In a previous video, we showed you a few simple tests that you can do to track your fitness
progression using a power meter.
Well, in this video we’re going to take things one step further and explain some of the
zones that you can train in in order to gain that fitness.
Back when I was racing I always tended to use the 7 zones set out by Dr Andrew Coggan,
co-author of 'Training and Racing with a Power Meter'. It's also the same zones which are
used by trainingpeaks, the most popular analytical tool online for cycling enthusiasts.
For all but one of the zones that we are going to go through today are expressed as
a percentage of your FTP, or Functional Threshold Power - what you can sustain for an hour.
Or, if you're using a heart rate monitor, it will be expressed as a percentage of your
heart rate at that intensity.
Zone 1, otherwise referred to as the active recovery zone. And, as the name suggests,
it's the sort of riding that you're probably going to do the day after a hard training
ride or a sportive event. To be in this zone, you’ll need to be riding at less than 55%
of FTP, or less than 68% of your threshold heart rate. So for me, with an FTP of 290w,
and a threshold heart rate of 175, I need to be riding below 160w on average and under
120 heart rate.
This sort of riding should be very very easy indeed and you should be able to hold a conversation
with those around you.
Zone 2 is the endurance zone. To be in this one, you've got to be at 56-75% of FTP, or
69-83% of threshold heart rate. This is where endurance athletes will spend the majority
of their training time. It's slightly more intense than zone 1, but you should still
be able to hold a conversation and it shouldn't feel too uncomfortable. A well trained cyclist
should be able to stay in this zone for 3 hours or more at a time, and be able to do
that on consecutive days.
Zone 3 is the tempo zone. For this one you've got to be between 76 and 90% of FTP, or 84-94%
of threshold heart rate. For this one, you are going to need to concentrate a bit harder
if you want to stay within the zone when you’re out training. You’ll still be able to get
a few words out, but you might not be able to have a full blown conversation about how
good the latest GCN video is. If you fuel yourself correctly before, during and after
rides like this, you might be able to get 2 or 3 days back to back at this kind of intensity.
Back when I was racing, I used to do blocks of between 20 minutes and 3 hours at this
intensity, depending on the time of year and my fitness.
With the rest of the zones, you shouldn't really be able to hold a conversation or talk
much at all, so I'm going to switch over to a voiceover starting with this - zone 4.
This is the lactate threshold level, and defined as 91-105% of your FTP, or 95-105% of your
threshold heart rate. It’s worth bearing in mind, particularly for this level and above,
that your HR will take some time to react to the effort you are putting in. So, whilst
the power numbers will jump as soon as you start a level 4 effort, it should take
a couple of minutes for your heart rate to get into the required zone.
This is the kind of effort that you might make if you were racing a time trial of between
10 and 25 miles in distance. It takes a huge amount of concentration and self-will to make
sure that you stick in the zone, and it’s not really the sort of thing that many people
will be able to do on consecutive days. A typical training workout in this zone for
me was to do 2 lots of 20 minutes, separated by 5 minutes of easy riding. Holding a conversation
is difficult, and in fact I used to do these sessions alone in order to concentrate on
the job in hand.
Zone 5.
This is around your VO2 max, and defined as 106-120% of FTP and greater than 106% of threshold
heart rate. Let’s not beat around the bush here, this kind of effort is painful. You’ll
feel a burning in your legs and your breathing rate will be high. Intervals at this zone
are typically between 3 and 8 minutes in duration, and riding for a total of 30-40 minutes of
this in a single session is particularly hard.
For me, a common session was to do 6x5 minutes of zone 5 on a climb, with 5 minutes recovery
between each. It’s also worth bearing in mind that due to the lag of heart rate, it
might be hard to get an average heart rate within the parameters for the entire interval.
Zone 6 is the anaerobic capacity level. These are intervals of 30 seconds - 3 minutes done
at more than 121% of FTP. It’s virtually impossible to give heart rate guidelines for
this level due to the lag time. And, if you thought that VO2 max intervals were hard,
well these are at the next level...or zone! These intervals can take a lot out of you
both mentally and physically, so it’s hard to do them on back to back days.
Finally, zone 7 is the neuromuscular zone. There aren’t defined parameters for this
zone for either power or heart rate, as it’s simply a case of going as hard as you can
for the duration, which tends to be less than 10 seconds. This is basically sprinting, so
it is useful to analyse your power afterwards and compare it to previous efforts.