Originally Posted by
rsbob
Have been a doing a bit of reading and video watching and it appears that the current approach toward training for most athletes is the ladder or pyramid. I keep running into this methodology which is contrary to what I have been doing, which is always push myself except when really exhausted then take it very easy. So now it will be zone 1-2 four days and do zone 5 two days and a rest day. Have also started measuring resting heart rate when I first awaken to determine if I may be overdoing it. Also trying, like today, to take a complete day off - except for weights, core and shoulders/arms. Have always resisted a structured program, but now is the time to give it a shot.
Did a heavy Zwift session the day before yesterday with an average HR for an hour and a half of 160, staying in threshold and tempo the entire time. Started feeling twinges in my chest which have since stopped. Had the same thing occur when I first got Zwift two years ago and went absolutely crazy pushing myself and ended up getting a EKG and other studies to see if I was damaging myself. All the results came back negative but didn’t like having those minor pains, so backed way off. Looks like running my heart that hard for so long is not a good idea as my body is telling me it is not happy so will moderate my efforts to either decrease duration or effort.
I would recommend following a good structured training plan. Either from an app like TrainerRoad, SYSTM or a suitable plan from Training Peaks. Obviously something age/riding style/time specific. A good structured plan should be annual based with periodisation, including any key cycling events in your calendar.
I do a lot of unstructured riding too, but I find following a structured plan helps to keep it all sustainable over the long term and consistent training is the key. There's no point in for example thrashing yourself to death on Zwift for several weeks until you can hardly move or just plodding around aimlessly without riding hard for months on end. Once I started training with a purpose in 2019 I made more gains over the first winter than I had in the previous decade of just random riding around.