Many of my sessions are hikes on local hills, but are done with someone else and/or a dog, so I can’t wholly control the pace and intensity. They are undulating rather than mountains but can include 1000-1500m of ascent.

So my question is if I do a 4 hour hike for example but 25% is below zone 1 because sections are flat or downhill, is that a 4 hour Z1 session? Should I regard it as a 3 hour session for training volume purposes? Although I am on my feet for 4 hours.

Similarly in the early periods of the plan I would like to include some bike rides (but phase these out later in the interests of specificity), but living in a hilly area a 7 hour ride will contain a significant portion of downhill when I have to be freewheeling or even breaking if I am going to make the next bend!

Then there are the short walks of 1 – 2 hours walking dog with the wife, which could be 50/50 low z1 and recovery. Should these count toward the overall volume target for the week?

I might be over thinking this, but I don’t want to cheat myself by thinking I am doing more training volume than I really am. Anyone got any guidelines they use?

Thanks in anticipation