Id love to hear the collective wisdom on this, but how long should a Zone 2 training session really be? We all know the traditional wisdom says 2-3 hours, but Ive been seeing a lot of coaches and riders swearing by shorter sessions, even as short as 30 minutes, claiming thats all you need to get the benefits of Zone 2 without the drawbacks of excessive fatigue.
Now, Im not talking about the average Joe who just wants to get in shape for a casual Sunday ride. Im talking about serious riders who are looking to build endurance and increase their lactate threshold. For those riders, is there really a benefit to doing a 3-hour Zone 2 ride, or are they just spinning their wheels (pun intended)?
Some coaches claim that the longer you ride in Zone 2, the more your body adapts to burning fat for fuel, which is great for endurance events. But others argue that you can get the same benefits from shorter sessions, and that the longer rides are just a recipe for overtraining.
So, whats the magic number? Is it 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, or 3 hours? Or is it something entirely different? Ive seen some riders doing 4-6 hours of Zone 2 riding per week, broken up into shorter sessions, and claiming thats the key to their success. But Ive also seen riders who swear by the traditional 2-3 hour sessions, and theyre doing just fine.
Im not looking for a one-size-fits-all answer here. I just want to know what the collective wisdom is on this. Whats the optimal duration for a Zone 2 training session, and why?