Branch 5: Racing

Racing is a very tenacious branch. It’s as much psychological as it is physical. The demands are arduous because it requires constant testing, usually against other athletes as well as against your own goals and that great truth-teller – the clock. It requires constant recuperation and resting, too. I’ve been asked more times than I can…

Branch 3: Speed Branch

If you want to race fast, train fast and train strong. This is the phase that builds upon the lower three branches by adding your first Red Line workouts with short or endurance intervals. It’s the branch where you start time trials at specific heart rate points to test improvement. It’s the period of seeing…

Branch 2: Strength Branch

It’s time to add that all-important exercise stimulus: resistance training. Following many of the same principles that weight lifters use, athletes stimulate muscle power by applying appropriate resistance stimuli to the specific activity they are training for. That is, it is known that if you “overload” the specific muscle by repeatedly asking it to work…

Zone 4: The Threshold Zone

Welcome to the Threshold zone! Even if you don’t choose to train in the Z4 Threshold zone, it’s a place you’re no doubt familiar with, though maybe you are unfamiliar with its name. Here’s a hint: this is also known as the “shortness of breath” zone. Sound familiar? It’s the zone where you feel the…

Zone 3: The Aerobic Zone

The Aerobic zone gives you the most “bang for your buck.” Here you’ll get the most benefits in the least amount of time. If you said, “I want everything from exercise,” this is your zone. The Z3 Aerobic zone gets you fitter, gets you faster, gets you thinner. That’s why it’s been touted for decades…