Cycling Z1 and Z2: Keep Them Separate! Recovery vs. Endurance Rides

Original Post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaIlPhHxOJY

Many times athletes go out and mark their ride as "endurance", but they have 40% of time in Zone 1.  

Or, a ride goes out and SMASHES a group ride, has an average power in Zone 2, and calls it endurance. 

Meanwhile, there's 60% Zone 1!  

Zone 1 (less than 55% FTP) is recovery. 

Zone 2 (55% - 75% FTP) is endurance. 

 They serve different functions, so make sure you keep them separate.  

Take a look at some of Craig's rides. The pure endurance rides have massive chunks of Zone 2 work, a little z3, very little z4 or higher.  

Minimize your coasting and the zone 1 time. 

Try for less than 10% of z1 time (caveat: if you live in the mountains, COAST down steep hills. DO NOT KILL YOURSELF).  

At 2:38 Craig discusses a group ride with hard efforts. While he calls this a recovery ride, the big thing to note is that he's doing hard efforts earlier in the morning, so because of that ride alone, it's NOT a RECOVERY DAY; the evening ride is a less intense ride, but if there are hard efforts, it is NOT a recovery ride.  

Make sure you ride in the zones you're supposed to ride in!  

Email Craig with questions: CPolston@gmail.com