I'm really interested in how an amateur cyclist can think about and manage their training. I'm guessing that most don't have much of a plan, that the complicated published plans look daunting and that Zone training looks onerous and double complicated.
Cycling is supposed to be fun; after all we're not paid to do it so why get involved in activity that makes our pastime into a chore?
Despite all this though there are some basic training principles that will help. Having some way of controlling the intensity of your training is important - if you just go as fast as possible all the time you may be missing out on important endurance capacity building. This is the classic quick commuter who zips through urban car traffic at top speed but never does more that 7km at a time. Alternatively, if all you do is potter about on day-long rides you may be brilliant at covering distance but when you ride with others they all go much faster and you can't keep up.
You may have noticed how I'm using the context of your riding to help describe the intensity of the training effect you'll get. A commuter may be doing lots of short rides at speed, the tourer may be doing long, continuous rides at a much steadier pace.
What they are both doing is experiencing one of the basic principles of training - specificity. You get good at what you practice. I think this might be a more understandable way of thinking about your training than struggling with abstract Zones.
Italian events and European climbs