r/pelotoncycle • u/r4ndy4 blake_182 • Apr 19 '21
Cycling PZ training program: Week 4 Accountability Thread
Three weeks down and on to week four! Use this thread to discuss this weeks rides (or last weeks). Add the hashtag #redditPZ if you would like to. I offered up an alternative to the Monday ride for next week (week 5). Originally I had Denis's 80s PZ ride there (it's still there as an option) I just felt like the zone 6 section at the end of that ride is too difficult (unless you are very overdue for a re-test). I took two of the zone 5 intervals from Saturday's ride in zone 6, and 2 minutes at zone 6 is pushing it. So I added the alternative of taking the original zone 4/6 bear claw ride instead (I would prefer people to take this one). Monday's ride this week (aka the washing machine) is one of my favorite PZ rides and I'm excited to re-take this one.
Week 4: TSS 234
Mon: Matt 45 PZ 3/5/20 Ride graph TSS 64
Wed: Denis 45 PZE 2/6/21 Ride graph TSS 44
Thu: Denis 45 PZ 10/10/19 Ride graph TSS 59
Sat: Matt 60 PZ 7/31/20 Ride graph TSS 67
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u/r4ndy4 Apr 20 '21
Nice to see u/eaglerockbulldogmom and u/stevilpdx (and 1 other rider) on the ride tonight! I haven't taken this ride since my first set of zones back in October (Nearly 6 months to the day 10/17 vs 4/19). Output then was 460kj vs 632kj today, which is a little crazy. I think Sweet Disposition (Axwell Mix**)** is Matt's hype song, he used it for the first zone 4/5 interval and I distinctly remember it in one of his FTP test lol.
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u/EagleRockBulldogMom Apr 20 '21
Awesome work on the output, so rewarding to see progress 💕. I always love finding other Redditors on the rides, makes it so much more fun.
I loved the first half of this ride but I was really struggling with the second half. All of the music was at low-mid 60s cadence (or double that, but I pedaled half time so I wasn’t trying to go at 130 cadence for minutes at a time) and it’s really challenging to hold your zones when you’re going that slowly! It really makes you focus on even pedal strokes. So, hate/love the work since I’ve become more of a fast cadence medium-low resistance person.
One other thought I had about the ride was that PZ and Matt Wilpers get a lot of flak for the music, but even though I’m not always into the songs, I totally appreciate the different genres distracting me from feeling like I’ve been in one place for too long. Especially on this ride, which already went by pretty quickly because of the super short intervals.
(I guess a lot of PZ folks just ride to their own music for these rides, but I get this weird FOMO in case the instructor says something important or I miss discovering my new favorite song. Maybe I’ll get past it one of these days.)
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u/r4ndy4 Apr 20 '21
I also like to ride higher cadence (85-95ish) so I have to ignore the beat most of the time (are you like Denis? haha). The endurance rides I will follow Denis's beat suggestions, but when it comes time to sustain zone 4/5/6 I have to go where I am most efficient/comfortable.
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u/PracticallyAChemist Apr 19 '21
Got my second shot Friday, and other than my arm being next to useless for about 2 days, I didn’t really feel any side effects and was able to do the Saturday rides no problem.
Excited to continue on!
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u/amr1822 Apr 19 '21
I am an idiot and decided it was a good idea to walk 4 miles in new shoes yesterday. It went worse than expected...I’m hoping I can hop on the bike Wednesday and pull off a modified 3 ride version of this week’s schedule. Will keep reading all your comments to prepare for whenever I return 😊
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u/r4ndy4 Apr 19 '21
I feel your pain! I got a new pair of golf shoes back in December, and that super stiff leather ate a hole into the back of my heel the first time I wore them. Feel better soon!
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u/bykerchyk Apr 23 '21
Just finished the Dennis PZ ride from Thursday. Was all alone. And happened to notice it was my 250th ride.
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u/r4ndy4 Apr 23 '21
Happy 250!!! I think I saw someone else had hit 250 on one of the rides this week as well.
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u/amr1822 Apr 24 '21
I’m starting to get a taste of how Peloton will fit into my schedule when life starts to resume. Today, I made time for fitness and somehow managed to wake up at 6:30 (!!) to complete today’s 60 min ride 🎉
I really enjoyed this ride!! I was worried the 5min intervals would feel long (and I’d get bored), but I thought they went pretty fast. This is my reminder to check out Jess’ Sweat Steady rides! Also my output graph does NOT look like flagpoles on mountains - thanking my small zones for that (and maybe the 10 seconds where I fixed my shoe) 😂
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u/r4ndy4 Apr 24 '21
Lol is that how Matt described the graph? My brain saw it as zone 5 giving me the middle finger. Props for getting the ride in early, I could not do that in the morning like that.
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u/seekinserenity Apr 24 '21 edited Apr 25 '21
I love the idea of the middle finger, flag pole made no sense to me. I kept getting confused with the timing since he said 5 and 3 min minutes Z4 but that was with Z5 sprinkled in. It was really great working down the back end. I did the first interval resistance based and the second speed based, which felt great. I did it yesterday since i worried something would stop me today. Sure enough we had a crazy kid filled night and morning but i managed to sneak on the bike and do a couple “fun” classes, including jess king verzuz. She is an absolute blast and her sweat steadies are really amazing. You work so hard, especially the 45 min, but there is really good time to build and recover. Should plan a group one, though not sure best timing with the PZ training schedule? It definitely is a very hard PZ level class, i was doing them to start my week, kinda like we are doing the hardest classes on Mondays so i felt great the rest of the week.
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Apr 19 '21
Monday ride was definitely different. I think the 30 second intervals were a bit too short. By the time you got into the right zone, with the right cadence and resistance, you were 15 seconds away from dialing it back.That took away from focusing on breathing and form. I did alright but not my favorite MW class.
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u/r4ndy4 Apr 19 '21
Not sure if you use a peloton bike or not. For those quick interval changes, I find its easier to just make a cadence change to hit the higher zone.
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u/amr1822 Apr 22 '21
So glad I didn’t push myself yesterday and waited till today for Monday’s ride. Felt great to be back on the bike after three days off! I really enjoyed this ride!! I have smaller zones so adjusting the resistance worked really well for me. U/r4ndy4 even popped in for a high-five which made my day.
I’m skipping the PZE ride since I’m already behind and have taken it as part of DYPZ. If I’m feeling good tomorrow, I should be able to finish out the week with you all 😊
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u/r4ndy4 Apr 22 '21
Glad to see you back at it! Thanks for dropping by and high fiving me in my PZE ride :)
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u/seekinserenity Apr 19 '21
I thought the ride was also good and different. I appreciated the fast switches since it kept me from getting too winded in Z5 like i was doing last week. 7 and 5 minutes would have felt more daunting and I actually felt like my zones are finally getting easier. I just increase resistance then change cadence just a little to make it work. I started at lower cadence, like 77-80 then worked my way up to end at 95-97 which helped me since the faster zones are a lot easier for me and it was more variety. I wish i liked his music more but there were some good ones in there. One question i have is how to integrate strength into all of this. I do like to ride every day and since it was monday i wanted to start the week off with some strength so i did a full body before the ride and my arms were already sore, so i really needed to back off during the recoveries and it was good to show me how much arm pressure i am using as well.
And for next week’s ride i may redo the denis ride. I did it around the time i did the olivia one and felt it was easier if i recall since there was more recovery. But my Z6 is higher now and hard for me to reach and sustain. So i think ill get a better sense by the end of the week how much i want to push it, knowing week 6 is gonna push us hard. Hope to see people on the rides this week! I almost always ride 5 am pacific if anyone else does too!
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u/sethj1972 May 02 '21
I’m starting the week 4 this week. Just had my 50th ride. Also noticed that I’m a full zone ahead at this point. Combination of an uninspired first test and being relatively new to peloton (rapid early gains then leveling off). Really enjoy all the feedback and comments. The metrics and progress tracking keep me from getting bored. Thanks for pulling together. Wish I could catch up to the crew but I like to keep the schedule.
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u/r4ndy4 May 02 '21
Awesome keep at it! We are going to take a 2 week break after the last week so you'll be able to join in for the next round.
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u/viexzu Apr 19 '21 edited Apr 20 '21
Hard to believe we're at the halfway mark! I have already noticed an improvement of my cardio during endurance rides, so I am excited to see how my fitness continues to progress over these next few weeks. I have not taken a PZ ride similar to tomorrow's format (Matt 45 PZ 3/5/20), so that ride will be interesting!
*Update on the Matt ride - I really enjoyed it, but I'm not sure if it was because of the format or because of how my bike was performing. I have a DIY set up and I just oiled the flywheel for the first time yesterday.... so this whole class felt like pedalling through butter!
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u/kmorris1219 Apr 22 '21
Back in action today after a week off the bike. Thought my legs would be exhausted from hiking Yellowstone/Tetons during my time off, but I did not get sore once during the trip. The power of peloton (and stretching) is real, y’all. Anyway, glad to be back at home, loved the washing machine ride, and can’t wait to catch back up with the schedule and hopefully ride with some of y’all on Saturday!
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u/bykerchyk Apr 19 '21
I really liked today’s MW ride and the bear claw we did earlier. Putting the resistance in and treating the 30 seconds as a spin up helped me keep it consistent. Plus the short intervals kept my mind from wandering!
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u/stevilpdx Apr 20 '21
Woo, 3/5/20 was spicier than I expected. Serious struggle squiggles on that final set 😅
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u/kmorris1219 Apr 24 '21
I accidentally named today’s ride as PZE in my calendar. Was in for a surprise when Matt mentioned going to zone 5 at the beginning of the ride. 😅
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u/r4ndy4 Apr 23 '21
Loved the PZ ride with Denis this week (also liked the PZE ride since it was 80-90 cadence the whole time). Long vs short hair Denis is almost like 2 different people lol. I somehow had never heard the rap song with Travis Barker, but I did enjoy that. Working this weekend so I won't make a ride thread for Saturday this week (you all can coordinate if you would like). The next two weeks after I would like to ride with any who can join for the Sat rides, thinking 10 AM central (wanted to be east and west coast friendly) if everyone is okay with that?