Training Philosophy: How We Build Endurance Athletes
Continuity and smart intensity management. Zone 2 builds the foundation — 1–2 quality sessions per week build the capacity.
Core Principles
The most important thing in endurance training isn't individual sessions — it's continuity, smart weekly structure, and making the most of your time. Principles that work over time, combined with the flexibility to adjust training around your life, give maximum results.
Zone 2 training is essential in the program. Zone 2 builds the foundation — muscular endurance and the capacity to absorb training. Quality sessions build the capacity on top. Together they create development, while leaving room for bad weeks without the foundation crumbling.
Our structure is built around 1–2 interval sessions per week plus a solid base of zone 2. The control comes from smart intensity management and thoughtful session combinations. We use zone 2, sweetspot, threshold, over-threshold, and VO2max — but everything must be combined correctly for development. An optimal combination allows plenty of quality training and recovery. And not least — it's much more fun to train with fresh legs!
Five Pillars
- Continuous training over time — quality training week after week, month after month
- Zone 2 — correct use, volume, and intensity gives an extra boost, combined with good recovery
- 1–2 quality sessions per week — from threshold to VO2max, where capacity is built
- Recovery is training — adaptation happens during rest, not during intervals
- Zone 2 and above burns a lot of calories — with enough carbohydrate you can handle the volume and intensity, and get the effect
The Fixed-Flexible Week
To control the load in the program, we use a principle we call 'the fixed-flexible week'. It rests on one idea: the order of the sessions is what matters most. You choose the days you want to train and can train, and the program adapts so the sessions fall in the right order and with the right total load. The result is a smart, thoughtful program that fits your everyday life.
We follow the structure: easy → interval → zone 2. Zone 2 is used as a tool to add extra quality training while also creating room for recovery. Zone 2 gives what we call 'fake volume', and an essential development of the muscles' endurance and capacity to absorb training. It also ensures that the next easy day and interval day fall on days that suit you — intensity, volume, and the number of zone 2 sessions move the next rest and interval day to the timing you want. In this way we secure both recovery and quality training.
The most important outcome of the program structure is fresh legs on interval days. We ensure this with several days of zone 2 training (which provides some recovery) and easy training or rest the day before interval sessions. This is a key point, because fresh legs on interval days let you give more, feel better, and — on every interval session — give you an honest read on whether the body has reserves and is in good shape, or not. With a program of fixed (and possibly too many) hard sessions and hard days, you risk not knowing whether you're recovered enough, and gradually training yourself into the ground. Each week we know whether the body is recovered and how much load it can handle. All of this is easy to adjust with our training programs.
Example Weeks
| Day | 3 sessions | 5 sessions (A) | 5 sessions (B) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | Rest | Rest | Rest |
| Tue | Zone 2 40 min + 3×4 min VO2max | VO2max 70 min | VO2max 70 min |
| Wed | Rest | Zone 2 60 min | Zone 2 60 min |
| Thu | Threshold 60 min | Rest | Zone 2 60 min |
| Fri | Rest | Threshold 75 min | Zone 2 60 min |
| Sat | Zone 2 60 min | Long ride 2.5h | Easy / rest |
| Sun | Rest | Zone 2 60 min | Zone 2 40 min + threshold 40 min |
More time = more zone 2 and longer sessions, not more intervals. Less time = combined zone 2 and intervals. From 3 to 20 hours per week, it's the volume that grows while 1–2 quality sessions remain the core.
Zones and Session Types
The training zones are anchored to FTP (Functional Threshold Power ≈ threshold) — the wattage you can hold all-out for roughly one hour. FTP gives every session a shared reference point, so the intensity scales to your level. If you don't know your FTP, you can estimate it from several different control workouts depending on what you prefer — read more about FTP testing here. Perceived effort is also an excellent tool for managing intensity, and helps you work with the body rather than against it. Heart rate and lactate work too. We've put together an overview of how the zones relate across watts, perceived effort, heart rate, and lactate — see zone calculator.
Zone 2 — 64–80% of FTP
Builds muscular endurance. The intensity is low enough that you can train for many hours without demanding much recovery. Long sessions (2+ hours) sit in the lower part of the zone; short sessions (60 min) in the middle or upper part near LT1, depending on the program. Example: 3×20 min or 60 min continuous.
Sweetspot — 82–90% of FTP
Improves lactate clearance at moderate load. Long efforts below threshold give a solid stimulus without burying you, and the body recovers quickly. Central to base building together with zone 2. Example: 3×15 min.
Threshold — 95–105% of FTP
Builds capacity and the ability to work hard over time. Longer intervals at lactate threshold teach the body to work hard without accumulating too much lactate. Long efforts are preferred for building the foundation. Typically 6–20 min reps. Example: 3×12 min / 4 min rest.
VO2max — 110–120% of FTP
Builds top-end capacity and maximum oxygen uptake. Short, hard efforts. Example: 5×4 min / 3 min rest.
Zone 2: The Tool That Carries the Program
Training load can be raised in several ways: more volume, longer interval sessions, more interval sessions, more zone 2 volume, or harder zone 2 sessions. The difference lies in the risk and the effect on recovery. More interval sessions raise the load but also raise the chance of overtraining and illness. Longer intervals and more zone 2 are easier to dial up without demanding significantly more recovery. The total load of the program is most easily managed by adjusting zone 2 volume up or down, not by adding or removing interval sessions.
Zone 2 does more than fill the time between intervals. The intensity is low enough that the body recovers between interval sessions. A day of threshold intervals needs 1–2 days of recovery. A day of zone 2 needs at most one day, and nothing extra if you're already in recovery from an interval day.
The muscles develop over time through regular zone 2 sessions, and the legs start to feel strong. It isn't strength in the traditional sense, but endurance in the legs — the ability to pedal evenly for a long time without emptying out. After a few months of consistent zone 2 training, you feel it: longer rides come easier, interval sessions are absorbed better, and you can raise total volume without digging yourself into a hole.
Zone 2's role shifts through the year, but it never disappears. In the base period it is the bulk of training time and builds the foundation. When the season starts, it maintains that foundation and secures recovery between races and hard sessions. In recovery weeks it works as active rest — keeping the aerobic system ticking without adding load.
Together with interval sessions, zone 2 covers two essential energy systems. Zone 2 trains fat oxidation; interval sessions (sweetspot, threshold, VO2max) train lactate processing at high load and top-end capacity. Neither does the job on its own — it's the combination that builds the form you're after. Read more about how zone 2 training affects the body physiologically here.
Progression: How You Build Over Time
The body adapts to load, but only if it gets time to absorb it. The program combines weeks of lighter load with weeks of heavier load. The hard weeks deliver a solid stimulus, but the easy weeks can be necessary to secure enough recovery. In the easy week you keep the weekly structure, but reduce the number of intervals and focus more on zone 2. It's in the easy weeks that the adaptations consolidate. Skip them, and you lose the effect of the preceding weeks.
The weekly structure stays in place all year. What changes is the content of the sessions. In the base period, sweetspot and zone 2 dominate and build the foundation. Further into the season, threshold and VO2max gradually take over, because the body now tolerates that load. It's the base that makes this transition possible. Without it, harder intervals would only wear you down, not develop you.
Recovery, Nutrition and Load Management
Sleep and nutrition are the most important recovery tools. Overtraining in recreational athletes rarely comes from volume alone. The combination of high intensity, life stress and too little sleep is what wears the body down. When sleep is short, the training program has to be adjusted accordingly, and the hard sessions in particular are difficult to recover from. In those cases, our zone-2-heavy programs are the safest option. Read more about sleep and recovery here.
Endurance training demands a lot of energy. A 60–90 minute zone 2 session burns 500–800 kcal, and interval sessions even more per minute. Without enough carbohydrate, the body can't recover between sessions. The result is a gradual drop in quality: heavy legs on intervals, zone 2 sessions feeling harder than they should, and progress stalling. The rule is simple: eat enough carbohydrate to support the training you actually do. That means plenty of carbohydrate before, during and after hard sessions, and enough total calories that you're not running down your reserves week after week. Read more about nutrition here.
Strength Training, Running and Strength Pedaling
Strength training and running can be good supplements to your training, combined with the program in the right way. Strength training also demands recovery, and is best placed on the interval day or the zone 2 days to ensure enough recovery on the easy days. Read more about strength training here. Running has similar issues, so any running on the easy days must stay easy. Zone 2 running is still something we recommend in a program, for variety and health, read more about running in your training program here.
Strength pedaling is an alternative way to feel stronger on the bike, even though what it really builds is muscular endurance and load tolerance in the muscles — but it gives the feeling that the legs are strong. It is trained at low cadence on the bike, at zone 2 up to threshold watts, which produces high force per pedal stroke. That gives muscular load that would otherwise require harder and longer sessions, packed into a short workout. Read more about strength pedaling here.
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