Getting Started with Endurance
Zones 1 & 2 and Setting Up Your Week
Our latest subscriber, Joonas from Finland, had a series of questions that come up frequently.1
This piece pulls from our Chapters on Training Zones as well as Lactate Testing & Interpretation.
Not into lactate testing?
Slide down the page to John’s Green-Tempo-Red chart. There’s some advice you need to read.
Seeking Zone 1 & 2 Via Lactate
Over on my YouTube Channel, you can find:
There’s also a video on determining Zones 1 & 2, which was related to Joonas’ questions.
When you are seeking Zone 1 & 2 from a lactate test, the key things that I find myself repeating over and over…
Start Super Easy, and progressively increase effort, while sampling lactate. This will enable you to see the bottom out point. This is the point, or range, where your lactate is at the lowest. It will feel easy and comfortable. You want to learn what it takes to bottom out your lactate in the sport you are testing. Many athletes never find this point2, because they start their testing (and all their workouts) too intensely.
John’s Experience
There is not always a bottoming out point.
Sometimes, the lactate steadily increases from the first step. This is especially so if the athlete is already warmed up before the testing starts. Gordo sets the testing start point so low; the warm-up is included in the test. Using his method, the first step might show a slightly increased lactate, then decline as the athlete warms up.
Sometimes lactate just stays flat for the first few steps and there is no identifiable aerobic threshold before it suddenly goes up, somewhere around the second threshold (also known as LT2).
By noting subjective perception scores, you can make your task of finding zones much more accurate.
Defining Terms
Joonas lives in Finland. Depending on which coach you ask in the Nordic Countries, you will get a different answer for Zone 1 or 2. By using the “bottom out point” as a reference we avoid much confusion.
Zone 1 => Up to the bottom out point
Zone 2 => A little above the bottom out point
You will find certain labs, and coaches, who define LT1 (first lactate threshold) as a certain amount of mmol/l above the bottom out point. We think this introduces error and recommend you avoid this method. Find the bottom out point and work from there. More in the chapter and the videos I have produced for you.
Applying Results and Nominal Values
You may not like what the results show. The results often indicate that you need to slow down your Green Zone training. The slow down is temporary. But… you’ll need to free yourself from the expectation that you are going to “graduate” to intense Green Zone training. It doesn’t work that way. Green Zone training should be comfortable.
Do not use nominal lactate numbers. Always bottom out your lactate and work from there. The benchmarks you hear about 1 mmol/l, <1.5 mmol/l, 2 mmol/l and 4 mmol/l are population averages (often for a certain type of athlete). If you work bottom up, with your own data, you will get a better indication.
…and please note the subjective perception of your testing and training. It is an essential part of the overall process.
Benefits of Backing Off
Joonas asked a common question, What are the benefits of Zone One? I just happened to have made a video on this topic…
The main benefit of having a Green Zone set via lactate is - Repeatability - your Green Zone training will be low stress. You will be able to back up your training day after day.
Consistency will improve.
Your breakpoint volume will increase.
Your total work completed across the year will increase.
When it is time to do your more intense training, you will have more energy and mojo for those sessions.
Another common error is assuming the most intense works needs to be Very Hard and Painful. This is not the case. It needs to be challenging enough to provoke a training adaptation, without screwing up the rest of the week.
Which brings me to another misconception…
Release Your Desire For Infinite Progression
Many athletes, novice and elite, progress their training to the point of injury or burnout.
Then they recover.
Then the repeat the cycle.
Madness (but I’ve been there).
If you’ve been injured, or burnt out, in the last year… you must change your mindset to improvement via compounding.
Do not seek to progress your training. Set your Basic Week up (see Chapter Ten) and repeat your week. This is a powerful concept that, unfortunately, most of your peers will fail to achieve. If you can simply repeat-the-week then you’ll improve. It’s not rocket science.
Do not worry about your initial volume.
Set up a simple basic week, you know you can hit.
Repeat the week.
As you improve over the months to come…
Increase frequency (use additional short sessions).
Increase duration (of key sessions).
Keep the easy days easy.
There is no magic number for volume and load. It depends on your life situation and your individual training response, which changes dynamically based on what you have going on in your life.
What’s Enough?
If you follow elite athletes online then you’ll see they perform training at a level that’s far out of reach for us. It’s not just the paces and powers they use. It is the total amount of time they are able to commit to training. It’s also the simplicity they have in their non-training lives3.
So how do YOU know you are doing enough?
Are you enjoying yourself?
Are you consistent?
Those are the two most important metrics to track.
Volume is a good explanation for improvement. However, to fit more into our lives we need to create space, which takes years. All athletes focus on the training side of the improvement equation. Improvement depends on training response and training response is impacted by everything happening in our lives.
See my Long-Term Recovery Playlist for a step-by-step guide to building a high-performance life structure.
We often hear “there are no secrets” and “there are no magic sessions.”
While true, certain athletes have the ability to create a life structure where they are likely to trend towards their ultimate potential. A lot of online influencers fail to focus on training response and life structure. Both are essential to progress as an athlete.
Keep it simple and persist.
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I’m not just talking about novice amateurs. I’ve worked with Top Amateurs and Elites who have no idea about true baseline effort. I’ve even watched videos (from favorite elites) where they test themselves and show LT1 well above where it likely lies. This error becomes a major obstacle to appropriate training for long-duration races, such as Ironman.
Not just the elites. Most Top Amateurs live simple lives (work, family, training).
That you for writing this Gordo! Good answers to the questions that have haunted me.