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Applying Your Zones to Training

Once you get familiar with your zones and comfortable with your progress you will want to start mixing things up.  It is important to know how the decisions you make on the road (or in the pool) will affect your training, recovery and progress.  The following is a guide to help you make the best decisions under a variety of different circumstances:

Zone 1 Training - Light

If you feel really tired then stay in low zone 1.  Active recovery is important to maintain your coordination, increase circulation and loosen up.  Active recovery sessions should generally be under 1 hour for biking, 45mins for running and 50 minutes for swimming (of course that depends on your level of fitness and ability – stronger athletes may be able to handle more).

Zone 2 Training – Endurance

This zone is extensive endurance training.  This is where a lot of hours are spent especially when you are developing your endurance base.  It is still at an easy intensity, something you can maintain for many hours.  In physiological speak it is under your aerobic threshold which means you are not breathing very deep and can talk easily.  Zone 2 training is very important for all distances of racing.  Without a good endurance base you seriously limit your athletic potential.

Zone 3 Training - Steady

Zone 3 is referred to as steady training.  You are now breathing deeper but at a fairly easy intensity.  At the beginning of your workout this feels very manageable but after 1-2 hours the pace becomes more difficult.  It is more difficult but is still a pace you can endure for many hours.  If you are not able to, then you are not in zone 3 or you lack the muscular endurance to go that long. 

The combination of zone 2 and 3 training will make up the bulk of your training.  Once again, this is because triathlon is very aerobic and these are the paces that develop your aerobic endurance.  This type of training can be repeated for many weeks as long as the volume does not exceed your limits.  While doing zone 2 and 3 training, it is OK to increase your effort periodically to zone 4 and maybe into zone 5 (example: going uphill).  But only go into zone 4 or 5 for short periods of time and avoid creating excessive fatigue.  5*20s in Zone 5 would be adequate and 6*5minutes efforts would be adequate for Zone 4. 

It is not OK to do zone 2, 3 or 4 work when you are doing a recovery Zone 1 ride. Zone 3 workouts will also include some long intervals at that intensity.  In long workouts (ie. 3+ hours on the bike or 1.5+ hours running) a major mistake is often made by athletes.  That is going to hard and doing a lot of Zone 4 training when they should not be (ie. 1 to 2+ hours at Zone 4).  You will not recover properly if you add Zone 4 efforts to prescribed Zone 3 work.  Zones 4 efforts early on also cause many athlete’s to blow up on the bike or run poorly after the bike leg.

Zone 4 Training - Mod-Hard (MH) or Tempo

Now the effort is getting hard.  This zone is the moderate-hard zone.  This is a great zone for race pace efforts for Half Ironman or Olympic Distance racing.  In other sports, it is called tempo training or marathon pace training.  Doing extended amounts of training in zone 4 requires additional rest and is not something you can do day after day.  Zone 4 training is probably the least effective in terms of improving measurable physiological markers but it is very important for getting used to race day efforts (and is therefore quite important to do in training).  Zone 4 workouts will be in long sets.  Typically 10 to 60 minute sets.  Be forewarned, too much training in this zone without easy workouts will make you very-very tired and put you in a training hole.

Zones 5 Training - Threshold (Thr) and Zone 6 Training - Very Hard (VH)

This type of training is usually in two forms: 1) Time trials or 2) Interval workouts. 

1.  Time trials are used as good workouts but also to establish training zones and to gauge improvements over time.
2.  Interval workouts are very intense workouts that require considerable rest before they can be repeated again.  Intervals will be included in your program at one time or another.  The key to interval training is to finish the last interval strong.  You should be able to stop the workout and still feel as if you could do one or two more intervals.  Trashing yourself and not being able to hold pace will prevent you from improving in later weeks.

Olympic distance racing and Sprint Distance racing is done mostly in zone 4-5 with some zone 6 efforts (probably at the end of the race, if you can).