What Is Zone 2 & How Can You Find Yours?

Have you used zone 2 in your training, and has it been effective? Let us know down below!👇

Karvon formular works well

i can only nose breath at HR 170 and eat snacks :D. But sport centre says that my zone 2 is from 138-150

I used to do 2 hours empty stomach zone 2 training but that was unsustainable because I would feel so hungry after coming home. I started eating breakfast at least 2 hours before I would head out and that is much more efficient since I am losing fat and getting better as well. I eat more than usual but still I am slowing losing fat... (relative to running, the rate of burning is actually quite good based on just eye balling my overall shape).

We used chewing gum as a cruise control. If you are able to chew normally all fine, if you want to spit it out because it feels like it blocks your breathing you are too fast.

Always used it on my own because lack of proper conversation testers ;)

One question is while 80% in Z2 may work for a pro training 25hrs a week (which gives them a good 5hrs pw hard/interval) does that also maximise performance for someone training 6hrs a week (giving them just over an hour riding hard)? One hour riding hard per week may not cut it so perhaps the fewer hours you train each week the less z2 is ideal considering at 80/20 it's leaving your intense efforts very short. I'd be tempted to say you need a minimum volume of hard efforts per week and so for example if you only have 6hrs total per week then make sure you fill the intense quota (perhaps 2.5hrs?) then the rest in Z2?

Well done!

This is nothing new , cyclists have been training the way for decades

Anyone wanna go for a Zone 3 ride?

So you sugest we humans are using cold fusion???

I always thought the body burns carbs first as a preferred fuel then fats....

What's old is new again. Way back in the 70s we called this LSD - Long Slow Distance. We didn't have the benefit of power meters or HRMs but did it by feel. Obviously using power and HR is superior, but the method and benefits are the same.
Zone 2 training is important, but a bit hard to hold for those of us who (still) like to chase and ride hard LOL

You always burn glycogen first because its faster to mobilize. Thats why Zone 2 Training should be at minimum an hour, preferably 1,5-2h. Gluconeogensis is what happens if you have not enough energy after some time for the high load you're putting on your body.

What’s ftp

I wish I could have ERG mode on my real bike. Staying in a power zone is easy on a trainer, but on the road? It’s all over the place

I appreciate GCN, because the management invests into the presenters’ cycling performance and knowledge.
So cool.

Riding with my buddies who are on e-bikes makes it hard to stay in zone 2, because they don’t feel the hills and just motor happily up, while I have to raise my effort. My real competitive obsession is cross country skiing, and it is relatively rare t train with someone else on roller skis, so I can be much more disciplined. Even hen I do ski or roller ski with others, there’s no such thing as e-skis, so we can remain disciplined together. (Well, maybe chair lifts for the alpine gravity powered skier are the e-skis.)

Basically, my real zone 2 is what my old Garmin with a HR monitor says is actually zone 3 :) I always felt that zone 2 based on the old age/heart rate formula feels just a tad to easy, becouse it always jumped to 3 as soon as I started pedalling 'normally' instead of just lightly cruising down the street. Either way, that range was always efficinet for my fat burnin, thanks for confirming I was doing it right :)

I'd be really curious for a breakdown of all this information in the context of a ketogenic diet. Does anyone have a good source for that information?

Well, giving that every person has a different zone 2, that's another argument for me to train alone! 🎉