I love the squats analogy 
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I did almost all Z2 aerobic threshold riding for 4 months last winter. I could go like 7-10 days in a row before I started feeling fatigue and needing a day off.
In the spring I did a short block of tempo leading into sweet spot leading into a few threshold workouts. I capped it off with a block of hard start VO2max intervals and I hit at all time high FTP by the end of July.
I honestly did hardly any tempo/SS/threshold workouts. With the VO2max workouts I was dead after just three workouts in the first block. I took and rest and then did another 2 week block.
It was probably not the most efficient training plan but it worked.
I’m doing more tempo/SS this winter plus the Z2 and want to be battle ready by April/May.
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This is similar to me and I hope I get the same results as you.
I did a SST progression last winter, got burned out/fed up by Jan and just rode around a lot. Went really well to mid year and felt great in a few GFs I did. Spent all the 2nd half of the year on z2 work, with just a few harder efforts, but admittedly saw my FTP drop 20w.
My last 2 months has been lots of increasingly long tempo efforts and shortly will switch to a block of threshold, then a block of vo2 and then a block of a slightly different mix of intensity, all with several z2 rides per week as well. Fingers crossed that late April will have me flying for Liege-Bastogne-Liege and then I can solidify that for some mult-day events in the summer.
No doubt the z2 work has a big impact on endurance but also fat ultilisation and ‘building the engine’ ready for the fine tuning.
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How long were those rides?
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Usually 60-75 minutes at a time - occasionally 90 minutes.
Edit - I only ride 7-8 hours per week during the winter. I just can’t bear 2-3+ hour rides on the trainer. Every week or two it warms up and I get outside for a real ride and I’ll go longer.
I am trying more frequent and longer workouts this winter. I’m doing double days by tossing in extra 30-40 minute mini rides. I just did my first “workout” yesterday, 3x20min at tempo. My legs are fried today. We’ll see how it goes.
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If you’re holding time training per week constant, then I don’t see how only doing z2 will beat a more structured approach with higher intensities unless you’re overtraining with the intensity.
If you are trying to compare more hours with z2 only vs less hours w more intensity, I don’t see how you can attribute the differences in outcomes to the intensity or the duration.
I train 8-10hpw year round and always keep some intensity in each week. Maybe I’d do more z2 one week and less intensity if I need to freshen up, but I wouldn’t do it thinking it’ll break me through a fitness plateau (while holding trading hpw constant).
I’d recommend you do the SSB unless you need a mental break and/or to shed some fatigue / burnout while keeping the legs moving but freshening up. I wouldn’t do that for more than 1-3 weeks tho.
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That’s exactly what I am in the middle of right now. I went to all Z2, 4-5 times a week for a minimum of 2 hours per session. I’ve been doing that for a few weeks as I prepare for Sweet Spot phase. I did it to increase my weekly hours without being completely exhausted, discouraged, and just generally not primed for adding intensity at the higher volume. I retired last year and want to up my numbers a bit, so the first move was adding hours. Now that I’m getting used to the additional hours, I’ll add intensity.
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I think if you hold hours constant and switch to all z2 then I think you WILL see a lower FTP - thats what happened to me last year in Q2&3 despite doing plenty of weeks in 15-20hr ranges and averaging about 12-15 ish those months.
BUT, its what comes next that is where the magic happens. I also saw my W/HR increase in the z2/3 range. I honestly think that if I’d had the motivation to even include just one quality session per week then I wouldnt have seen any FTP drop, and thats exactly what I hope to do this year, maybe with a 2nd session for Q2 until my main events are done.
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That’s a good point, but I’m always wary of W/hr since hr becomes suppressed with fatigue. Hard to tell if it’s a lower hr at a given wattage due to fitness increase of cumulative fatigue.
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I only look at it on Intervals.icu as they can show W/HR over a full season, and really highlight any changes longer term. I’m not a big HR user but tend to track it just in case it shows anything weird and maybe suggests I need a rest etc.
Edit: I know a few people have talked about exclusive focus on z2 for periods, but I really dont think thats the point. Even just switching to 1 day a week of some intensity and simply enjoying the rest as easy z2 is a great way to go IMHO
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That’s smart. Great site too!
I would just be careful of looking into it too closely depending on seasonal temperature variation where you live. For me w/hr is ‘worse’ in the summer and ‘better’ in the winter. I’m guessing because of the temperatures outside and in my indoor training environment being higher in the summer and having higher average HR.
For me, the chart is of minimal to no use.
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Follow up for my own experiment with traditional base vs. Sweet Spot base.
The ramp test didn’t necessarily show and FTP improvement at the end of traditional base low volume part 2, which could be mostly due to a hard run the day before the assessment. Throughout the plan I’ve have energy to put into the running/ swimming/ lifting/ life. I’m also accepting adaptive training adaptations. Some workouts it thinks it wants to challenge me a bit more, but it’s balancing it with making other workouts easier. As a whole, I think it’s working out pretty well for me. I’m in traditional base low volume part 3 with AT right now. I plan to take a 2nd easy week at the end of this session and starting triathlon specific plans in March.
Again, I’m hoping the outcome is that I have truly a better base from the winter, and can build a higher threshold peak for my race events this summer. I think it’s working so far.
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