Beer Drinkers' Appreciation Society (BDAS) 2020 Version - ALWAYS OPEN (Page 34)

For Zone 3/4, shorter intervals don't produce much training benefit (other than maybe when you're starting out, as it is getting your body ready for harder stuff).  For zone 3 the value starts at like 20 minutes or so, for zone 4 more like 10 minutes.  Again, HR = lagging indicator so for the beginning of your interval set it's best to go by RPE, as that HR for zone 3/4 takes a LONG time to get up to match the effort.  And outdoors is even worse because managing consistent output is so hard due to hills, wind, stop/start, etc.

Try lengthening to 15 minutes, then do a 2' rest, then do it again.  If your HR still isn't getting up there then you're not riding in zone 3/4, maybe more like higher zone 2 but because you've had a gap in hard training you're just not used to the effort level (i.e. suffering LOL). 

And don't overthinking it!    The most important part is getting out there consistently.

42 miles for me on Saturday in and around a state park, mostly flat but crushed the one hill, setting PRs for wattage from 17 to 55 seconds.  Did a really easy recovery effort yesterday with a 2+ mile walk, 30 minutes easy on the trainer and some core work.  Planned day off today.  Back in the pool Wednesday morning - woohoo!!!!!! 

@DQ:  Tempo is zone 3, which is 70-82ish% of your FTP.  Tempo should feel moderately hard, like you know you can't do it all day but you could conceivably handle it for more than hour.  HIM race-pace is usually zone 3 for really experienced riders.

As for getting HR up, I'm wondering if your HR monitor is off.  Are you breathing hard after a ten minute interval?  If so, then you're probably in zone 4 at least.  If you're not, then you'll need to ride harder and maybe your limiter is leg strength vs. your cardio system, but for most guys (especially us larger ones) that usually isn't an issue.

That Garmin workout a typical zone 3 workout - zone 3 workouts need to be long to have any benefit.  It's asking you to ride at HIM race pace for 10 minutes, then back off for 3 minutes, then repeat two more times, then finish off with aerobic riding at the end.

It takes a long time to get in tune with your HR/power/RPE.  I've ridden like 25,000 miles the past ten years using HR only, then virtual power and HR, then finally a power meter and HR and I can feel the pressure on my legs and how hard I'm breathing and know more or less my power output and HR.

There's also a school of thought that says just throw all your measurement devices on the end table before you go out and ride and just enjoy it.  Workouts don't need to be perfectly planned and executed.  Says the data junkie with ten plus years of data here on BT. 

This was my morning:

Of course, during swimming my mind wanders and I was thinking about goals for the rest of the year (similar to Gretchen's marathon and DQ's century plans).  Like you all triathletes, my cycling races have all been cancelled (though I hold out hope for one rescheduling into September...) so I wanted something specific to train for besides getting my azz handed to me on Zwift.  I was thinking of doing a self-supported half IM maybe early fall.  Though my back has improved quite a bit over the past year I'm still a little leary of running, at least until the end of the summer, so I'll be walking the HM part.  The good news with that is I can hammer the bike and not worry about having to walk the run!   I know I can get my swim back on track in a couple of months, and I'm already pushing 50 miles on the bike and walking 5-6 miles, just not putting it all together coherently.  More thought on this required...

This was my morning:

Smoothed out 1500 yards in ONLY(!!!) 43 minutes.  LOL  Did a whole bunch of drills as I'm trying to use this opportunity of losing bad habits in my muscle memory and imparting some good ones (you know...like actually kicking...).  I have a feeling I'm going to hurt tomorrow.

Got in 30+ miles in yesterday outside, mostly Z2/Z3 riding but can't help but push a bit on the hills.  It's nice with the weather being warmer and it being light so early - makes the scheduling much more flexible.

Of course, during swimming my mind wanders and I was thinking about goals for the rest of the year (similar to Gretchen's marathon and DQ's century plans).  Like you all triathletes, my cycling races have all been cancelled (though I hold out hope for one rescheduling into September...) so I wanted something specific to train for besides getting my azz handed to me on Zwift.  I was thinking of doing a self-supported half IM maybe early fall.  Though my back has improved quite a bit over the past year I'm still a little leary of running, at least until the end of the summer, so I'll be walking the HM part.  The good news with that is I can hammer the bike and not worry about having to walk the run!   I know I can get my swim back on track in a couple of months, and I'm already pushing 50 miles on the bike and walking 5-6 miles, just not putting it all together coherently.  More thought on this required...