Time in Zone 1 (Recovery <55% FTP)

Training
1

Hello,

i have a question… how much time in Zone 1 (Recovery <55% FTP) do you find is wasted time?

Here are my totals of 2021 till now, and i find i spend a lot of time in Zone 1 (by an average of 8,6 hours a week).
But this is not because I’m explicit doing Recovery Rides. This is time from rest and recovery between intervals and maybe easy pedalling in warmups befor races. And of course riding downhill with no pedaling.

I’m finding 30% of my riding time is very very much! Do you think someone should try to do at least were it’s possible to ride above 55% FTP in Endurance Zone 2 let’s say at 60% FTP so you’re not “wasting” as much time in Zone 1?

1

What are your Zone 1 Times?
Would be of interest for me :slight_smile:
Thanks.

2

It depends on your workouts in the week.
When you do a vo2max block (or periodized model) you will have a high % in Z1 for the rest periods. But when you are in the base period with a lot of endurance rides, your Z1 have to be a lot lower (maybe around 10%). When you ride every week a criterium you will also have a higher Z1 % because of a lot coasting before corners etc. So look what your goal is for the workout and avoid coasting during endurance z2/z3 rides.

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3

To be fair, thats a good numbers. It goes into the model 80% easy (z1+z2), 20% hard (rest of the zones)

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4

80% easy is not 30% in Z1. Easy is all around LT1. Avoid to much in z1 (execpt interval workouts and recovery rides)