ZONE TWO ISN’T ‘EASY’…

Easy and zone two work are often referred to interchangeably. But they aren’t the same thing.

Whether we are using a five zone model or a three zone model – zone two isn’t easy in either

At JET we tend to use a five zone model for both heart rate and power and we work with athletes to understand this and distinguish between them when training and racing…

Generally speaking zone one is easy. Low HR. Low power. Low RPE. This zone is for easy training and ‘recovery’ sessions.

Zone two, on the other hand, is more of a basic endurance zone/intensity. Relative to zone one, zone two places higher physiological, muscular and bimechanical load on the body without being ‘hard’ – as a result it stimulates greater production of mitochondria, improves ‘fat burning’ capability, increases capillarisation, and improves overall efficiency of the system compared to zone one

As a result it should be used as a tool alongside ALL of the other zones. Worth noting too, that zone two is quite a big range and the upper end can be quite difficult for some athletes to maintain due to the aforementioned higher demands! Ie. They need to concentrate to reach and maintain a zone two effort

The more overall training volume any given athlete can tolerate, the greater percentage there should be of both zone one and zone two work. As one gets ‘fitter’ zone two will become a higher overall effort (despite a relatively low heart rate) due to other demands increasing

First things first – work on overall heart rate control and then work on the distinction between zone one and two. Then use zone two work as part of a well rounded program

Zone One is ‘easy’. Zone Two ain’t!