Too easy on the hard days and too hard on the easy days

Would you rather be compared to a diesel truck or racecar?  If you train the way most people do, too easy on the hard days and too hard on the easy days, then you will ride like a truck.  You will have good speed and good range, but never great speed and great range.  If however you focus on making your long easy days just that and your hard days short, sweet and hard, you will ride like a racecar on race day.

Your body responds very specifically to how you train it, so be aware.  If you want to have punch when you ride then on your hard days get the heart rate up there, way up there, and on the easy days and between intervals, get your heart rate way down.   When I strap a heart rate monitor on someone for the first time they are always shocked at how slow and relaxed they should be riding most of the time.

If you know your zones, always avoid zone 2 (this is where most people spend most of there time), use zone 3 as a preparation during the late pre-season to prepare for the zone 4 and 5 work of the racing season.

If you are wondering what happened to zone 1, it is the most important, here is where you should spend most of your time.  In my off-season, I spend hour upon hour training in zone 1.

If you follow these simple guidelines, ride mostly in zone 1 and do a little of zones 4 and 5, you will be amazed at the difference in power you will be capable of achieving on race day.

Dan Marshall
November, 2000

P.S.  If you're not familiar with the zones here's a brief description of each.

Zone 1:
    -   LSD (Long Slow Distance)
    -   Very easy (too easy)
    -   Heart Rate at approximately 60% of your maximum

Zone 2:
    -   Seems like a natural road pace
    -   Feels like a little workout
    -   Not productive because too high to recover & too low to develop
    -   Heart Rate at approximately 70-75% of your maximum

Zone 3:
    -   Slow race pace - Moderate trail ride
    -   Develops your aerobic capacity & power
    -   Heart Rate at approximately 75-80% of your maximum

Zone 4:
    -   Long Intervals
    -   Develops speed
    -   Hard Riding
    -   Race pace on a good day
    -   Heart Rate at approximately 80-90% of your maximum

Zone 5:
    -   All out sprint / as hard as possible
    -   Heart Rate at approximately 90-100% of your maximum