Feeling Alive...in Zone 5

Zone 5
What is it?

I can tell you, for the past 3 weeks I have been doing substantial work in zone 5 on both the bike and run, and one thing...its great to feel alive at these efforts. The progressive rise in heart rate, breathing, the sound of feet hitting the pavement, the chain churning across the crank as the bike jerks forward on the downstroke, the string of slobber stretching from my bottom lip to my front wheel hub while on my trainer, looking like I've had a stroke.

Its great to feel alive.

Zone 5 in my mind is not maximal effort. I do admitedly, in zone 5 intervals, progressively push to near maximal effort for the final minute or so, but the progression is insidious, and certainly the average effort in the interval is not near maximum.

I think of zone 5 power on the bike as the maximal sustainable power for 30 minutes. Likewise, on the run, I think of zone 5 as the maximal sustainable effort for a 5k.

Friel describes 3 progessive portions to zone 5 (a-c) but I simplify this a bit with my zone 5 correlating to Friel's zone 5a.
Maximal run efforts, that I think of in zone 5c, would correlate more closely to 400's or even 200's. Anaerobic efforts performed in oxygen debt.

These efforts can be done frequently, but when combined with distance, can result in several scenarios. Injuy is paramount, but inducing a peak which is not sustainable beyond a few weeks is the most common, as well as induction of over-training.

The over training component is extremely dangerous if you dont have a coach working with you closely, actually watching you, or unless you are very experienced. The major problem with the onset of over-training, is as an athlete, you dont recognize that you're actually in an over training period...typically until its too late.

This is worth repeating because I see this in my friends from time to time, and have been there myself. As an athlete that is not experienced and extremely attentive to details and observational analysis of training, it is almost impossible to recognize when you are actually in an over training period. Yes, obvious huge rides and runs on a weekend lead to exhaustion over the next several days, and that's not the over training I am talking about. Its the week to week insidious onset of a slight chronic fatigue that is so subtle, it's commonly mistaken for slight lack of fitness, or manageable tiredness. Very typically, once the athlete recognizes their over-training, it's too late, and only prolonged rest will alleviate. Prolonged rest of course at which fitness is lost and leads to too much rest going into the key race. Thus, poor performance.

I do believe that in training, we have to dedicate a significant portion of our workouts to zones above those at which we race in. For IM distance, the predominate zone in the race, on average, is zone 1-3, with short periods in zone 4-5, esp toward the final 5-10k portion on the run. However, the vast majority of the IM is in zones 1-3, typically zone 3 power on bike and average of zone 1 and 2 on the run with short efforts into HR Z3. This is why I spend a significant amount of effort in zone 3 and 4 throughout my builds to IM. Building strength in the next highest zone at which you will spend most of your time racing is a critical component to training. Zone 5 training leading up to an IM is arguably not necessarily needed, and in fact did little to zero zone 5 training for both IM Arizona and Western Australia, both PR races.

So why zone 5 now? Well, as I have 9 scheduled races prior to Kona, sprint to 1/2 IM distance, and ITU long course worlds, I will be racing in zone 4 and 5 for a large portion of my races this season. Training in Zone 4 predominately will not prepare me adequately to compete in distance up to and including 1/2 IM. I typically race my 1/2 IM in zone 4 power on the bike, and zone 4 on the run to 9-10 miles, then zone 5 for the final 3-4 miles. To do this, I need to train with time allocated in zone 5, above my race efforts.

Now, this doesnt mean I train at maximal efforts because I feel that the 3 components of zone 5 are distinct, separate zones. Consider them zones 5, 6 and 7 to make it easier. So, if I am racing in high zone 4 and low zone 5 for the majority of my race, training with time allocation in zone 5 and 6 with time in zone 7 sparingly applied, will adequately train me.

Case in point, my sprint tri 2 wks ago, over 30 watts into zone 5 on the bike, arguably zone 6 (or 5b), and zone 5 the entire 5k with HR progressing into zone 6 in the final mile, and zone 7 final 800. I felt very labored and uncomfortable in these zones, as I had only done a week of zone 5 training leading into this race. This weekend's upcoming sprint race on saturday will be a better gauge on how I feel in these zones, and I suspect will be more comfortable at efforts near maximal. The olympic distance the following morning will be an interesting experiment on how I can sustain ave power and HR coming off racing the day before.

To me the "holy grail" of successful racing, from sprint distance to IM distance...5k to marathon...is uncovering the timing of your work in various zones.
For instance, running for example, and classic training dictates 4 essential components.
Long distance endurance
Hill training
Interval training
Tempo training

These 4 aspects of training are well known. However, the difficult part of training is knowing what order and at what time to train in these periods. All 4 correlate to various zone training and are not too different from power training methods on the bike, or the run training required for triathlon.

Regardless, the training I am doing cannot sustain me for 4 months leading into Kona. I will have to pull back into intervals of zone 3 and low zone 4 training to avoid the over-training syndrome I will be dangerously close to. I realize I may very will do poorly at Kona and am willing to spend this season learning how to race an IM at the end of an aggressive racing season. We'll see how this goes.

For now, yesterday's 5x6 minute power zone 5 intervals followed a couple of hours later with 5 mile run incorporating 4x3 minutes uphill intervals at HR zone 5 certainly opened me up. It's good to feel alive.

Summary of week: 18 hours
Swim 14ooo meter (3 sessions)
Bike 150 miles (4 rides, 2 with Z5 and 1 with Z4 intervals, no rides in zone 1)
Run 43 miles (6 runs, 2 with Z5 intervals, 2 in zone 2, 2 in zone 1)