve time trials become zwift races in the winter. Sundays normally a long ride all year, just gets quite a lot longer when I'm getting nearer to events for specificity. I did once do just zone 2 in winter with some really big hours and it was very mentally challenging. I'll be sticking with my mix. Got to enjoy it to keep doing it long term.
For me personally, I only ride in zone 2 for longer rides (3 hours plus) which I try to achieve once per week. However, I don't always get the longer ride in due to life commitments etc. Also, if the longer ride happens to be the club ride, it's a smash fest. So it's all a bit inconsistent really. I'm just an amateur triathlete trying to enjoy my cycling / training and I don't put too much pressure on it. However, weekly interval sessions on the bike are an absolute must for me. At least 2 per week. Those keep me fit / sharp and everything else is a bonus.
I train on average about 8 hrs a week. I see no point in base training at this volume. I just do two interval sessions a week, the rest zone 2. Recovery weeks are good enough to shed the fatigue. If I ever did a base period it would be short and to get the legs going after some time off, or if I wanted to extend out the volume and work on my endurance for longer rides. I'd %100 be detraining if I did only 8 hrs of zone 2 for a while. After watching that Lanterne Rouge podcast the other day one of the coaches from Visma said that even pros are doing Fatmax/low tempo intervals at the beginning and introduce VO2/Anaerobic not long after. So even they aren't really doing exclusively zone 2 as base either. Makes even less sense at lower volumes.
@mintymilkk that isn't my understanding of this topic. Base training is a training distribution of almost exclusively zone 1/zone 2 with very little interval training. Usually with a very large volume of it. Pro cyclists do zone 2 year around but it isn't referred to as "base training." Intervals.icu has me listed at pyramidal most of the time or polarized when I focus on more VO2. Never base.
Nice chat. Sadly my busy season of work will be doing that time. Back when I got my indoor trainer I used to stare at y Garmin or the wall. No music besides beeps from Garmin. No movies.. Did that for up to 4 hours then got into sufferfest videos before it was on trainerroad. Then with trainerroad. Then zwift beta then I forgot what else I used. Oh magic roads where it would grab and old fit file and change your workout to that file.
Interesting discussion. I do shorter and harder in the winter. Because I'm either indoors or its cold outside. In summer I ride longer and steadier. And get my intensity from racing. When I was a teenager I rode with a local cycing club. They had a small-ring until Easter policy. Yikes. Couldn't do that now.
Shorter and harder in winter isn’t a bad solution 👌 Small ring only rules do still exist! 🙈
Great video guys, certainly making me rethink my winter training
Really enjoyed this chat, so right, it depends on lots of things, as you mentioned, the individual, what their goal is and how much time they have. Some great advice out there on the net but as with everything, it can be conflicting, from an age group triathlete perspective, as Joe Friel states it is all about your goals and planning, for me if I haven't got those in place then what's my why? That includes type of racing, sprint olympic, middle, long, which will dictate the type of training. Training in your aerobic zone you can become more efficient and help build strength and muscle if you include a strength programme along side it.
I keep some sort of 'intensity' all year. Tuesday eve time trials become zwift races in the winter. Sundays normally a long ride all year, just gets quite a lot longer when I'm getting nearer to events for specificity. I did once do just zone 2 in winter with some really big hours and it was very mentally challenging. I'll be sticking with my mix. Got to enjoy it to keep doing it long term.
For me personally, I only ride in zone 2 for longer rides (3 hours plus) which I try to achieve once per week. However, I don't always get the longer ride in due to life commitments etc. Also, if the longer ride happens to be the club ride, it's a smash fest. So it's all a bit inconsistent really. I'm just an amateur triathlete trying to enjoy my cycling / training and I don't put too much pressure on it. However, weekly interval sessions on the bike are an absolute must for me. At least 2 per week. Those keep me fit / sharp and everything else is a bonus.
I train on average about 8 hrs a week. I see no point in base training at this volume. I just do two interval sessions a week, the rest zone 2. Recovery weeks are good enough to shed the fatigue. If I ever did a base period it would be short and to get the legs going after some time off, or if I wanted to extend out the volume and work on my endurance for longer rides. I'd %100 be detraining if I did only 8 hrs of zone 2 for a while. After watching that Lanterne Rouge podcast the other day one of the coaches from Visma said that even pros are doing Fatmax/low tempo intervals at the beginning and introduce VO2/Anaerobic not long after. So even they aren't really doing exclusively zone 2 as base either. Makes even less sense at lower volumes.
the zone 2 you do is base training...
@mintymilkk that isn't my understanding of this topic. Base training is a training distribution of almost exclusively zone 1/zone 2 with very little interval training. Usually with a very large volume of it. Pro cyclists do zone 2 year around but it isn't referred to as "base training." Intervals.icu has me listed at pyramidal most of the time or polarized when I focus on more VO2. Never base.
Nice chat. Sadly my busy season of work will be doing that time.
Back when I got my indoor trainer I used to stare at y Garmin or the wall. No music besides beeps from Garmin. No movies.. Did that for up to 4 hours
then got into sufferfest videos before it was on trainerroad. Then with trainerroad. Then zwift beta then I forgot what else I used. Oh magic roads where it would grab and old fit file and change your workout to that file.
All my fitness leaves the chat during winter 😂😂
Haha you and me both mate 🤣
Base is not just for Christmas!
Unless you are doing 15 + Don’t bother doing zone 2 . Just ride till you can see Jesus Christ.
Hahaha love this 🤣