It's All About Zone 2 Baby! (Part 2)

In my last post, I went over why I started training using heart rate zones based on maximum heart rate. I wanted to build a good solid “base” so I could continue to improve throughout the year and long term. I also wanted to be very efficient at burning fat. In 2013, for both the bike and run, I trained almost exclusively in Zone 2. I was in the process of becoming fat adapted so I did very little speed work. However, looking back, I should have done some interval or speed work.

So what the heck is training zones anyway?

It's All About Zone 2 Baby! (Part 1)

The title of a recent post says it all about my past training methods, Training Like A Dummy... At the time, I did not know any better. I pushed hard each and every session. Over the next two to three years, I improved my training methods. On November 3rd, 2012, I signed up for Ironman Florida. Therefore, I had to figure out the best way to train quickly. I only had one year to go from a nervous newbie triathlete to a confident well-trained triathlete by November 2nd 2013. I wanted to not only survive Ironman Florida training but to also comfortably finish the 140.6 miles on race day. In order to keep this blog post from being overwhelming long, I broke it up into two posts. This post provides a little history as to why I trained in Zone 2. The next post will cover more detailed information about determining heart rate training zones.