Heart Rate Zone Training
Writer: Ryan Willms
Training by heart rate zone is not a new idea, but it isn’t something I’ve ever done. I think the past I’ve done it be accident at times to great effect but this will be the first time that I actually dig into the science of the process, commit to using HRV and using more metrics to asses where I’m how, how hard to train and when to do more. There is a general rule of 80/20 whereas you spend 80% of your training time at a lower heart rate in zones 1 & 2, doing more volume sessions, while 20% is done in zone 4 & 5 with high intensity VO2 max focus. The combination builds and conditions both your aerobic and anaerobic systems, which is ideal for any sort of distance endurance sport.
Zone 1: spend about 20-30% of your total training time in this zone. It's used primarily for complete rest days, warm ups, and cool downs.
Zone 2: this is where you'll spend the greatest amount of your time amounting to a total of 50-60% of your total training time. We use this zone to build efficiency in our cardiovascular system, increase our fat oxidation (body's ability to burn fat as fuel), and to build endurance with the longer workouts and to recovery between harder intervals in shorter more intense workouts. This is your meat and potatoes Zone that's hard to hold yourself back and stay in, but it's the most important zone.
Zone 3: this zone is often referred to as the Grey Zone of training because it's not easy enough to build efficiency and improve cardiovascular function or fat oxidation, but it's not hard enough to stimulate speed or strength improvements. The hard thing is that this is the zone most people train in because it feels good: it's hard enough to feel like we're exercising and making a difference, but not so hard that it's terribly challenging. We have to fight the urge to be in this zone because it's tremendously taxing on the body while not offering much training benefit. You'll spend some time in this zone leading up to races to sharpen up race pace because most athletes race somewhere in Zone 3. Spend maybe 5-15% of your total time in zone 3.
Zone 4: this is often called Tempo work, it's challenging and builds your ability to go fast and challenge yourself for a sustained period of time. This is an excellent training zone for turning you into a strong like bull athlete. You'll want to spend about 15% of your total training time in this zone.
Zone 5: Finally, this Zone is used for building raw speed and power. You'll spend about 5-10% of your total training time in this zone. This zone builds mitochondrial density in your limbs allowing your body to use oxygen more efficiently, it also promotes recruiting more muscle groups, fat loss for up to 48hrs after a training session is done, and hormone release which is extremely important for athletes over the age of 30 to achieve in order to stimulate recovery.
