Below you will find a simple protocol to help you learn how to perform Red Zone and Tempo Training.
You can find our sport-specific protocols in:
Our Run Chapter
Our Swim Chapter
Our Bike Chapter (coming later this month)
Red Zone Training
In your sport of choice:
Perform a 5-minute Zone 5 effort. Make this a Very Hard effort but leave yourself room to improve next time.
Calculate the average power, or pace, of this effort.
The following week, perform 5x one-minute efforts at that power/pace.
Rest duration is equal to work. So 5x 1/1 will take you ten minutes.
Because of the rest, you will be able to go harder than the target. Don’t.
Repeat this set every 7-10 days. Make sure you have fresh legs when you do this workout.
After you have done the set 3x, wait a week.
Redo the initial test, this time with a 6-minute effort. Again, make this a Very Hard / Zone 5 effort but not a true max.
The following three weeks, perform 6x 1/1 using the new average power/pace
Freshen up, ensure good legs, then repeat the 6-minute assessment.
By the time you've completed the full progression, you will have tapped out the Red Zone adaptations and you should shift to a different sort of training.
Tempo Training
Tempo training feels different than we expect.
Not a lot of huffing of the breath.
No burning in the legs.
Heart rate responds slowly.
Aim for a 3 out of 5 subjective feeling - Zone 3 / Moderately-Hard
When we are learning, aim for 20-30 minutes total dose of work. Aim for a rest duration that is shorter than the work duration.
Sample sets would be:
4-6 reps of 5 minutes duration.
Recovery would be 2-3 minutes between reps.
With both types of training, remember…
We will be tempted to go harder than outlined.
We will be tempted to give ourselves a larger dose than we can handle.
Inside the video, you will find additional tips to help you perform these sessions more effectively.
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