I was told that it pays better to do a couple weeks of VO2max followed by a couple weeks FTP. The VO2max first raises the ceiling and then your FTP sessions can have better effect to raise your treshold. Since then, I stopped mixing those 2 types of workouts in the same period.
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I feel and think the same as you, but he got strong as f****!!! Don’t understand where the strength came from…
Thanks mate!!! Will do that this year then 
Zone 1 is the new Zone 2 but only when you’re in competition phase! Base and Build you should still zone 2.
That’s not quite what the data are showing.
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Strength came from training intensity, if you want to perform at your best in a short period of time, train intensity, the problem is that form goes quickly if you don’t have a well trained aerobic base.
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In my example of the 90/10, it’s speaks to the 25 hour week, which is not a beginner’s level of weekly duration.
Chris Carmichael, in his book on training as a time crunched cyclist, he says that one cannot simply halve the plan of a pro’s plan.
Note: I don’t have his book, so can’t quote him exactly.
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Howie the post you posted says “countdown to a major competition”. Usually they do zone 1 rides when they’re between competitions or when approaching a major one. Before that they just go zone 2. Just my opinion. I don’t read an article about endurance since 3/4 months ago, maybe I’m wrong
In my opinion it is essential to start from how many hours a week you can train. I have athletes who don’t have many hours and in that case the polarized is theory. The base of the polarized is however low intensity but high volume, otherwise you risk losing performance
Actually, Dr Seiler has said repeatedly that there’s no floor. IOW, you can’t make up for volume via intensity.
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Exactly, and I would add that duration is also important - not just intensity.
A session with some easy tempo could be considered “easy” if it’s kept short, long sub-threshold intervals will be “hard” if they leave you exhausted.
It’s the in-between sessions that should be avoided, the ones that leave you tired but with not enough stress to stimulate an improvement.
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For some Clarity - this is all talking about HR zones and not Power Zones or Pace Zones correct? Because I see comments mixing HR and then some references to Power (eg: SS etc)
The Seilers Zones are Heart Rate. I’ve not used this before, but i’ve had good success w/ the Maffetone method, tho i didn’t do any high HR sessions and thus faltered at the initial stages of a race.
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Correct. The three intensity zones are attempting to delineate the physiological systems in the body.
In regards to power and the five zone model, the underlying aim is to identify the power that a person can typically generate at the various physiological levels.
If anyone else is looking for an app that is able to support HR Based workouts. (using HR to control the indoor trainer and control it’s power to maintain HR)
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FYI: TrainerRoad often gave me something like 3 x 5 x (1 min 120–140 %, 1 min recovery) with a few minutes between sets.
Is actually really easy to recover from, compared to, e.g., 5 x 3 or 4 x 4…
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Increasing VO2max is even induced by long endurance rides…
I am not sure there is even any clear derivation on how “functional VO2max” (110–120 % FTP) is especially effective in increasing physiological VO2max – compared to “hard work” in other functional regimes.
Even the Seiler 4 x 4 vs. 4 x 8 vs. 4 x 16 results go into that direction…
There’s also the heart-rate to VO2max relationships, e.g., DOI: 10.1007/s00421-003-0988-y, which essentially "predict“ that increasing VO2max is largely equivalent to lowering HR_rest.
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To increase VO2 Max you have to increase utilisation in the working muscles. It’s no good being able to push more oxygen in the blood with each heart beat if it can’t get to the working muscles.
- Thus you have central adaptions, changes in the heart etc.
- You have biochemical changes (more red blood cells etc)
- Then changes at the muscle, more capillaries, more efficient mitochondria etc.
Then the question for your workouts, if you want to increase maximal oxygen uptake, is what helps deliver what and over what timescale?
Clearly the low intensity volume is as important if not more so, than high intensity, if you are to maximise your VO2 max potential. But the low intensity work can take months if not years for clear improvements to be seen.
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As to the Z1/Z2 and Z2/Z3 boundaries I think it’s easy to overthink it. Probably because pushing boundaries tends to be what us amateurs do. The pros tend to be further away from the boundaries.
Keep easy sessions easy and hard sessions at hard as you can is a good maxim. I find RPE is a good measure to tune into to decide if you are pitching your workouts in the right ball park.
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@Coach_Ron
Could I get a copy of the 3-Zone / 7-Zone spreadsheets from the thread " Mapping 7 Zone to 3 Zone Model Wrt Polarized Training
Regards