iliveonnitro said:
http://www.peakscoachinggroup.com/freeinfo/training_zones.html
Note 1: There is a "No-Man's Land" between Z3 and Z4. Training in this area has been found to not be beneficial for either the aerobic requirements of Z3 or the LT/AT training in Z4. You'll probably also find this to be the area you train in most. Avoid this area like the plague.
Where exactly is this point? What percent of my max heart rate is this?
Just wondering because I did a 60 mile ride last week (my longest to date) and averaged zone 3.8 ...did I ruin my training?
James
To find these answers, you must write a large check. If they just told you, they'd be going hungry. Like most things in training, there is this myth that there are particular, specific zones and timeframes when things happen. The body is much more fluid than that, and it's perfectly normal for one muscle to be gasping, while another is bored silly. There's not a particular spot, and even if there were, no web site posting could tell where yours was. It changes constantly with training load, fitness, nutrition, and stress levels.
Relax, you didn't ruin anything. Assuming you buy into this particular training philosophy, the worst you did was not gain as much as you could have.
In theory, a lighter ride will allow for endurance building, a higher intensity one greater power. By riding 'in between', wherever that is, you are supposed to be running yourself down too fast to gain much endurance, but not working hard enough for maximum strength/threshold gains. Fair enough.
Many folks set goals by miles, then try to get a 'good' workout by riding hard, but leaving enough in the tank to make it enjoyable and guarantee they get home in time for dinner. It results in this sort of running at a 'high steam' that these folks don't like. Better to have a training plan, and either ride 'easy' for a set time, or to have a shorter period of higher intensity.
You also are looking at an average over a few hours, which isn't very relevant. You might not have spent any time at all in that particular zone, wherever it might be. Say you really attacked the hills, and spun easily on the backside. Classic unstructured interval training, and you acheived the benefits of both, and never were in this theory's 'no man's land.' On the other hand, say you were on the flat,straight rail-trail, humming on at a constant high-normal rate of effort. That is what they would have you avoid for training, though it's perfectly suitable for an event.
There is merit to the theory, but here it's stated too broadly to be of any real use.