I went to my history and so far i am more or less in a 5 day week with 45 minutes each. So i think i should adept quite fast. My recovery values are quite high recently and this i what i can feel.
Some small “issue” to to discuss: My HR Sensor needs some time, 5-10 Minutes to adept to the exercise and delivery accurate readings.
Therefore, i think i would need to make a short warm up in Z1. Do you see any issues with that?
And how i know that i adapt to the 7Day per Week training?
Oh you are doing 5 now, so 7 should be easy for you, if you want you can even start with 45m/day if you prefer since you are doing 5/45 now. HR+mode in our app raises very slowly, it takes almost 10 minutes usually for it to go up, but for sure you can start with slope mode if you want or ERG, or just try HR+ either at 120 or lower 100… any warmup you want. Try to get your HR to raise slowly to 120.
If you really want to take this to the extreme, try to do it fasted. Zone 2 should really be called “FatMax” it’s a better description. It’s the point at which your body uses the most fat as fuel and this is the most efficient way long term to get aerobic adaptions to occur in your body. High intensity like HIIT will do this as well but it causes different adaptions.
Sounds good to me - i think 45 minutes are fine including the warmup so until i am at 120 bpm my sensor is also accurate and this should be totally fine.
The 2nd part i don’t understand completely, what do you mean with fasted?
Lower resting HR is not a goal, it’s a longterm outcome of a better cardiovascular system. If you look at it as a goal, do HIIT everyday and within a week or 2 it will be lower. Not because you are in better shape but because of fatigue and overreaching. Not what you want!
Higher HRV is not a goal either. The differences you are seeing in those three months are almost surely the result of the fact that HRV follows seasons. If you have multiple years of HRV data, you will see that there’s a clear wave pattern that comes back year after year. When it comes to HRV, what you’re looking for is stability, whatever your avg value is.
Your goals should be to increase cardiovascular fitness by progressively moving more and more at low/moderate intensity, eat and sleep better, reduce stress (be it family/work/activity related). Spice it up with some fun hard stuff that makes you feel good and enjoy. Do anything you can to minimize sickness and injury, that’s a really good starting point.
Thank you, you are totally right, thats what i understood meanwhile.
I actually got years of HRV Data and i cannot confirm this trend. But this is most likely because i undergo several surgeries with resting times afterwards which destroyed any gains.
So or so, i want to stabilize it and maintain on higher levels.
With my immune system i have to admit i am very happy. I am almost never sick due to flu or colds.
For managing stress is do meditations and lots of breath work.
That’s great. So we can see clearly from 20-30 minutes you see to be at 87w. Seeing that go up, can be very inspirational. I would not be surprised if we could not see that at 125w or more at some point. This means serious cardiovascular / aerobic improvement. This would be a very healthy and sound goal. That might come from a combination of zone 2 and higher intensity but most likely zone 2 will make the biggest contribution.
Also you asked how to know if you are over doing it.
HRV starts going down from your normal healthy, rested baseline.
Waking up in the night from excess cortisol and struggling to get back to sleep.
Other slightly odd behaviors, more irritated, more tired… If you are doing this right, you should feel more energy not less.
Any new aches or pains…
Just pay attention to all signs of your body. If you are going from 5 days a week of intensity to 7 days a week of zone 2, I highly doubt you will have additional stress and would not be surprised if you don’t start feeling even better, although possibly in a little less shape.
You got it. You are an official Zone 2 guy now Let’s hope and assume it does exactly what it should. If you can try some fasted rides do it. If you ever want to read about the health benefits of this and how it can work just read Maffetone’s big book. It’s more running focused but presents the ideas perfectly and makes you realize the health value associated with this approach. And it does not mean your whole year needs to be all low intensity, just first you want a monster base and then the intensity will round out your fitness.
You already got a lot of information. I would like to add to this that you need periodise. So build up the duration in a couple of weeks, then start over again, but at a slightly longer duration or a little bit more power. Every three months you take a break of one week and do some entirly different or only 3 days at a very low intensity.
Usually I agree with you but in this case I think your new laptop is fogging your brain Right now essentially going on a glorified walk everyday focused on heart health. At 120bpm, he could do this zone 2 forever 7 days a week. But yes once he starts adding some intensity he needs to get a bit more complicated and decide where he goes from there.
As you know I am a strong believer in periodization for performance cyclists. This situation is more nuanced. Some people do easy runs everyday for 20 years, 30, 50… and more. As you see in the netherlands people ride their bikes everyday until they are in their 90s or 100+ I assume. For him we just need to see what resonates first.
I can see how my answer set you (and maybe others) off on the wrong foot. The three days are combined with 2 interval trainings and at aerobic threshold for several hours.
For me, for instance, I could ride forever at 125-130 bpm. But at 146 (aerobic threshold), several hours is heavy.
I agree with you that only moderate zone 2 could be done daily and forever, although even then, a little break or change of activities would be healthy every now and then.
Been reading this thread with interest. In his screenshot, Abrams was riding at 120 bpm as suggested, but his setup shows this to be Z1, not Z2. Actual percent max is 120/183 = 66%, so is it a case of his settings needing adjustment, or is his session a Z1 ride?
That is the problem is Zone 2 is not really Zone 2… Meaning there are a lot of definitions of Zone 2…
Zone 2 power. Zone 2 hr ,Coggan Zones / Friel Zones / Maffetone Zones / Seilers zones… personal zone definitions…
In this case we are defining it as below his estimated anaerobic threshold (and keeping it on the safe side). But yes if he wanted that graph/app (garmin?) to match the definition we are discussing he should change his zone ranges the it would be more clear.
by accident i posted the follow up in a wrong thread.
You can follow up here:
Like @Alex said, power zone 2 is not equal to heart rate zone.
My findings so far with the PZ2 Training:
Slowly raising HRV, slowly lowering RHR.
My HR Zone up there has changed already, since Whoop calculate them based on Max HR and HRR (heart rate reserve) HRR results out of: Max HR - RHR = HRR.
Therefore, lowering RHR increase the HRR which lower the entry level for the different HR Zones also.
Before i started cycling, my HR Zone 4 started at 166 BPM now its starting 161 BPM.
This is an observation, i honestly have no idea if its good or bad but it feels good!
Let’s hope and assume it does exactly what it should. If you can try some fasted rides do it. If you ever want to read about the health benefits of this and how it can work just read Maffetone’s big book. It’s more running focused but presents the ideas perfectly and makes you realize the health value associated with this approach. And it does not mean your whole year needs to be all low intensity, just first you want a monster base and then the intensity will round out your fitness.