Why bother with Zone 1?

[Philsybob]

I have limited time to train therefore I spend all my time (four sessions a week), in Zones 3, 4, and 5.

When you have limits on your time - is this the best use of time.

Typical model would be.

3 hours per week zone 3
2 hours per week zone 4 (16 k TT, and 2 x 20 95% FTP
1 hour per week zone 5 (4 x 4 mins)

3 weeks on, 1 week off.

Is this the best use of time? What would I gain from some zone 1 (and even zone 2 training). And is this extra time that I should be allocating?

Is there any science to support this. When I look at acoggans changes to the body table, it pretty well all happens in zone 3, 4 and 5.

By the way, I am only interested in 16-20 k TT's (Don't intend to do any 200k races).

 

[frenchyge]

Zone 1 is typically "recovery" intensity rather than a training zone that should be targeted.

 

[Philsybob]

Yes, I understand the supposed purpose of them - but do they work - is there any science to say that you will recover faster/better because you have gone out for a slow trundle opposed to sitting down and watching telly.

Or is the benefit literally just another few hours cycling - (because you can't actually do >10 odd hours of zone 3, 4 and 5.

So it comes back to the first question, when you have limited time to train, should you just spend it all in 3, 4 and 5?

Cheers

 

[Eden]

If I understand what my coach told me correctly you are making changes to your body by doing zone 1/2 work as well (I think more 2 than 1- I only get zone 1 work for recovery). My understanding is that base miles make you more efficient. Untrained you burn mostly carbs for energy even at lower intensities, working in zone 2 (aka LSD) trains your body to be more efficient and burn fats for energy rather than carbs and apparently your body won't make this change if you always to high intensity work. What does this give you? More endurance - which even if your races are relatively short will be to your advantage, because when you get to that sprint you will still have the energy and the power to put everything into it.

when I had my V02 done I also got a chart of how much fat vs carb I was burning - I was still burning mostly fats into zone 3, which I gather is good.

 

[rr9876]

Level 1 is typically used for recovery, not training...think of it as a poor man's massage.

Level 2 is a different story. Here you are working hard enough to stress your body and induce adaptations, so you are training. But the adaptations come slowly from L2 work, so you need a lot of hours of it to see gains. If you're time limited, then L2 riding is not a good use of your training time--L3 and up are much better. L2 becomes useful when you have more time to train. Then since it would be impossible to do 15-20 hour weeks all in L3 and up, L2 training can "fill in" the extra training time.

 

[daveryanwyoming]

...Is this the best use of time? ...

I wouldn't schedule any L1 time unless you find you're too stiff after a complete day off to do effective training the following day. But you still should be doing some L1/L2 work in the form of warmups and cooldowns from your harder efforts. You imply that you are with your 1 hour L5 workout where a 4x4 with (I assume) equal on/off periods rolls up to an hour workout. That's good since you don't want to crank out that kind of work without warming up and you don't want to finish the last repeat and then jump off the bike.

If you're time limited as you say, I wouldn't schedule an off week every fourth week. Your weekly training load doesn't justify it. If you're tired after three weeks of your schedule work in an easier ride or maybe an additional day off, but listen to your body instead of blindly following the calendar when it comes to easier weeks. And unless life gets in the way or you're really tired just think in terms of lightening the load on those easier weeks, you don't need to cut way back on the kind of load you're describing. A good rest week on your schedule might be dropping the L5 to a 95% FTP workout, dropping the L4 to SST work at 90% of FTP while keeping the L3 ride, maybe making it a bit shorter. If you're body is screaming for more time off,then take it, just don't assume you always need it on a 6 hour a week schedule with nothing harder than L5.