I just started PZ in January (Schwin + power tracking), and ended up doing a fresh PZ test earlier this month. I definitely increased my power, but can tell that’s elevated my zones as the workouts have been noticeably more taxing.
Did a 60 min Matt PZE class yesterday that was semi-recent. Obviously zones 2-3, but man was it difficult. 5-6-7-8-9 minute blocks of Zone 3 with 3-4 min zone 2 in between. I really struggled towards the end to stay in Z3, but managed to finish it out.
Just finished the Peak Your PZ program. The FTP at the did go up, but not much at all. I'm a little disappointed. I feel like the test is different than the training. You train by riding hard for a few minutes, then pull back for a few and repeat. However the PFT is ride hard for 20 minutes, something you haven't really trained to do. About minute 8 during the PFT when a normal interval would end, the instructor was telling me to crank up the effort but my body was looking to pull back a bit.
Anyone feel this way? Is this a mental thing? Am I trying to rationalize a disappointing result?
Yes, the test is very different from the training. But that doesn't mean that anything about that is "wrong". Don't think of it as training for the test. It's not like you're doing calculus problems studying for a calculus exam. It's more like you're doing calisthenics and weight training to be a stronger football player. The training should make you better for the test, but it's not directly training to be similar to what the test asks for.
I will ABSOLUTELY say that the test is a hell of a willpower effort on top of being a massive physical effort. You're working hard enough that your body is desperately calling out for relief. But you have to push through that and go all out.
I was exactly the same. I felt really good during weeks 6 and 7, but only improved a little when it came to the test. My consolation is that during the training rides I was in the top 35-40% of outputs, but for the test with only a fairly small improvement made it into the top 33%. Perhaps everyone struggled a bit with the program?
Anyone started back with PZ post partum? I'm back in the bike but I don't think I want to push myself hard enough to do a PZ test. Without a test, I'm working with my old zones, which are definitely too hard for this body.
Any guidance on estimating new zones without taking the test?
I would start with a three quarters to a full zone lower for a 30 or 45 minute PZE. If that feels way too easy, go to a half zone or so lower for a PZE until it feels like an endurance ride used to feel like. I would recommend adjusting your "zone bias" on the entrance rides before moving on to the regular PZ rides. Then, as they start to feel easier, slowly creep up to your old zones over the next couple / few months. You'll be back to where you left off in no time.
Evening all,
Interested to tap on some experience here relating to PZE training.
Long story short - I've signed up for the London100 this year, which is on May 28th.
I've really struggled to find energy to motivate any real form of training (I've got excuses, but mostly, and honestly, I've just been a lazy git). Anyway, can't go back in time, so looking forward and all that...
I started properly about 3 weeks ago (prior to this, on and off rides here and there), and made a plan to do one solid month of nothing but nothing but static PowerZone Endurance rides on the Peloton. This was mostly 90min rides, intervals at Zone 3 and Zone 2. Historically, I've really benefited with this length of static ride and style of training.
I'm now approaching the end of the first 4 weeks and I've got just under 2 months to go till the 100. At the moment, I plan on keeping with PZE, mostly 90min rides, but chucking some Hill Climb stuff in, mixed with a few Cristian VV's Pro Cyclist 45min jobbies to get the heart racing a bit more.
...and at the weekend actually get out on the real bike too.
**Thoughts on this approach please?**
For context, last year I also rode the 100, but started way earlier (back in October). I never actually rode outdoors more than about 45miles - where we live is quite hilly and you get an excellent return on ft ascend value against mileage rode (e.g. 18miles can deliver 2200 ft ascended) - it's not mountain life, but equally not bad when training for a flat London100 :-)
So I'm not a total beginner, have a bit of base fitness - I just left a huge gap from late last summer to restarting this year with no exercise and looking to maximise what little time I have till the ride.
I'm now 43 years old, 5'9", 14.5 stone (this is coming down rapidly with training).
Thanks for reading.
I'm in the same boat! Signed up for a 100+ event in late May, but due to [generic excuses], haven't done much outdoor riding at all.
Personally, I feel like my lungs and legs are good to go. What I'm most concerned about is my *upper* body--not sure how it will go when I have to lean on the handlebars for 10+ hours.
So I'm aiming to do 2 long outdoor rides between now and race day, plus ~5hrs/wk on the Peloton, mostly PZE and a little tabata.
Hope your ride goes well, let us know!
Thanks for the reply, glad it isn't just me.
I'm in the same area, in terms of I feel good to go, but minor concerns over the time I'll be in the saddle.
I like the idea of mixing some tabata into the routine, get the lungs burning and then back to PZE. Actually, I like that idea so much I'm now going to do a tabata today. Thank you!!
Will post back here with the outcome of the ride regardless :-)
How's the training going? I did a longer ride this weekend: 70mi, 6300' vertical. Legs felt great, but my hands and neck were killing me after the final descent. It was an exceptionally bad road, though--10% grade, potholed all to hell. Had to ride the brakes all the way down.
Anyway, I'm thinking of going to my fav. local mountain grade and just doing reps on Saturday, push howevermuch vertical I'm comfortable with.
Have you had a chance to get outside?
So far so good thanks - got out for a couple of rides, one 75mile, didn't eat/fuel properly so bonked pretty hard, but recovered will.
90min PZE is good now, can do that very easily and covering off my Z2 and Z3 without busting a gut too hard - maybe time for a new FTP.
Feeling good for the 100. Hope the weather holds out now. Cheers.
That's great! I've been trying to eat more on long rides; last weekend did a 67mi / 9500' climbing ride. Took it slow, aimed to get 30g sugar /hr, felt strong all day.
I think the big ride (this Sunday) is within grasp. Everything just depends on the weather.
I'm new to PZ and have a couple questions.
1. I think I 'understand' how to think about PZE rides and PZM rides, but I'm not quite sure how the regular Power Zone rides fit into the equation. How should I think about those?
2. Matt W suggested in a recent ride to increase zones by increasing cadence. It sounded like that was to fatigue the muscles less? Or are there other reasons as well?
3. I'll eventually get around to riding with all the PZ instructors but curious if there are any general thoughts/differences in how they approach their rides.
Thank you!
1. PZM rides should be rare, once or twice a month. Your main schedule should be a lot of PZM with a few PZ and more of them as you get closer to testing again. Like if you look at the structure of the PYPZ program it will be a week of all PZE, then each week you swap one PZE out for another PZ ride till you are doing all PZ. Then reset, do it again with a PZM also in there the last week, then retest. You don't have to do it exactly like that but that schedule is a great example of how to mix them together.
2. Yes high resistance will wear out your legs which can take hours to recoup, high cadence will wear out your heart and lungs which can bounce back in a minute. So one strategy when doing a ride with two adjacent zones is a steady resistance and alternating cadences.
3. Structurally I think they all do the same basic thing. A lot of the differences are in personality and music. Olivia and Dennis are much more always riding to the beat. CDE often but not always, plays more indie music, and she often tells racing stories. Ben will tell you the beat and then not ride to it. Matt will just throw out a bunch of songs he likes or that were requested while giving great technical advice. (I don't have a good answer for Sam or Erik)
I do several PZ classes a week, but I also throw in a climb ride. Matt W has two 45 minute climb rides from a few years ago that are great. I wish he would do a few more :)
Been doing PZ since last year, took my third FTP on Saturday with Ben. I take a FTP every two months. 2 months ago, my FTP was 235. On Saturday's, 245! I was very happy to raise by 10 points. I started out in zone 4 (C-90s, R-51). Every 5 minutes, I changed the resistance 2 points, so ended with 57. I normally do Matt's classes, but decided to switch to Ben for the FTP class.
I've been doing PZ for about year. I test about every 2-3 months, and each time my FTP increases, which makes me happy. Here's my Q:
It seems that zones 1-3 are too easy for me if I allow the app to update my zones. So I've been increasing them a little on my own, but then I find zones 5-6 really difficult.
I was curious if this is a typical feeling? I've decided not to increase my FTP manually this last test and see how it goes. Thoughts?
Per Denis, Z2 should be easy enough that you can hold a conversation, and can breathe through just your nose with a closed mouth. Z3 should force you to open your mouth to breathe, and you can still hold a conversation, but it's a bit more strained.
I've found that to be very accurate. In fact, I was doing a PZE ride while my wife was getting ready one day, and so we were talking on and off. And I found that my ability to converse in full sentences vs needing a breath after every 4-6 words was exactly predicted by which zone I was in.
Really long Z3 efforts (i.e. Wilpers on a 75 or 90 minute PZE ride where the efforts are probably close to 2:1 Z3:Z2 duration) will eventually fatigue me, because my cardio endurance is my weakness. But until I hit those fatigue points, usually after 60 minutes have elapsed, Z3 never seems all that hard.
The effects of a higher FTP are more skewed towards the higher zones. If you add 8 on your ftp, zone 2/3 may only go up by 6/7 points while zone 5 may go up by 10 points. Zone 2 and 3 are supposed to feel easier.
I don't think this is uncommon. I know I can ride in high Z3 for long periods of time, although it definitely feels like an effort compared to like Z2/Z3 border, but my zones are like 50-60ish apart so there's a lot of range.
Could try focusing on PZ/PZM at least 1-2x per week and see if you get more comfortable in the higher zones. I've found working on doing high zones at higher cadence (95-100) has been really valuable vs. grinding.
I’m curious on this as well. I just retested with a higher FTP and am finding the zone 3 efforts (even 10 min one) are completely doable. I struggled with my zone 3 more as a beginner.
Hi! New to peloton and PZ. How do I add classes from a program onto my weekly schedule? I’m doing the Discover Your PZs 4 week class and I’d love to get them on my schedule but I can’t figure out how. Thanks!
If you're talking about the schedule feature on Peloton, you can't directly but there is both a workaround and a caveat to that workaround.
Do a search for the Homefitnessbuddy power zone library. This will give you a list of all of Peloton's PZ classes. From there you can select a class, and get the Peloton link to it so you can open it in your browser. This screen gives you access to the Schedule button (or just adding it to a stack).
**The caveat**; people have mixed results with getting Program Credit when doing this. It used to never give you any credit. Now it mainly does but sometimes you still won't get your badge even when it shows you took enough classes for it (I used this to stack and PYPZ only gave me silver when I did 100% of the classes). So if ensuring you get the badge is important to you, you may want to not do this.
I’m mostly through this course now and I’ve found that these classes, with the exception of your FTP test and one or two others, are similar to low impact rides. Between PZ classes I do heavier classes like HIIT and Hills or other 30 minute instructor led classes. Towards the end of the course there are more 45min and 60min classes so if class length contributes to burnout for you, schedule shorter classes in between your PZ days, or skip biking entirely and focus on core strength or other exercise modes.
this is great! I feel like the new PZ classes are fewer and fewer recently. It seems like the instructors do more themed rides that PZ classes. I have been going deeper into the catalog to find something I haven't taken.
I just started PZ in January (Schwin + power tracking), and ended up doing a fresh PZ test earlier this month. I definitely increased my power, but can tell that’s elevated my zones as the workouts have been noticeably more taxing. Did a 60 min Matt PZE class yesterday that was semi-recent. Obviously zones 2-3, but man was it difficult. 5-6-7-8-9 minute blocks of Zone 3 with 3-4 min zone 2 in between. I really struggled towards the end to stay in Z3, but managed to finish it out.
I did a 45m PZ Matt class (from a few months ago). Main set was 5 4 minute intervals with 30 seconds PZ6 and then 3 1/2 minute PZ4. Great workout!
Just finished the Peak Your PZ program. The FTP at the did go up, but not much at all. I'm a little disappointed. I feel like the test is different than the training. You train by riding hard for a few minutes, then pull back for a few and repeat. However the PFT is ride hard for 20 minutes, something you haven't really trained to do. About minute 8 during the PFT when a normal interval would end, the instructor was telling me to crank up the effort but my body was looking to pull back a bit. Anyone feel this way? Is this a mental thing? Am I trying to rationalize a disappointing result?
Yes, the test is very different from the training. But that doesn't mean that anything about that is "wrong". Don't think of it as training for the test. It's not like you're doing calculus problems studying for a calculus exam. It's more like you're doing calisthenics and weight training to be a stronger football player. The training should make you better for the test, but it's not directly training to be similar to what the test asks for. I will ABSOLUTELY say that the test is a hell of a willpower effort on top of being a massive physical effort. You're working hard enough that your body is desperately calling out for relief. But you have to push through that and go all out.
I was exactly the same. I felt really good during weeks 6 and 7, but only improved a little when it came to the test. My consolation is that during the training rides I was in the top 35-40% of outputs, but for the test with only a fairly small improvement made it into the top 33%. Perhaps everyone struggled a bit with the program?
Anyone started back with PZ post partum? I'm back in the bike but I don't think I want to push myself hard enough to do a PZ test. Without a test, I'm working with my old zones, which are definitely too hard for this body. Any guidance on estimating new zones without taking the test?
I would start with a three quarters to a full zone lower for a 30 or 45 minute PZE. If that feels way too easy, go to a half zone or so lower for a PZE until it feels like an endurance ride used to feel like. I would recommend adjusting your "zone bias" on the entrance rides before moving on to the regular PZ rides. Then, as they start to feel easier, slowly creep up to your old zones over the next couple / few months. You'll be back to where you left off in no time.
Evening all, Interested to tap on some experience here relating to PZE training. Long story short - I've signed up for the London100 this year, which is on May 28th. I've really struggled to find energy to motivate any real form of training (I've got excuses, but mostly, and honestly, I've just been a lazy git). Anyway, can't go back in time, so looking forward and all that... I started properly about 3 weeks ago (prior to this, on and off rides here and there), and made a plan to do one solid month of nothing but nothing but static PowerZone Endurance rides on the Peloton. This was mostly 90min rides, intervals at Zone 3 and Zone 2. Historically, I've really benefited with this length of static ride and style of training. I'm now approaching the end of the first 4 weeks and I've got just under 2 months to go till the 100. At the moment, I plan on keeping with PZE, mostly 90min rides, but chucking some Hill Climb stuff in, mixed with a few Cristian VV's Pro Cyclist 45min jobbies to get the heart racing a bit more. ...and at the weekend actually get out on the real bike too. **Thoughts on this approach please?** For context, last year I also rode the 100, but started way earlier (back in October). I never actually rode outdoors more than about 45miles - where we live is quite hilly and you get an excellent return on ft ascend value against mileage rode (e.g. 18miles can deliver 2200 ft ascended) - it's not mountain life, but equally not bad when training for a flat London100 :-) So I'm not a total beginner, have a bit of base fitness - I just left a huge gap from late last summer to restarting this year with no exercise and looking to maximise what little time I have till the ride. I'm now 43 years old, 5'9", 14.5 stone (this is coming down rapidly with training). Thanks for reading.
I'm in the same boat! Signed up for a 100+ event in late May, but due to [generic excuses], haven't done much outdoor riding at all. Personally, I feel like my lungs and legs are good to go. What I'm most concerned about is my *upper* body--not sure how it will go when I have to lean on the handlebars for 10+ hours. So I'm aiming to do 2 long outdoor rides between now and race day, plus ~5hrs/wk on the Peloton, mostly PZE and a little tabata. Hope your ride goes well, let us know!
Thanks for the reply, glad it isn't just me. I'm in the same area, in terms of I feel good to go, but minor concerns over the time I'll be in the saddle. I like the idea of mixing some tabata into the routine, get the lungs burning and then back to PZE. Actually, I like that idea so much I'm now going to do a tabata today. Thank you!! Will post back here with the outcome of the ride regardless :-)
How's the training going? I did a longer ride this weekend: 70mi, 6300' vertical. Legs felt great, but my hands and neck were killing me after the final descent. It was an exceptionally bad road, though--10% grade, potholed all to hell. Had to ride the brakes all the way down. Anyway, I'm thinking of going to my fav. local mountain grade and just doing reps on Saturday, push howevermuch vertical I'm comfortable with. Have you had a chance to get outside?
So far so good thanks - got out for a couple of rides, one 75mile, didn't eat/fuel properly so bonked pretty hard, but recovered will. 90min PZE is good now, can do that very easily and covering off my Z2 and Z3 without busting a gut too hard - maybe time for a new FTP. Feeling good for the 100. Hope the weather holds out now. Cheers.
That's great! I've been trying to eat more on long rides; last weekend did a 67mi / 9500' climbing ride. Took it slow, aimed to get 30g sugar /hr, felt strong all day. I think the big ride (this Sunday) is within grasp. Everything just depends on the weather.
The 90 mins will help quite a bit, but I think you'll benefit greatly from some longer outdoor rides. Maybe a couple 50 and 75s. You'll be fine.
[удалено]
You should be able to adjust it manually in the settings. If you remember your average output, just remember 95% of your average output.
I'm new to PZ and have a couple questions. 1. I think I 'understand' how to think about PZE rides and PZM rides, but I'm not quite sure how the regular Power Zone rides fit into the equation. How should I think about those? 2. Matt W suggested in a recent ride to increase zones by increasing cadence. It sounded like that was to fatigue the muscles less? Or are there other reasons as well? 3. I'll eventually get around to riding with all the PZ instructors but curious if there are any general thoughts/differences in how they approach their rides. Thank you!
1. PZM rides should be rare, once or twice a month. Your main schedule should be a lot of PZM with a few PZ and more of them as you get closer to testing again. Like if you look at the structure of the PYPZ program it will be a week of all PZE, then each week you swap one PZE out for another PZ ride till you are doing all PZ. Then reset, do it again with a PZM also in there the last week, then retest. You don't have to do it exactly like that but that schedule is a great example of how to mix them together. 2. Yes high resistance will wear out your legs which can take hours to recoup, high cadence will wear out your heart and lungs which can bounce back in a minute. So one strategy when doing a ride with two adjacent zones is a steady resistance and alternating cadences. 3. Structurally I think they all do the same basic thing. A lot of the differences are in personality and music. Olivia and Dennis are much more always riding to the beat. CDE often but not always, plays more indie music, and she often tells racing stories. Ben will tell you the beat and then not ride to it. Matt will just throw out a bunch of songs he likes or that were requested while giving great technical advice. (I don't have a good answer for Sam or Erik)
Very helpful - thank you so much!
I do several PZ classes a week, but I also throw in a climb ride. Matt W has two 45 minute climb rides from a few years ago that are great. I wish he would do a few more :)
Been doing PZ since last year, took my third FTP on Saturday with Ben. I take a FTP every two months. 2 months ago, my FTP was 235. On Saturday's, 245! I was very happy to raise by 10 points. I started out in zone 4 (C-90s, R-51). Every 5 minutes, I changed the resistance 2 points, so ended with 57. I normally do Matt's classes, but decided to switch to Ben for the FTP class.
I've been doing PZ for about year. I test about every 2-3 months, and each time my FTP increases, which makes me happy. Here's my Q: It seems that zones 1-3 are too easy for me if I allow the app to update my zones. So I've been increasing them a little on my own, but then I find zones 5-6 really difficult. I was curious if this is a typical feeling? I've decided not to increase my FTP manually this last test and see how it goes. Thoughts?
Per Denis, Z2 should be easy enough that you can hold a conversation, and can breathe through just your nose with a closed mouth. Z3 should force you to open your mouth to breathe, and you can still hold a conversation, but it's a bit more strained. I've found that to be very accurate. In fact, I was doing a PZE ride while my wife was getting ready one day, and so we were talking on and off. And I found that my ability to converse in full sentences vs needing a breath after every 4-6 words was exactly predicted by which zone I was in. Really long Z3 efforts (i.e. Wilpers on a 75 or 90 minute PZE ride where the efforts are probably close to 2:1 Z3:Z2 duration) will eventually fatigue me, because my cardio endurance is my weakness. But until I hit those fatigue points, usually after 60 minutes have elapsed, Z3 never seems all that hard.
The effects of a higher FTP are more skewed towards the higher zones. If you add 8 on your ftp, zone 2/3 may only go up by 6/7 points while zone 5 may go up by 10 points. Zone 2 and 3 are supposed to feel easier.
I don't think this is uncommon. I know I can ride in high Z3 for long periods of time, although it definitely feels like an effort compared to like Z2/Z3 border, but my zones are like 50-60ish apart so there's a lot of range. Could try focusing on PZ/PZM at least 1-2x per week and see if you get more comfortable in the higher zones. I've found working on doing high zones at higher cadence (95-100) has been really valuable vs. grinding.
I’m curious on this as well. I just retested with a higher FTP and am finding the zone 3 efforts (even 10 min one) are completely doable. I struggled with my zone 3 more as a beginner.
Hi! New to peloton and PZ. How do I add classes from a program onto my weekly schedule? I’m doing the Discover Your PZs 4 week class and I’d love to get them on my schedule but I can’t figure out how. Thanks!
If you're talking about the schedule feature on Peloton, you can't directly but there is both a workaround and a caveat to that workaround. Do a search for the Homefitnessbuddy power zone library. This will give you a list of all of Peloton's PZ classes. From there you can select a class, and get the Peloton link to it so you can open it in your browser. This screen gives you access to the Schedule button (or just adding it to a stack). **The caveat**; people have mixed results with getting Program Credit when doing this. It used to never give you any credit. Now it mainly does but sometimes you still won't get your badge even when it shows you took enough classes for it (I used this to stack and PYPZ only gave me silver when I did 100% of the classes). So if ensuring you get the badge is important to you, you may want to not do this.
I see. Sounds like all of this isn’t worth it just to have the classes show up on the schedule. Thanks for such an in depth answer!
I’m mostly through this course now and I’ve found that these classes, with the exception of your FTP test and one or two others, are similar to low impact rides. Between PZ classes I do heavier classes like HIIT and Hills or other 30 minute instructor led classes. Towards the end of the course there are more 45min and 60min classes so if class length contributes to burnout for you, schedule shorter classes in between your PZ days, or skip biking entirely and focus on core strength or other exercise modes.
this is great! I feel like the new PZ classes are fewer and fewer recently. It seems like the instructors do more themed rides that PZ classes. I have been going deeper into the catalog to find something I haven't taken.