How many zones ?

[diegogarcia]

Hi there,

Having a moment of confusion about how many zones to run on my PM set up.

Bought a Wahoo Elemnt as a treat and moved my 520 on. I can run 6,7 or 8 zones on the wahoo. I have been re-reading allen & coggans book again and they use 7 zones n this book which many consider to be the bible, but on training peaks Coggans method is 6 zones. But, I do use strava and have come to realise that the power metrics converted to Strava are out of whack with everything else.

Strava uses 7 zones but academic as you cannot actually transposes your zones as it over-rides them. Strava is a useful tool with mates though.

Should I run 6 or 7 - ultimately what are the differences ? 7 zones adds in 'foundation' miles and 'steady state' and 'climbing repeats' which I suspect are actually aerobic threshold, lactate threshold and aerobic capacity. To my mind 6 zones seems simpler, but why throw in 7 ?

The more I learn about power, the more complex it gets ! I am just training for life and enjoy my cycling and power has been a constant for some time now, but this has tripped me up. Ultimately, I enjoy data but the simpler the better I suppose hence 6 zones appealing.

Thanks.

[stuh]

I think you're over thinking it, especially if this is is just training for life and enjoyment. I'm personally on 6 zone on my element and in training peaks. All my workouts have set power targets and I typically aim to hit that regardless of what zone its in.

The only time I'm really conscious of "zones" is when I'm climbing on a long ride and I'm maybe starting to push a bit too much (according to the elements LEDs)

The power you're outputting is the number, whatever zone its in is just a post-classification.

[stuh]

.

[diegogarcia]

I think you're over thinking it, especially if this is is just training for life and enjoyment. I'm personally on 6 zone on my element and in training peaks. All my workouts have set power targets and I typically aim to hit that regardless of what zone its in.

The only time I'm really conscious of "zones" is when I'm climbing on a long ride and I'm maybe starting to push a bit too much (according to the elements LEDs)

The power you're outputting is the number, whatever zone its in is just a post-classification.

OK - so the answer is 6. Thanks.

[c60rider]

The most recent is suggesting 9 zones with a 4a and 7a making an appearance but it's just getting silly. 6 is more than enough. Recovery, endurance, sweet spot, threshold, V02 max and sprint

[diegogarcia]

The most recent is suggesting 9 zones with a 4a and 7a making an appearance but it's just getting silly. 6 is more than enough. Recovery, endurance, sweet spot, threshold, V02 max and sprint

I suspected as much, hence the question. Thanks for the answer. I appreciate it. The wahoo is an excellent training tool. Yes, can all say it does what the Garmin did, but the Garmin an excellent bike computer, the wahoo a brilliant visual training tool. Very pleased and super easy to get the data you want on the fly.

[reedplayer]

The most recent is suggesting 9 zones with a 4a and 7a making an appearance but it's just getting silly. 6 is more than enough. Recovery, endurance, sweet spot, threshold, V02 max and sprint

yes, but endurance is commonly splitted in two differing zones (L2 and L3), so we ultimately end up with 7 zones.

[charlieboy52000]

6 zones.


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[charlieboy52000]

The most recent is suggesting 9 zones with a 4a and 7a making an appearance but it's just getting silly. 6 is more than enough. Recovery, endurance, sweet spot, threshold, V02 max and sprint

Solid!


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[Rubik]

I wouldn't get wrapped up in it. Zones are just marketing fluff. Your body doesn't know anything about zones, and physiology (and everything) acts along a continuum anyway.

Besides, if you're doing a workout, you should have a number you're shooting for anyway. Do you really need a 40-50 watt buffer for that? Want to do 300 watts for 20 minutess? Keep it close to 300. After you do it a few times it really does become pretty easy (though maybe not physically easy!).

Same thing for an easy ride, or a short segment, or whatever. No need for zones in the least.

[Connor]

I work with 6 and it seems to work fairly well for me