CoachingAnswer

IS ZONE 2 TRAINING ENOUGH FOR MASTERS CYCLISTS?

By Anthony WalshRoadman CyclingUpdated 11 June 2026

ANSWER

No — Zone 2 is necessary but not sufficient for masters cyclists. Easy aerobic riding builds the base everything sits on, and it should make up roughly 80% of your week. But the thing age takes first is the top end — VO2 max, neuromuscular snap, the ability to go hard and recover. Zone 2 does nothing to defend that. After 40 you need the base and a small, protected dose of genuine intensity: one VO2 max session and one threshold session a week, kept in the plan year-round.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Zone 2 should be the majority of a masters week — but majority is not the whole.
What declines fastest after 40 is the top end, and only hard sessions defend it.
The polarised model still holds at 50: a big easy base, a small slice of genuinely hard work.
Dropping intensity to 'protect recovery' is the most common way masters riders quietly slow down.

WHO THIS IS FOR

IS THIS YOU?

The masters rider who went all-in on easy riding

You read about Zone 2, cut out the hard sessions, and your endurance improved — but your sharpness disappeared.

The over-40 cyclist deciding how to spend limited hours

You train 6–10 hours a week and want to know whether intensity is still worth the recovery cost.

THE ROADMAN VIEW

Zone 2 has become the headline of amateur training, and for good reason — most riders genuinely do too much of their easy riding too hard. But the message got flattened on the way down. 'Ride Zone 2' turned into 'only ride Zone 2', and for masters cyclists that is a slow-motion mistake. The base is the foundation. It is not the house.

Anthony has put this directly to Stephen Seiler on the podcast, and the model that comes back is consistent: the best aerobic athletes spend around 80% of their time easy and about 20% genuinely hard. The 80 is what makes the 20 repeatable. But the 20 is not optional padding — it is the part that lifts your ceiling, and the ceiling is exactly what age erodes. A masters rider who keeps the 80 and quietly drops the 20 is training the one quality that holds up well with age and neglecting the one that does not.

The honest answer is that 'is Zone 2 enough' is the wrong question. The right one is 'is my easy easy enough, and is my hard hard enough, and are both still in the plan after 40?' Get the distribution right and Zone 2 becomes the engine that lets you keep doing the hard sessions that actually defend your speed. Skip the hard work and all the base in the world will not stop your top end fading.

EXPERT EVIDENCE

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY

Professor Stephen SeilerExercise physiologist, polarised-training researcher, University of Agder
Across elite endurance athletes the pattern is remarkably stable: roughly 80% of training sits in the easy aerobic zone and about 20% sits well above threshold. The easy volume is what allows the hard sessions to be repeated without breaking down — but the hard sessions are still the stimulus that develops the high end. The grey zone in the middle is where most amateurs lose progress.
Hear it: 80/20 Training to Ride Faster | Dr Stephen Seiler
Joe FrielAuthor of Fast After 50 and The Cyclist's Training Bible
The masters athletes who hold their performance the longest are the ones who keep high-intensity work in the programme. Endurance volume alone preserves the aerobic base but not the top end. After 40 the protocol changes — more recovery, fewer reps — but removing intensity entirely is what accelerates the decline most.
Hear it: The Training Secret To Going FASTER After 40 | Joe Friel

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

DO THIS WEEK

Make your easy days genuinely easy
Hold Zone 2 at 56–75% of FTP — a pace where you can talk in full sentences and breathe mostly through your nose. If you are mouth-breathing on a 'recovery' ride, you have drifted into the grey zone and you are stealing from your hard days.
Protect two hard sessions a week
One VO2 max session (4 x 4 minutes at 95–110% of max aerobic power) and one threshold session (2 x 20 minutes at 95–105% of FTP). Keep both in the plan all year, not just in a build block. These are the sessions that defend the speed age takes first.
Buy the intensity back with recovery
Space hard sessions with two easy days between them, and take a full rest day. The session that worked at 30 needs more recovery around it at 50 — but it still needs to happen. Cut frequency before you cut intensity.

COMMON MISTAKES

WHAT CYCLISTS GET WRONG

MISTAKETreating Zone 2 as the entire programme rather than the base of it.
FIXKeep easy riding as the majority of your week, but ring-fence one VO2 max and one threshold session. Base plus protected intensity, not base alone.
MISTAKERiding the easy days too hard, then being too tired to do the hard days properly.
FIXDiscipline the easy rides down to true Zone 2. The fatigue you save is what lets the two hard sessions hit their targets.
MISTAKEDropping intensity the moment recovery feels harder with age.
FIXReduce how often you go hard, not whether you go hard. Two quality sessions a week, fully recovered, beats four you can never complete.

FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How much of a masters cyclist's week should be Zone 2?

Around 80% of training time should be genuinely easy aerobic riding, with the remaining 20% as hard, structured intensity. The exact split flexes with your hours, but the principle — mostly easy, a little properly hard — holds at every age.

Will Zone 2 alone make me faster after 40?

It will improve your endurance and aerobic efficiency, and for an over-trained rider it can deliver a real jump. But it will not defend your VO2 max or your ability to respond to accelerations. Those need intensity, which Zone 2 does not provide.

How many hard sessions can a masters cyclist handle?

Most masters riders do best with two genuinely hard sessions a week, occasionally three in a focused block. The limit is recovery, not motivation — quality each session matters more than the count.

Is polarised training still right for older cyclists?

Yes. The polarised model — a large easy base and a small slice of high intensity — applies as well after 40 as before it. What changes is the recovery around the hard work, not the shape of the distribution.

If I only have time for Zone 2 or intervals, which wins?

Neither in isolation. If your hours are very limited, a polarised week of a couple of short hard sessions plus whatever easy riding you can fit beats stacking only one or the other. Both qualities are trainable; only intensity defends the top end.

Does Zone 2 help recovery for masters riders?

Yes — genuinely easy riding promotes blood flow and aerobic adaptation without adding meaningful fatigue, which makes it ideal between hard sessions. That recovery role is one of the reasons it should dominate the week.

RELATED EPISODES

HEAR THE CONVERSATIONS

80/20 Training to Ride Faster | Dr Stephen Seiler

The Training Secret To Going FASTER After 40 | Joe Friel

Get Faster After 40: Masters Cycling Training | Roadman Cycling