Zone Discipline

Today’s post is all about zone discipline. Staying in the prescribed zone by your coach to achieve the stimulus required for that session is not always easy, especially if you prefer group rides over riding alone.

I’m all for group rides. If I were to prescribe a training plan I would definitely add that as a weekend session or whenever the athlete’s schedule allows it (more on that later). But, pay attention if you have multiple group rides a week or even if as an individual you know you struggle staying in the zone. In general, while riding in a group, you’ll be coasting a lot more compared to riding alone. Or, while climbing, you might be riding harder than what was on your schedule for the day as you can’t always dictate the pace. This means there’ll be a lot of spikes. You’re either riding under or above your zone, if for this example it was a steady endurance ride.

I’ve always preferred to train alone or with only a couple of guys. I enjoy training hard and staying on the pedals all day. When my coach prescribed a steady Z2 ride I tried to spend as much time as possible in that zone. This sometimes means climbing very slow and sending it on the downhill. Or, if I had efforts to do, I would find the perfect terrain to do the work uninterrupted. Of course, not everyone lives in areas where they have open roads where nothing can interrupt their effort. Also, when planning your training, remember to take into account your current life situation and plan accordingly. See this post for some advice.

I believe zone discipline is very important and can have a big influence on how quickly you gain fitness or even overtrain. I’ll attach some screenshots of my rides to show how who you ride with can impact your training quality even if it’s the exact same prescribed training session. I’ll use a 3-4hr endurance ride as an example. A couple questions:

1. Did you really do a steady zone 2 ride if you spent most of the day in zone 1? This can be caused by riding in the slipstream etc.

2. Or, did you really do a steady zone 2 ride if on this ride you had multiple accelerations to stay with the group?

In my opinion, NO! You would have used different energy systems for those efforts. Systems you have specific training sessions for such as recovery rides or interval sessions.

Individual ride. This was a steady Z2 individual ride. As you can see I spent the majority of the ride in zone 2. This is not always easy and requires some pacing skill.

Individual Z2 ride. Time spent in each zone.

Group ride. I spent very little time in Z2. Most of the time being in Z1. I remember having a very low TSS for this ride.

Power distribution for this 3hr group ride. Mostly in zone 1.

This ride was with Cullen and Griffen in Salt Lake City. In a small group (up to 4 riders) it’s still possible to stay in your zone. What aided staying in the zone here was the 20 km climbs we rode. Terrain also plays a major role in how easy or hard it is to stay in the zone. Take this into account when planning your ride route.

Power distribution during a smaller group ride. As you can see the power is distributed much more evenly between Z1 and Z2 as you’re able to spend more time riding in the wind.

Group rides are vital though. If you are new to the sport or a youngster still developing then these rides are essential and can be extremely fun as well. They teach you etiquette, skills, rider awareness and so much more. It will teach you how to ride in the wind, how to save energy by finding the perfect spot behind the rider in front of you, how to rotate in a group. As you can see I can find so many benefits from these rides. So don’t isolate yourself completely as these are important skills to train as well. I can remember as a child growing up the weekend group ride with my dad’s club was the highlight of the week.

As with everything in life, try to have a balance between highly focussed, structured rides with fun socializing group rides. With the right balance, both will aid your performance and train all your skills.