Polarised training and commutes

1

Hi,

A question regarding polarised training and how to Calculate rides into 80/20 plan.
If I train 5-6 x a week how would you divide the rides taking into account I also commute every work day 1h in total in Z1 pace.
Should I even count the commutes or are they outside of the plan?

As I understand it should be 2 x HIT + 3 x Z1 rides (including 1-2 long rides during weekend).

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Hi @Tonis_Tali,

My understanding is that the 80/20 rule should be taken on the sessions not the time in zones and so I would be inclined to use your commutes as part of the 80. As long as they are true low intensity rides then they should fit in well with a polarised training model.

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80/20 is indeed used for sessions, so 1 out of 5 sessions should be HIT. The other 4 should be LIT but keep in mind that the LIT S1 for Polarised is NOT Z1 from the 7-zone model! S1 Polarized means below VT1 and is definitely a higher intensity then the Recovery Z1 from the 7-zone model. S1 can be as high as low Z3.
If you calculate by time in zone, a 90-10 distribution can be used.
And there is also a lot of confusion about avoiding S2. The true intent of polarised is that one out of 5 training sessions is really hard and the rest is relatively easy. So you can do Sweetspot or Treshold sessions in the Polarised model but you have to make them long enough to almost go to failure.

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So far I’ve used Sweet spot plans from TR, but recently have moved towards polarised method as I feel it keeps me more fresh. I’ve done 2-3 HIT rides a week.
1 - higher intensity VO2 work (Tuesday)
2 - longer threshold intervals 8min+ 102% FTP (Wednesday)
3 - optional Lower intensity VO2 work (Saturday)

Rest of the week including commutes are Z1 rides. Shorter during week and longer at weekends.

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For those still doubting if they should use Time or Sessions when going the Polarized way. It also adresses the Z2 discussion…

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