2x1 hour or 1x2 hours a day Zone 2 training

ggoysens

Hi all,

I'm training for the Tour Transalp next June and I'm currently in the base building phase of my training program, Having just finished a 14.5h zone 2 week. Most of my training rides I have done so far are 2 hours or longer.

With the number of hours of daylight increasing again I was thinking about replacing my indoor trainer sessions with commuting to work.

To be able to make up my mind I was wondering if two 1 hour zone 2 rides on a day have similar benefits as one 2 hour zone 2 ride. And if not, how big you estimate the difference is.

During the weekend I will still do longer rides of course.

Thanks!

MishMash95

I commute to work most days, 1 hour each way, and have seen some of the best fitness gains I have had in my base. Though I don't do Zone 2 loads, I tend to mix in harder threshold workouts then fade off throughout the week. However the main session i'm loving at the moment is just consistently attempting to ride at sweetspot (90% FTP).
In practise, as my commute has slower bits, this fragments the average ride, but I tend to end up with 45 minutes (75% of the ride) spent at or above sweetspot, and a nice ~20-30 minute consistent block in the middle. Can't specifically tell you about the science, but this split training seems to be working and quite sustainable/mentally easier to do a bit harder.
I.e. given an 8 hour break between sessions in the day, I find doing two reasonable workouts a lot easier for total time spent in higher zones than if it were one session.

So perhaps rather than just exclusively riding Z2 (in which case i'd lean towards one ride being better), take advantage of the fact you have a split session with recovery in between and mix in some sweetspot, with the focus on spending time in the higher zones as well. A nice starter one could be 20 minutes at sweetspot each way, and then the rest Z2. Upping this to 30.
Personally, I can manage this for 4 sessions back to back, assuming proper fuelling and avoiding going too hard at any point. Some days I miss breakfast due to being in a rush, so I also often alter the schedule to mix in fasted morning commutes, with the evening ride being more itense once fuelled up again

-- This type of training has completely broken me out of a 10 month long plateau I was in (I know this doesn't really answer your original question, to which i'd say it probably doesn't matter too much, and just going off the whole "time on the bike" helps, but figured you could take advantage of the extra bit of recovery/easy refuel opportunity between rides)

OnTheRopes

If you are training to gain endurance then you need to ride distance, so 1 x 2 hour imo. More if you have the time.

sloppyschleckonds

I'd go with the longer single session

joey54321

IMO, a single, 2 hour session is better for endurance as it allows time to get the aerobic system properly fired up and allows for more muscle fatigue and this muscle fibre type cycling which is one of the improvements that comes with endurance.

That said, the difference is likely pretty marginal, as long as you are getting some longer rides in (maybe at the weekend?) I'd say do whatever fits in with your schedule best. Given that commuting gets you to work could you perhaps do 1hr to work and 90 mins home instead of 2hrs on the trainer+a commute? There is also the mental side, which would you prefer? Which will you be able to keep up until June?

ric/rstsport

ggoysens wrote:

Hi all,

I'm training for the Tour Transalp next June and I'm currently in the base building phase of my training program, Having just finished a 14.5h zone 2 week. Most of my training rides I have done so far are 2 hours or longer.

With the number of hours of daylight increasing again I was thinking about replacing my indoor trainer sessions with commuting to work.

To be able to make up my mind I was wondering if two 1 hour zone 2 rides on a day have similar benefits as one 2 hour zone 2 ride. And if not, how big you estimate the difference is.

During the weekend I will still do longer rides of course.

Thanks!

I coach a few people for e.g. the TCR and the TP etc.

The question, while simple on the surface, isn't as easy to answer. There *are* benefits to doing 2 x 1 hrs (e.g. 2 separate sessions are likely to be at a slightly higher power, the 2nd one may have positive adaptation effects on mitochondria as well due to being slightly glycogen depleted)

However, there are also benefits to doing a single session (e.g. used to time in the saddle, less recovery, mitochondria again). There's no way to quantify which is a better session at least not without knowing significantly more about you (such as seeing exactly what you're doing in the other sessions, your overall training load, nutrition, etc -- i'm not asking you to send such info -- that'd require coaching or similar, i'm just saying).

mid-week i do sessions that are >2hrs. but also <1hr and also some split sessions.

Ric

CptKernow

Could be wrong about this but I thought zone 2 was only of any benefit if you did like 6 hours... From what I read you need to stress the aerobic system for it to have any effect.

Personally I'm a fan of sweet spot training to build base. Throw in a long (3+ hours) ride at lower intensity where possible.

Typical Analytical

1 x 2hrs