mrsbeer05 said:

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FYI:
9/9/21 45 PZE ride with CDE is all Zone 2

Cadence fluctuates 80 to 90 by song. Decent playlist.

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Is this a new trend or push? I did a similar pze ride with Matt wilpers the other day. All zone 2, but cadence varying from like 60-120.

I don't know. I haven't seen anything explicitly stating they are doing more on purpose. But I'm glad they are. I just wish it was indicated somewhere.

mrsbeer05 said:

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I don't know. I haven't seen anything explicitly stating they are doing more on purpose. But I'm glad they are. I just wish it was indicated somewhere.

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Agreed. I started the Build Your Power Zones program yesterday because I've been extremely inconsistent over the summer and need to get back on track and they lay out what the ride will look like in the class. It was really helpful.

I use this website, but I would rather Peloton do it that way it is 100% correct and I only have to go to one place.

https://app.homefitnessbuddy.com/peloton/powerzone/#0

mrsbeer05 said:

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I use this website, but I would rather Peloton do it that way it is 100% correct and I only have to go to one place.

https://app.homefitnessbuddy.com/peloton/powerzone/#0

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this is awesome, thank you for sharing!

Once I did the "Discover your Power Zone" program, I moved onto the Reddit Power Zone program.

Power Zone Program

The dude who sets it up uses the same site that mrsbeer05 linked to build out a program that gets progressively harder before a de-load.

Beyond the ride, the important thing is the TSS score which will give you an idea of how tough the ride is supposed to be.

5/30/21 45min PZE ride with CDE is all Z2

Vince Blake said:

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FTP test day. 5% improvement. By the time that thing is over, I am grateful for even the smallest gains.

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Don't slack off...I did my test at the end of the last challenge and basically stopped riding for the last month due to out of town work, vacations, house projects, etc. I got back on after almost exactly a month off and the W1R1 for the fall challenge hurt way more than it should have with the new zones.

I did the same… it has taken me 3 weeks to get back where I was.

Anyone notice they pushed the early US tread classes to 6:30central?

It was hard enough to make 6am classes. They need earlier not later.

mrsbeer05 said:

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Anyone notice they pushed the early US tread classes to 6:30central?

It was hard enough to make 6am classes. They need earlier not later.

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I disagree. They used to do Wilpers Sat am class at 6am central. Getting me out of bed before 530am generally takes the MS150, an outdoor bike ride in the hills, a fishing trip, a hunting trip, an early departure for a vacation, or dynamite. So if they want to put things in the 6:30-7:30 range, I am good with that. On the other hand, I don't have a tread, so your wishes don't impact me...let me know where to sign your petition.

10% improvement to my on my FTP test today over where I was 2 months ago.

Combo of beginner gains and just getting comfortable with riding in general. I knew my zones weren't right and so I had this awkward stage of guessing where to ride vs zones that were too low.

Now to grind through these and keep the uptick going.

On the other hand, I've dropped 10-15 pounds in the past 2 months and this has been a big reason why.

PRd 30 min ride today. Put in my work now time to go watch Ags put in theirs! BTHO Miss St!

Is Strive a heart rate thing or a new Peloton feature?

No idea how metrics are measured, but it only shows up when I'm wearing HR monitor, so it must be HR related.

That said, my HR monitor was all over the place today. Not reliable data.

It's a peloton feature. It's a function of what zone your hr is in and for how long.

When doing a power zone ride, you're supposed to keep your output in the various zones. Here's the question…I've never done an ftp test so how does it decide what my ftp is and my zones?

You manually input a number. If you don't, or don't take the tfp test, I don't think you'll have the power zone bar telling you what zone you're in, so you'll have to guess based on feel.

Every power zone class, whoever is doing the class will help you find your zones for the day. There's always a build to do that.

But once you do a couple classes, it's well worth doing the ftp test so the power bar will be setup on your screen.

Fedup said:

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When doing a power zone ride, you're supposed to keep your output in the various zones. Here's the question…I've never done an ftp test so how does it decide what my ftp is and my zones?

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If you put the power zone bar on in your options without selecting an FTP or taking a test, it will offer up a value for you that is probably just an average based on your age and gender. There is a program called discovering your power zones that will walk you through the whole power zone concept and ends with an ftp test. If you are relatively new on the bike, I would do the DYPZ program. Otherwise, take a few PZ endurance classes to get into the concept, and maybe take a Power Zone class (not Power Zone Endurance or Power Zone Max...just Power Zone) to get a glimpse at what zones 4&5 look like, then take an FTP test.

When you do take the FTP test, do a good solid warmup. I use the 15 min ftp warmup, but you can also do a 10 min warmup or a 10 min low impact and a 10 min warmup back to back. Just be ready to be mid to high in your perceived zone 4 as soon as the test starts.

Did the Kendall Toole 45 min Bon Jovi ride today.

Music was great and she hit the best songs they have.

Ride was rough...Every song was basically a hill climb with one hill having the option to go up to 90 resistance.

Set a PR by just about 10% over my best PZ ride (It was a CVV ride).

It was good to do a ride like that, but it wouldn't be enjoyable to do that week in and out. Just throwing high resistance on and standing while riding would be somewhat boring to me.

TraditionsPD said:

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I did the same… it has taken me 3 weeks to get back where I was.

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Same. I kept working out, but at a much lower amount during the end of August and first half of September (both in volume and intensity). The last 3 weeks have been brutal trying to get back. So much so that I had to drop down to Z2 for the last 15-20 min. Saturday's 60 min. PZE ride for the first time ever. Needless to say that I was afraid of W2R1 this morning and having to go back and forth between Z3 & Z4 in 15 min. blocks. Thankfully I think I may be over the hump as I was able to complete the whole ride without any extraordinary efforts like what were required the last few weeks.

On a tangential note, is it just me or has the intensity of the recent PZP challenges ramped up a lot faster than previous challenges? I don't remember doing any Z4 work on W2 of previous challenges.

I think since this is an 8 week there is a lighter week in the middle so the intensity will drop back down after next week. ***i think***

TraditionsPD said:

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I think since this is an 8 week there is a lighter week in the middle so the intensity will drop back down after next week. ***i think***

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Yeah, the 8 week challenges usually ramp up faster, because week 4 is usually a recovery week. The 6 week challenge we just completed had no recovery week, so it ramped up slower over the 6 weeks.

I also thought W2R1 was more difficult than I remember week 2 being

Marked safe from W2R1

Have to squeeze in W2R1 tonight, not looking forward to it.

Please pardon my ignorance, what are these challenges that keep getting referred to?

Vince Blake said:

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Please pardon my ignorance, what are these challenges that keep getting referred to?

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There is a group called the Power Zone Pack (www.pzpack.com. They setup 6-8 week "challenges" involving structured training using the power zone rides in Peloton's on-demand library. You can sign up and get assigned to a team for accountability, or you can just do the challenges on your own. They are setup as 3 ride or 4 ride per week challenges, with an "accelerator ride" available each week for those who want just one more. The 6 week challenges are generally one block that ramps to a peak intensity in week 5, while the 8 week challenges generally ramp up for 3 week, have a recovery week, then ramp up in intensity more to peak in week 7.

Before you start the challenge, you are highly encouraged to take an FTP test ride so you make sure your power zones are set accurately, and then the last ride of each challenge is an FTP test ride so you can see how much your FTP has increased over the course of the challenge. It is very effective structured training and can be fun to have a team there to talk with about it and share accountability.

Awesome! Thank you so much. I will definitely look into this.

I've fallen off the Peloton wagon pretty badly this year and the challenges are a good way of building some community around it (in addition to the lovely folks here), each "team" will have a Facebook group and share workout graphs and whatnot.

So I've been in my two weeks off before the PZ program I'm doing starts back up.

I've been trying out some of the other rides since I'll be so focused on PZ.

It's been amazing to see my outputs on some of the other rides be so far above what I'm achieving in PZ and not in a bad way. I think back to what Wilpers says about PZ training and how you train that way so that when you're in a race, you've got the strength and speed to blow by the competition. Given I've PR'd in my 30 and 45 minute workouts by 10-25%, it certainly seems to be the case.

AgLiving06 said:

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So I've been in my two weeks off before the PZ program I'm doing starts back up.

I've been trying out some of the other rides since I'll be so focused on PZ.

It's been amazing to see my outputs on some of the other rides be so far above what I'm achieving in PZ and not in a bad way. I think back to what Wilpers says about PZ training and how you train that way so that when you're in a race, you've got the strength and speed to blow by the competition. Given I've PR'd in my 30 and 45 minute workouts by 10-25%, it certainly seems to be the case.

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Yeah, the racers call it "building a base" in your aerobic fitness. The way they do it is what are called LSD rides. Long slow distance. It is amazing how much faster you can get by riding longer and longer at well below your threshhold. The Zone 2 and Zone 3 stuff that is the backbone of the PZE rides gives you a much stronger base to build from. It is amazing how well it works. My only problem with doing non-PZ rides now is figuring out where I am supposed to be riding when they aren't giving zone cues. I find myself bored with them unless it is a climb or something really short and intense like a Kendall metal ride or one of Alex's rides to greatness.