Hello everyone,i am looking for some help:
1.If I only have about two hours a day to train, how should I arrange it? Is the 2-hour ZONE2 effect good？It would be more effective to do ZONE 3 or sweet zone training instead？I am consciously moving towards polarized training now, but due to insufficient training time, I am not sure how effective it will be.
2.About interval training，There are four things I know,110%ftp，8minx4；120%ftp，3minx8；40/20 and 30/30(i dont konw the difference these two).If I want to improve my climbing ability, which one should I pay more attention to?
Thank you for your help
Do you mean 2 hours ‘every day’? 14 hours per week? That would be a lot compared to most around here… And to tolerate that much load, you would need a big cycling history of several years. I’m not saying that it is impossible, but given your question, I doubt that you have that much experience in cycling.
Z2 work delivers effect from 80-90min on and more. How long you want/need, will depend on your target events.
The interval training workouts you talk about are all supra-threshold and VO2max oriented. You could do one of them weekly to raise FTP and/or VO2max but sustained climbing is typically done below FTP. A second weekly hard workout to address that would be High Tempo (Z3) or SweetSpot where you progress from 3*10min for example to one straight 90min block.
If you really do 2 hours every day, those 2 hard sessions will create more then enough high intensity, all other days should be low intensity. Vary low Z2 and high Z2 and take one complete off-day to ensure enough recovery.
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My current plan is to have one day of high-intensity training, two days of low-intensity training, and then take a day off after three days of training, followed by a cycle like this.
My main question is about low-intensity training days, and I only have about two hours a day，Should I also engage in Zone 2 training, or switch to Zone 3 or Sweet spot? Because I understand that Zone 2 should last for more than 4 hours to have good results, otherwise it’s better to switch to Zone 3 or something else. I don’t know if this viewpoint is correct.
So if I want to improve my climbing ability, should I pay more attention to training near FTP? Because I understood the advantages of polarization training, my interval training workouts are all supra-threshold and VO2max oriented.
With 6 days a week of training and 2 higher intensity sessions, you should stick to Z2 for the 4 other sessions. As said, they have to be at least 80-90 minutes to be effective but you need to consider that 90 minute sessions will not prepare you in the best way if you want to do events that last longer then 4-5 hours. You will go a long way with those 2 hour Z2 sessions if you do 4 of them per week. But try to do 2 to 3 really long rides in the 2 to 6 weeks before a long event. That will boost your tolerance for long hours in the saddle. And no, you can’t make up for that by riding in Z3 because it will wear you out and performance will degrade because of fatigue.
I have no idea how far you are away from your first event but if that includes long climbs, I would advice you to switch at least one of the VO2 sessions for a Threshold or SweetSpot session. That’s way more specific to what you’re after then the VO2 sessions.
You seem to have some knowledge on Polarized, but keep in mind that the easy/hard difference does not necessarily mean that you only have to do Z2 and supra-threshold. It all depends on your goals and the training period you’re in. The threshold/sweetspot session I’m proposing, is the perfect high intensity training for what you want to improve (climbing) and can absolutely be classified as a high intensity session.
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Thank you very much for your suggestion。 