Quality over Quantity vs. 80/20 (or Chad vs. Matt ;))

[bbarrera]

@mcneese.chad

Yeah, I am guessing (reverse engineering) that my 88% HR Max listed on the 3-Zone model is from Dr. Seiler, when he defined the zones in the original FT podcast (ep 51?).

I took notes of episode 54:

Polarized Training Discussion (Fast Talk podcast & Flo Cycling podcast)

@mcneese.chad Out of curiosity I just listened to Fast Talk ep 54 and it was entirely about guidance on setting the 3 zones. With the benefit of never having listened to anything else about the 3 zone training model, I thought Dr. Seiler laid it out pretty simply: 6 min power for zone 3 top 60 min power for zone 3 bottom / zone 2 top roughly 80% of 60 min for zone 2 bottom / zone 1 top. That gets you in the ballpark, if its too high adjust down. Most of the rides will be 60% or 70% so there is…

only after considerable discussion did Dr Seiler give out HR %. I’d say reluctantly gave out HR %. For the reasons transcribed in my post.

My take aways from episode 62 podcast:

• stay tuned for 3 more episodes over the next year
• some people using 20 min ftp test protocol are using an ftp above true physiological threshold
• sweet spot has been proven effective
• Dr Seiler has a paper where athletes self-selected intensity of 4x16 intervals, which worked out to be 85% HRmax

At least for me, 85% HRmax is exactly what I see during TR sweet spot intervals.

If true physiological threshold is important to you and your training, then stop being lazy and do a 60 minute test.