Heard a great quote from Nico Roche before and it mostly rings true. At the very least it’s a quote to keep in the back of the mind.
“Don’t go hungry on the bike and don’t eat too much off it!”
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Thanks for taking the time to spell that out, will consider what you said 
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I have found that I need to fuel even for endurance rides, especially indoors. Even feeling slightly hungry saps the motivation of indoor rides massively. One hour not too long after having eaten is fine without, but like 1 hour after work when lunch was at 12, suddenly becomes tough. One bar per hour on a 2 or 3 hour ride on the weekend indoors? Hell. I know you say it’s individual, but I think this can appear subconsciously, you aren’t bonking, not even feeling hungry perhaps, but underneath it’s there.
Sorry guys , i dont get it. abou decopling HR( i thought no decoupling is a good thing for a Z2) , should there be some hr decoupling?
Generally speaking, the lower the HR drift relative to a constant power, the better your aerobic endurance. Under 5% decoupling for steady state endurance rides is considered aerobically efficient for that effort.
My 2c:
- I find it better to use HR as guide than power on endurance rides. True, HR is influenced by a lot of factors other than session effort (fatigue, temperature, etc.), but that’s actually a good thing. It is more “honest” about how hard you are going.
- Absolutely agree with comments about carbs. Anything over 1hour is a good rule of thumb to take in carbs. Not only does it impact your recovery, it also impacts the quality of the session.
I would add to monitor breathing. It has been shown that the breathing effort correlates much closer to metabolic expenditure. You could have a long ride where HR won’t go up, kind of stable, but your breathing always climbs with increased intensity.
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The lungs never lie
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A good sign is if decoupling is <5% over a 3 hour ride. Once that’s achieved you can increase intensity or move to the next block of your training plan.
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