I would disagree with this personally. 2 hours at 70% I don’t think I’d ever classify as “easy.” 50%…easy. 60%… maybe. But 70% no way. Moderate maybe. And that’s FTP based off a recent race effort of a little over an hour. So I don’t think my FTP is too high. I’m not saying it isn’t doable multiple times a week and it is a good endurance ride, but it’s not easy.
5 Likes
Borg scale, from a Dr Coggan article on TrainingPeaks https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/power-training-levels/
on Garmin devices:
Chad said 3-4 RPE for a 2 hour 70% ride, and I agree as someone with 3 years doing a LOT of those rides.
RPE of 3-4 is moderate to somewhat hard. Are you really disagreeing with that? Or were you thinking of another rating scale?
3 Likes
Hey there!
When it comes to your POL zones, recall that Dr. Stephen Seiler has defined them as Zone 1 ranging from 50%-79% of FTP, Zone 2 at 80%-99%, and Zone 3 at 100% or above.
Even in the research literature, however, definitions for each zone can vary, and it’s important to keep in mind that how lactate or ventilatory thresholds correlate with percentages of VO2max power or FTP will vary from individual to individual.
If ~0.70 IF feels a bit too fatiguing for you and it impacts your harder training sessions, don’t feel obligated to stay pegged at 0.70. Zone 1 in POL training goes down to 50% of FTP, and if going a little easier on your endurance rides helps you feel fresher for your high-intensity days, then it sounds like doing so would be the right move for you!
Your Progression Levels will vary depending on where you are currently at with your fitness. If Adaptive Training is serving you 2 hour Z2 rides that are at Workout Levels 5.6-5.9, then it’s because you’ve proven to Adaptive Training that those rides are what you’re capable of at the moment.
Ultimately, though, AT is there to guide your training, and it can provide better workouts for you based on your own subjective feedback given through post-workout surveys. It’s also important to reflect on how you yourself are feeling each day, and again, if 0.70 IF rides are too much for a given day, there’s nothing wrong with dialing things back for your more important structured sessions. Workout Alternates can be a great tool to use in these cases.
Hope this info helps! Feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.
3 Likes
Yeah, I admit my use of “easy” may be a poor choice of words in that instance. I based in on the OP statement that read “…far from easy” and was leaning into that a bit too much.
I do think the 2-Moderate TR survey, 3-4 RPE (that I pulled from the Coggan / Training Peaks page) is more appropriate in general terms.
2 Likes
for clarity, i almost always describe my z2 work at 0.7IF as moderate in the survey unless its at 0.6 IF when i usually reply as easy. we should bear in mind that with a 10 - 15 min warm up and 5 min easy spin down, the bulk of work period can be closer to 0.75 IF. regardless, more isn’t always better.
2 Likes
Yea, moderate to somewhat hard. Not easy like he said.
1 Like
I think we’re on the same page then. And it’s probably semantics really on what one person would call easy vs another. Just like I’ve never in my training history done a VO2 max workout that was anything less than “very hard” or “all out” using the TR rating system. Easy to me is a recovery ride or coffee shop spin. 70% FTP is at least moderate. They’re also the most mentally demanding for me on the trainer. Mental RPE for indoor Z2 is like a 9/10.
1 Like