Gears, Speed, Cadence for Z4/Z5
I train with heart rate zones. Is it better to use higher gears with slightly lower cadence or slightly lower gears with higher cadence to hit Zones 4 and 5. Using the higher gears requires more leg strength and seems to recruit more muscle fibers in this way. Of course, you can certainly feel the burn just trying to hit a higher speed in the lower gears. Perhaps the easiest approach is to focus on speed and use a combination of gears to "get faster?" I generally shoot for 90RPM. Appreciate the input.
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@ Arun...I come from a running background, and have found that cycling @ a higher rpm "feels" more like running to me. So my normal cadence is 90-95. But over the last 2 years I've learned to ride in a higher gear, low rpm (60) to simulate high climbing. I've noticed my HR will be about 3-4 bpm lower in higher gear & lower rpm @ the same watt level than riding @ 90-95 rpms.
My 1st OS with EN I trained with HR on the bike. I usually rode @ 90-95 rpms while doing Z4 Z5 stuff, and it worked fine. I saw a nice 13% improvement in my training zones. So I would expect good results for you too. Now I used power but I'm constantly changing the gear & rpms combinations within an interval while keeping the watts at the target level to better simulate rolling hills and to break up the mental grid of the interval.
I think the "official" EN guidance in the OS is to not worry about cadence...just use whatever combination of gearing & rpm allows you to do the intervals as best you can. Coach Rich had a recent post about this.
@Arun if your in MA and doing all your bikes inside thes winter on a trainer you really should consider virtual power with trainerroad.com at 10$ per month you could get jan-April for 40$! Absolutely worth it. Word of caution is after that you will find a way to get power!
Cadence is personal preference. Most believe 80-100 is good. I naturally gravitate to around 90. Slower works the muscles more and faster works the heart more.
We all have different bundles of muscle fibers. They have a mix of slow/fast twitch fibers in that bundle and throughout a workout you want to incorporate an effect that will stimulate them all for reaching out and developing as to what you are trying to get them to do.
That is why there is the ladder effect of Z1 - Z5 work that has different times associated with each set for growth and development.
Truth.
On the trainer I generally end up around 87-90 for z3 and z4 work, and 90-95 for z5. I don't really target that but rather it ends up that way. Every so often I'll be about to crack on an interval and when that happens I can usually go up a gear, lower my cadence by about 5-6 rpm and get the interval done. That is how I cheat the HR limitation my body throws at me on bad days!!