Hi, I’ve just begun cycling this summer, and am now transitioning to indoor training. I basically created a base plan with coach jack, with the intent to do mostly zone 2 training this winter. My first ride was today, and I think I am misunderstanding when to use the heart rate - based training vs keeping it in erg mode. I watched your video on hr+, and have a good idea of where my z2 limit is (max hr of 183, 39year old male) - in the mid 120s or so. But when I started today’s exercise, I had to manually switch to hr mode, and the values were at 92bpm for each “interval” of the “lolygag 40 +cad” workout. Do I need to go into each workout and actually set the target heart rates, or should I keep it in erg mode?
Hi and welcome,
The Coach Jack plans don’t utilize this HR+ mode yet. I am a hard core believer in Maffetone and “True Zone 2” in general. Which that means spending a period of the year doing a true base. This means either you do only zone 2, or you monitor your progress of HR to power in these workouts and watch for progress, once you see progress you can start adding 1 workout a week of non-zone 2 and see if you still see progress for example.
Most people are not such strong believers in this low heart rate training so Coach Jack just offers Zone 2 power based workouts. For some people either would be fine and for others they can see definite benefits in HR based training. So it’s a personal decision for you. You can follow the regular Coach Jack workouts but on the days that say endurance or zone 2, just press the HR+ at the beginning of the workout and set your target HR and forget about it. You will see the power targets but they will be ignored.
Thanks for the quick reply! Sure, please feel free to make the question public.
Hi, nice that you started cycling.
Alex made some good points. He knows everything about the options within the program.
Let me provide you with a bit more background in the training part.
Power is absolute. It is always accurate and actual. The second you push the pedal down, that force is meassured and shown on your display. That is why most cyclist think this is the most important thing.
But power means nothing if you don’t know how to interprete it. There are many zones, but we can simplify things by using our two thresholds.
There is an aerobic threshold and an anaerobic threshold. Under aerobic threshold is where you will build endurance. Theoretically you an use this speed forever. The fatigue is very litlle.
Above anaerobic threshold is where you ride the fastest, but you will burn out in an hour or even minutes.
It is important to train both of these systems. You will need to do a lot of “zone 2” under aerobic threshold and only a small amount of “zone 4,5,6” above anaerobic threshold.
The problem is, that these zones shift. As you have probably noticed the models provide you with a very consistent patern in zones. 55-66, 65-75, etc.
In reality it is not like that. These zones are very personal, depending on your training and muslce type.
What you need to do is a test. You can do a FTP test to establish your threshold. If you choose the 20 minute test you will have your ftp power and the corresponding heart rate. It is not an easy test, but the more you will do this, the more reliable your result will be.
You will need to do an aerobic threshold test too. This is done using your breath. Slowly increase the power untill you can’t speak full sentences anymore. Check you corresponding heart rate (and power).
As your training progresses, so will the thresholds. For beginners they will change in weeks or months, for elite cyclists it will take a months or even a whole season.
Try to use slope mode too. It is important that you connect power, heart rate, breath and cadence and what that feels like so you can learn how to play with them.
Like Alex said: start with that zone 2 and slowly add some above threshold work, when you’re ready.
Make sure your training room is not to hot. That will raise your heart rate and will misplace your threshold.
Have lots of fun, Coach Robert
Thank you both for the informative responses. I’ve completed an FTP test provided in TD, and had some average/middling results. I’m planning to follow the generated Zone 2 Base Plan (which is essentially “lollygag”, “fard”, and “gazump”) for 8-12 weeks. Any thoughts on how long I should stay in this plan before switching to adding some threshold or other interval work?
Hi sorry for the delay. I like zone 2 as long as possible but eventually you will start going crazy and want more intensity. If you are coming from doing very little then longer is better but generally minimalists do about 8 weeks and typical is 12 to maybe 16 weeks.