new-blog-unlock-your-performance-potential-with-zone-2-training-a-comprehensive-guide
Hi everyone.
New blog up now I wrote after my discussion with the WHOOP team on their podcast. Please let me know what you think.
The chat was just last week so wanted to get something up relatively soon, but we'll continue to update and improve this post pending feedback.
Thanks,
Prof
I find my Z2 outings are also quite a nice time to chill, beyond the health and training benefits. It does require a disciplined mindset though, no speeding up when someone overtakes you. Also nice seeing the Z2 pace increases when you look back over longer timescales.
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@phil 100%. The mental benefits you get are not trivial. I hypothesize that energetic ketones are involved, along with a mental focus outside of the default mode network in the brain. You come back from these rides ready to concur the world 
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@prof
“When the spirits are low, when the day appears dark, when work becomes monotonous, when hope hardly seems worth having, just mount a bicycle and go out for a spin down the road, without thought on anything but the ride you are taking.”
Arthur Conan Doyle
or as I would say, cycling in Z2 puts you in the flow, focused on the moment, all distractions dismissed, serenity descends, and you become one with your environment, senses heightened.
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@phil love that one… 100%
Great blog; what do you think about using https://aerotune.com/ for testing and zone guidance? It is somewhat similar to atheltica tests, but I feel it has more dimension and provides more guidance
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Unaware personally Jerome… yours was the first I saw on it.
@Prof “Blog” link is broken. Points to “localhost…”
Here it is… didn’t come over with new Forum merge… https://athletica.ai/zone-2-training-benefits-performance/
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I have a question about z2.
Is there any benefit (or hurt) to varying cadence in z2? I.e. doing 90 rpm for 30, 80 rpm for 30, 70 rpm, etc?
You mention cardio and base building as a benefit. Cardio seems to align with higher cadence (and more stress on the cardio system, where as base building could also be seen as fatiguing the muscle through some lower intervals?
I have a long z2 ride coming, and was just trying to decide how I wanted to tackle it.
I think there’s always a benefit when we manipulate cadence to some degree @MattS06 but it comes down to practicality at the end of the day. The mental energy needed to continually manipulate would be over and above anything that would lead to any real benefits vs just doing a specific SE session with purpose. Lots of ways to skin the cat with your training but my personal preference is to target your cadence manipulation session once in the week and focus on it then. Then let it be for the other sessions, like easy L2 ones…
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