Drop off in power on longer rides

DrumcDub1

Predominately train 4-5 times a week, typically all less than 90 mins. Worked hard over the last couple of years and saw good increases (relative to my starting point!) in FTP. My understanding was one could essentially ride in zone 2 for hours on end but I've noticed that when I do longer rides, say in excess of 3 hours, my power really falls off a cliff. Heart rate fine but power way done.

Any experience with this and how do I improve it, is it as simple as make sure to build in at least 1x 'longer ride' each week?

this.lad

Does your power drop significantly as you're riding or is it when you look back your 1 hour power, 2 hour power etc are lower?

Those power curves aren't a reflection of power over time but a plot of your average or notional power for a specific duration. 5sec, 10 sec, ..... 1 hr, 2 hr etc. They can look like your power tails off but that's not necessarily the case.

beggars_bush

Could be fueling? You need the occasional zone 3 tempo spin to help your zone 2 training

DrumcDub1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122352438#Comment_122352438

When riding i.e find it a lot easier to do upper zone 2 in first half of a ride than second half. Almost struggling to hold onto zone 2 in second half despite heart rate being okay.

Can't tell if it's just lack of volume/longer rides or fueling etc as someone else suggested

nilhg

Upper Z2 isn't exactly easy riding for 3 hours and it sounds to me (all the usual caveats apply here as to my qualifications to give you advice) that you don't have a big enough base yet to do them comfortably. 3 hours is considerably more than the 90 minute spins you're used to, especially if you carry in some fatigue from a harder session a few days before

I would suggest though that you do them based on HR rather than power until you feel yourself getting stronger or at the very least drop the power to something that's sustainable for the 3 hours.

As a matter of interest how have to calculated your FTP and therefore your Z2, if it's just off one 20 minute test then there could be quite a lot of room for error in how your top of Z2 is estimated compared to what a lab test would show.

Bambaata

You could well be riding above where you think and a lack of longer rides will definitely impact you. I suppose it depends on your goals. If you need to improve in those longer rides for your goals then there's no way you can avoid the longer rides but if your goals are for sub 90 mins efforts then you might not need to change much, other than perhaps dialling back the power a bit.

Junior

Obvious question, when and how were your zones defined ?

mcburns07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122352519#Comment_122352519

I'm not sure if it would be volume if you're doing ~5 hours a week.

Its going to be one of or a combination of insufficient fuelling, ill-defined power zones, fatigue resistance / familiarity with riding for longer. If you have the time I would definitely recommend a 3-4 hour ride once a week, invaluable for building fitness.

How are you defining your heart rate zones? You can't go wrong with monitoring your breathing really, if you can't comfortably hold a conversation you're not in zone 2.

Hi Ho

what you describe is perfectly normal. Check out ‘cardiac drift’ and/or ‘aerobic decoupling’ - this is what is happening. How soon it happens depends on the intensity of your effort Vs your aerobic fitness.

Dr.Tom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058358698/drop-off-in-power-on-longer-rides

What is your fueling like before and during a 3hr ride? Id start there and analyze that first before getting caught up in zone analysis.