ZONE 3? NOT ME…

Ask Yourself

1: Do I feel pressure to bike or run the same loop at the same or faster pace/time?
2: Do I feel uncomfortable falling off the back on a group ride or run even though I am tired?
3: Do I feel pressured to be toward the front or at least finish toward the front on every group workout?
4: On a typical ride or run, and an unknown rider passes decisively, do I lose pride? Do I feel pressured to have to catch up to him?
5: Do I often go out for a ride alone or with others as a nice aerobic or recovery pace and it turns into the world championships?
6: Do I believe that riding less than an hour or running less than 30 minutes is a waste of time and not worth the trouble?
7: Do I feel riding in low Z2 Power on the bike is just too easy for me and is a waste of time?
8: Do I have to be 1/2 step in front of the person jogging next to me, even on an easy recovery run?
9: Do I begin and end any rides with sore legs? Do I have to meet a predetermined pace on all my runs?
10: Am I proud of my average speeds and my record of “climbs won” on rides, and believe that others really care?
11: Do I swim a pace within 2 seconds per 100 pace whether I am swimming a 600 or 3 x 200, or 4×150 sets?
12: Do I have to be the first one to touch the wall when swimming adjacent to someone I don’t even know?
13: Do I look at other swimmers in lanes beside me and create my own personal race with them, even though they are doing a completely different workout?
14: Do I think swim drills are a waste of time and when doing drills, can’t wait to get them done so push the pace on them?
15: Have I had another mediocre season with a specific reason for each and every single sub-par performance in every race?
16: Lastly, do I find myself in “peak” fitness 3-4 months prior to a key event, and workout performances trickle downward as the race approaches?

If you answered “yes” to any one of these, then you are at risk, and the more you answered yes, the higher your risk of another mediocre race. The zone 3 syndrome. This is part of the chronic over-training syndrome I see in many athletes I have trained with, and have coached.

I consider “zone 3 syndrome” a power zone 3 problem typically on the bike, but more of a pace oriented problem on the run and in the pool.  On the bike, heart rate is not useful as a determinant of this syndrome. This is because you can easily produce power in zone 3 and remain in heart rate zones 1 and 2, especially as you become fit, and even on long rides.

The Fallout
“Awesome” or “PR” workouts, then periods of several missed workouts due to fatigue.
Running slower or feeling fatigued in the water for sometimes weeks at a stretch, missing numerous key workout variables.
Cancelling workouts.
Inability to “go fast” for the short periods necessary as prescribed by the coach.

Some riders unfortunately, especially  ironman athletes, train like this week after week. The log looks great, yet they consistently run 10-11 hour ironman races when they have the physiology and endurance to run well under 10 or run 5 hour half ironman when they should be near 4:30.  They lose their podium slot, they lose their Kona slot, they may drop out. They always have an excuse that’s unrelated to training preparation. Even athletes who should break 12 hours in an ironman, yet race to a 12:45, 13 hour or slower. Pro men who race inconsistently ranging from mid 8′s to 9:30 or repeated DNF’s, and can’t figure out why the huge variation in performances. It effects every athlete, at every level.
“I was fatigued”, “too much salt intake”, “not enough salt intake”, “dehydrated”, “too hydrated”, “running shoes didn’t fit right” , “head cold race week”, “too hot”, “too cold”, “bike made funny noise”, “changed my bike position race week”…..do I need to go on with these actual excuses I have heard in the past? The excuses vary widely but never encompass the method of training in the several months prior to race day.

Know Yourself
So many athletes try for too much too early, or just try to shoot for the moon for a race in one giant leap instead of taking a few steps into the water first. Realize that maybe you should not be in “peak fitness” and feel like conquering the world…4 months from race day.

Don’t Be Proud
Be confident. I am hardly ever at my “race intensity” in workouts, and very few people have seen me race. I am a completely different person when I race. Much of this is because I am physically prepared, and race consistently, even with adversity. More importantly, I am emotionally prepared. I believe spending too much time in the “race zone” emotionally in workouts tends to burn an athlete out.

Envision
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all about detail and creating a mental vision of the race in workouts, but that’s mostly in terms of nutrition and visualizing my goals during my TT training, run speed work, and key swim sessions. This does not mean I recreate the race setting as far as race intensity goes. My longest time trial on the bike was 50 minutes at 250 watts going into California 70.3 in my prep for ironman Texas in 2011. My normalized wattage for nearly every ride was in the middle to higher end of zone 2, and average wattage low zone 2. So, how is it possible with an average wattage of 190-200 in workouts and my best effort of 250 watts in a 50 minute time trial, that I was able to average 257 watts for 56 miles at California? If this seems impossible to you and you think I’m bull-shitting, then you lack the knowledge. If you’re a coach and don’t understand this, you should re-evaluate your skills.

Race Results
So, the zone 3 syndrome athlete tends to put too much into workouts, not  resting enough, and not really racing all out.
Just marginally competing ride after ride, run after run, and swim after swim. Then they lose their competitive spirit on race day, the day that counts. They lose the “snap” in their legs, the mental awareness that should increase during the race, but instead the fatigue sets in early.
This athlete can’t wait until a “3 week taper” or the upcoming rest week because they are chronically tired. When it comes time to do an interval in Zone 4 or Zone 5 power? They cant muster up the performance. Likewise, they hit power goals for the first 50-75% of an interval and then trickle off.  So, they don’t get much benefit of near-threshold and threshold training.  As a consequence,  they can’t generate consistent strength throughout their key race.
The result is a  race at  or perhaps only 20-30 watts above their “recovery ride watts”.
Trust me, it only gets worse on the run.

6 months of training wasted. Then, for the next big race…all over again.

Here’s a  piece of advice. If it doesn’t work for you, try something different. Something different doesn’t mean more work. Train in your own element. Stop lying to yourself and your coach by using your own created “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. Stop tweaking every single workout upward because of your insecurities as an athlete and mistrust of your coach.
Uncover your weaknesses, expose them, then eliminate them.

Save the racing for race day.