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.
I feel and think the same as you, but he got strong as f****!!! Donât understand where the strength came fromâŚ
Thanks mate!!! Will do that this year then
Zone 1 is the new Zone 2 but only when youâre in competition phase! Base and Build you should still zone 2.
Thatâs not quite what the data are showing.
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 donât have a well trained aerobic base.
In my example of the 90/10, itâs speaks to the 25 hour week, which is not a beginnerâs 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 proâs plan.
Note: I donât have his book, so canât quote him exactly.
Howie the post you posted says âcountdown to a major competitionâ. Usually they do zone 1 rides when theyâre between competitions or when approaching a major one. Before that they just go zone 2. Just my opinion. I donât read an article about endurance since 3/4 months ago, maybe Iâm wrong
In my opinion it is essential to start from how many hours a week you can train. I have athletes who donât 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 thereâs no floor. IOW, you canât make up for volume via intensity.
Exactly, and I would add that duration is also important - not just intensity.
A session with some easy tempo could be considered âeasyâ if itâs kept short, long sub-threshold intervals will be âhardâ if they leave you exhausted.
Itâs the in-between sessions that should be avoided, the ones that leave you tired but with not enough stress to stimulate an improvement.
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. Iâve not used this before, but iâve had good success w/ the Maffetone method, tho i didnât do any high HR sessions and thus faltered at the initial stages of a race.
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 itâs power to maintain HR)
FYI: TrainerRoad often gave me something like 3 x 5 x (1 min 120â140 %, 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 4âŚ
Increasing VO2max is even induced by long endurance ridesâŚ
I am not sure there is even any clear derivation on how âfunctional VO2maxâ (110â120 % FTP) is especially effective in increasing physiological VO2max â compared to âhard workâ in other functional regimes.
Even the Seiler 4 x 4 vs. 4 x 8 vs. 4 x 16 results go into that directionâŚ
Thereâs also the heart-rate to VO2max relationships, e.g., DOI: 10.1007/s00421-003-0988-y, which essentially "predictâ that increasing VO2max is largely equivalent to lowering HR_rest.
To increase VO2 Max you have to increase utilisation in the working muscles. Itâs no good being able to push more oxygen in the blood with each heart beat if it canât 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.
As to the Z1/Z2 and Z2/Z3 boundaries I think itâs 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.
@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