I am starving.
It's not even 7 and I can't eat until about 8:30. The only thing I will eat until 10:30 will be a LUNA bar.
I head to the gym this morning for an 8:00 appt on the treadmill. With a mask strapped to my face causing myself to panic for sure I'll be testing for zone training. I'll go from a warm up to my anaerobic threshold and back down to cool off. Can't eat or have any caffeine for the test. So I sit here and suffer as my stomach growls.
So I'm going to put out there what I think and have thought my zones are. We'll see how far off I am and if the test was worth it.
Zone 1 100-122
Zone 2 123-142
Zone 3 143-155
Zone 4 156-162
Zone 5 162-171
The information I get from the test will help me tweak my training for the upcoming races this year.
It's now almost 1:30 and I still have had only a LUNA bar and a protein shake. Can't wait to eat lunch. But I wanted to check out the results of my test.
Zone 1 129-139 (about 20 beats off than what I thought.)
Zone 2 139-149 (not bad, I was still off. I spend most of my long runs in this zone.)
Zone 3 149-160 (this was a bit higher than I expected)
Zone 4 160-170 (again higher than I expected)
Zone 5 170-185 (ha, I'll never get above 171 without passing out)
In zone 1 59% of what I burn is fat calories. My goal is to get that to 70%
In zone 2 39% is fat calories. Goal is to reach 50%
In zone 3 23% is fat calories. Goal is to reach 30%
In order to increase the percentage of fat calories burned means I need to spend more time in these zones, with special emphasis on zone 1 and 2. This means I will be going slower. Not necessarily what I want to do. However, if I concentrate on doing this my body will change. My body fat % will drop tremendously. Which will make me lighter, which in turn makes me faster. I can still hit those high zones with a few workouts a week just as long as I also fit in the slower ones. I already have 3 workouts to incorporate in my schedule. They will be difficult to follow. Slow and tedious.
Now I spend probably 80% of my training in zone 3. Thinking my AT was at about 156 may not have been a bad thing. This would explain why I was always surprised when I could hold a much higher pace during a race than I thought I could. My body is capable of much more. I just don't use it often. Sneaking in a few workouts making sure to hit and stay in zone 4 for a few minutes will also help me become faster. Running in zone 4 is down right painful.
My VO2 is 45.3 This puts me above the 90% for my age. Can't get much better with that. Lungs and Heart are in perfect harmony. Taking in so much oxygen allows me to be the energizer bunny and keep going and going and going. Yes I am definitely an endurance athlete. Just call me Lance.
My recovery Heart rate is more than perfect. Typically a very fit individual will drop up to 29 beats in the first minute after exercise stops. Mine dropped 32. Second minute same thing they look for 29 beats. Mine was 43. No issues there. I have taught my body well on how to recover.
So what did I learn?
I learned that I have to spend way more time in zones 1 & 2. There is going to be allot of interval training in my future. I look forward to trying this new way of exercising and seeing if it does make the changes I want. I took this test now because I have no races until April on the schedule and that one I could do now without much trouble. So everything I do until then will hopefully improve my performance and get me ready for the big races to come later in the year!
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