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Not All Zone 2 Is Created Equal: The Science Behind Cycling’s Latest Training Trend

There is a new trend in professional cycling: structured Zone 2 intervals. Littered across Strava, TrainingPeaks, and Instagram, you will find riders doing 10x10min, and 5x20min, and 3x60min Zone 2 intervals. Why not just ride 4-5 hours in Zone 2? What are the benefits of doing structured Zone 2 intervals, if there are any? Those are the questions that I set out to answer in this article. Let’s dive in.

Why Zone 2 Matters

A quick refresher on Zone 2: most coaches, riders, and physiologists agree that “Zone 2” is the upper part of your aerobic threshold. This is the point at which the rate of blood lactate increases significantly. Once you start riding above Zone 2, your effort becomes much harder. Fatigue and soreness can be felt in your legs, your breathing is more labored, sweat rate increases, and the effort eventually becomes unsustainable.

If you were to ride 1-2 hours in Zone 2, assuming you are well-trained and fueling properly, you will feel nearly the same at the end of the ride as you did at the beginning. This…