Training Zones

Training, November 28, 2015

Training zones and there principles

As a coach one of the topics i repeatedly talk about with my clients are training zones. These can be be either Heart rate training zones or power training zones for those cyclist who have the advantage of training with a power meter. No matter the circumstance training zones are the back bone of any structured training programme, getting to know and understand your training zones is becoming more important with each passing season. With the technology e have now days all most everyone can track there progress via a wearable gadget and heart rate strap or power meter ( if finances allow ). Having said that, its great relying on the feedback from your power meter and/or heart rate monitor. But what happens when it breaks or fails half way through your A race? So although i am going to harp on about training zones in this article, i want you to remember that its equally important to get a feeling for the run and what effect that has on your body at any given intensity. What does easy mean to you and when you change pace what does feel like. So remember technology is great as long as its working, dont completely rely on it.

Right, after preaching about running/cycling on feeling i am going to go against the grain and explain how by using your fitness watch or power meter you can reap massive rewards. Those rewards being constant measurement toward your given goal. You can analyse almost immediately what training zone you spent the most time in and how effective that is toward your end GOAL. 

You can sprawl across the internet and probably find a million different variations of training zones with lots of different explanations. Here are some tables i made up to make life a bit easier for you. After the tables i have included some explanations on which each zone represents with its physiological benefit.








Zone 1 - Active Recovery - Warm up

This zone is the recovery zone, easy riding or running with a emphasis on a nice low heart rate. You should be able to hold a full conversation during this zone and still feel comfortable. The basis for this run is to help speed recovery after a previous hard day either racing or doing intervals. Research has found that the  recovery run or cycle has been found to be more beneficial than complete recovery, during the recovery session you help to speed the recovery process up of flushing out all those nasty toxins (lactate) from the system, hence the term FLUSH Run.  


Zone 2 - Endurance - Fat Burn 

Zone 2 is where we gain our BASE from, the bread and butter of a great programme in readiness for the new season ahead, we should be able to hold these sessions for a prolonged period of time from 2.5hrs to 24hrs. By using this zone properly you can/will enhance your aerobic and fat burning efficiency.  A lot of athletes now days tend to go far too hard when they are meant to be laying a good foundation for the latter part of the season, along with pushing too hard the athlete will leave the aerobic zone and with that we move into burning carbohydrate as our main source of fuel. In order to burn fat efficiently we need a sufficient supply of oxygen, going anaerobic deprives us of that and we move over to using carbohydrates as our main fuel source. Dont get me wrong, zone 2 training should not be taken too easy, it certainly isn't a walk in the park but compared to zone 3 but the added benefit of working at Zone 2 is that it can be done via Back to Back workouts without and detrimental affect on the body.

Zone 3 - Tempo

Zone 3 or tempo effort still falls within the aerobic zone and can be known as comfortably hard pace, the work done at and within this zone is very much reflective of the athletes goal. As with Zone 2 a lot of the effects during zone 3 are metabolic albeit done at a slightly higher intensity. Intervals within running or on the bike are often done within this zone whilst achieving a steady pace and not dropping off over the given workout.

Zone 3.5 - Sweet Spot
This zone is fairly new and was born out of the arrival of the power meter. A lot of coaches / athletes wont give this its own zone whereas i do. I have seen the benefit 1st hand of what training within this zone can do in helping you gain more bang for your buck. The basic principle behind this zone is that your working out at around the upper end of your tempo zone to the lower end of your threshold zone.  Although your working fairly hard your not working too hard that your going to fatigue to quickly, this gives you a greater training adaptation with more time spent in a slightly higher zone. If used correctly the volume within this zone can be fairly high allowing you to get the most out of each workout. See table below

Zone 4 - FTP- Threshold Running

Zone 4 or threshold workouts are workouts done at a given pace just under the onset of blood lactate, the sessions are quite intense and there is a very fine line as to getting it right and getting it very wrong. Whether your a cyclist or runner getting it right and just performing under your threshold will more than likely yield a great performance, on e that you would be proud of, getting it wrong however is a horrible experience. We have all at some point in our running or cycling career got to the point where we just pushed to hard, your legs start to feel heavy and no matter what happens your slowing down, this is the point at which your body is being flooded with lactic acid and the only way to clear it is to SLOW down. 

Zone 5 - Vo2 Max

Zone 5 or Vo2 Max efforts, we can define as the maximum or optimum rate at which the heart / lungs and muscles can effectively use oxygen during exercise. The higher the number the greater your athletic aerobic ability. The efforts within this zone are done at maximal intensity of between 2 and 8 mins and with a full recovery, the source of fuel being 100% carbohydrate.Training efforts within this zone stimulate increased activity of glycogen within the muscles. 


Zone 6 - Anaerobic Capacity

Zone 6or Anaerobic capacity work is again very high intensity but with an even less sustained effort in time, anywhere from between 30 secs to 2 mins of maximal effort. Fuel utilisation is still mainly carbohydrate but more than likely starting to utilise creatine phosphate stores. The efforts here are normally short but intense

Zone 7 - Neuromuscular

Zone 7 or Neuromuscular workouts are extremely intense but very short in length of time, the main fuel source comes from the utilisation of creating phosphate system. The adaptations within this type of workout are more muscular fibre recruitment, generally full recovery between efforts






Disclaimer

You should consult your physician or other health care professional before starting this or any other fitness program to determine if it is right for your needs. This is particularly true if you (or your family) have a history of high blood pressure or heart disease, or if you have ever experienced chest pain when exercising or have experienced chest pain in the past month when not engaged in physical activity, smoke, have high cholesterol, are obese, or have a bone or joint problem that could be made worse by a change in physical activity. Do not start this fitness program if your physician or health care provider advises against it. If you experience faintness, dizziness, pain or shortness of breath at any time while exercising you should stop immediately. 

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