Cycling Z1 and Z2: Keep Them Separate! Recovery vs. Endurance Rides

Original Post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaIlPhHxOJY Many times athletes go out and mark their ride as "endurance", but they have 40% of time in Zone 1.   Or, a ride goes out and SMASHES a group ride, has an average power in Zone 2, and calls it endurance.  Meanwhile, there's 60% Zone 1!   Zone 1 (less than 55% FTP) is recovery.  Zone 2 (55% - 75% FTP) is endurance.   They serve different functions, so make sure you keep them separate.   Take a look at some of Craig's rides. The pure endurance rides have massive chunks of Zone 2 work, a little z3, very little z4 or higher.   Minimize your coasting and the zone 1 time.  Try for less than 10% of z1 time (caveat: if you live in the mountains, COAST down steep hills. DO NOT KILL YOURSELF).   At 2:38 Craig discusses a group ride with hard efforts. While he calls this a recovery ride, the big thing to note is that he's doing hard efforts earlier in the morning, so because of that ride alone, it's NOT a RECOVERY DAY; the evening ride is a less intense ride, but if there are hard efforts, it is NOT a recovery ride.   Make sure you ride in the zones you're supposed to ride in!   Email Craig with questions: [email protected]

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