The best way to train is by going as hard as you can for as long as you can on every ride you do, right? As we begin the off-season in the northern hemisphere, let’s start a periodic series on the idea of base training. First up, we discuss the dreaded “Zone 3 Plateau” and how to begin getting out of the cycle of constant hammering.
The Hammer Syndrome
We may be entering the age of power monitoring and periodization of training, yet it remains difficult for many riders to wrap our heads around what smart training really means. The philosophy of “hard riding” is one of the pervading cycling training misconceptions of the 21st century. It is the idea that periodization and scientifically based training is great for those with time to burn, but for those under severe time restraints the way to get the best bang for our buck is by going hard all day, every day.
Even those who don’t consciously embrace this antiquated training methodology often fall to its pretty clutches when they get caught up in the group ride hammerfest mentality. Even when they set out for a moderate or easy recovery ride, they can’t resist the temptation to jump on with the first group that comes flying by. The pace skyrockets at the rise in the road and the end result is the same - a never ending string of high tempo riding with little to no recovery.
The result of this type of training is an ailment I call the “Zone 3 Syndrome”. Before we get into the syndrome itself, let’s do a little self-diagnosis. Start by asking yourself the following questions:
• Are you exceedingly proud of the average speeds of your rides and do you gauge your training progress by the improvement of your average speed from one ride to another?
• Do you find group rides fairly easy, even when the pace picks up, yet you can’t seem to make that final acceleration or stay with the group over the steepest part of the climb?
• Do you have a maximum heart rate of 195, yet you haven’t seen it go above 180 since the season began?
• Does the thought of letting a rider pass you on the bike path make you ill, or do you pride yourself on the fact that no rider has ever passed you on a training ride, even on your recovery days?
• Do you often leave the house with one ride in mind but more often than not find yourself in the middle of the weekday morning world championships?
• Do you find it impossible to imagine that riding at 130 bpm could possibly be anything other than an utter waste of time?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be suffering from the Zone 3 Syndrome.
The Problems with Plateau
Whether it’s a desire to get the most out of every minute on the bike or just an inability to resist the temptation of searing your lungs on a daily basis, the effect is the same when you’re caught in the rut of the Zone 3 Syndrome. Intensity on every ride with no recovery results in sustained and difficult to overcome mediocrity and a seemingly endless plateau of middle of the road fitness.
Because adequate recovery time is not given between workouts, the body reaches a level of sustained exhaustion. Due to this ongoing exhaustion, the upper reaches of intensity that are required to induce training adaptation are not attainable. Workouts that are intended to be done in zone 4 (threshold) and zone 5 (anaerobic) all wind up hovering within a stones throw of zone 3 (tempo, otherwise known as the dreaded “grey zone”). To make matters worse, as a result of frustration with poor maximum efforts and sustained plateaus of fitness, the rider grows desperate to break though. Thus zone 1 recovery rides and zone 2 endurance rides start to creep up in intensity until across the board, every mile is done in this foggy, dead zone of zone 3 riding.
Although there is a time and a place for zone 3, generally speaking, it is not considered hard enough to cause a desired physical adaptation. At the same time, it is too hard to allow for proper recovery. Therefore, you don’t want to be spending the majority of your time there. Remember the old adage that when you go fast, you should be going REALLY FAST. And when you’re going slow, you should be going REALLY SLOW.
Remember that the body is incredibly good at adapting itself to whatever stress is imposed on it. So when you spend most of your time in Zone 3, the only real adaptation that occurs is the body becomes incredibly adept at riding in Zone 3. You can go out the door, hit a nice fast tempo and hold it all the way around your favorite loop and back to your house with an average speed over 20 miles per hour. Because of this zone 3 fitness, moderate zone 2 riding (which is where 90% of any cyclists’ training should ideally be), feels ridiculously easy.
Breaking out of the Rut
The good news is that if you’ve reached this level with your riding, chances are you’ve built up a pretty good base of fitness. To take your riding to the next level, it may just be a question of backing of a bit, letting your body reset and starting again on a slightly more disciplined training plan.
Before you change your workout habits, for one week, take your resting heart rate every morning before you get out of bed. Then for two weeks after that, restrict yourself to zone 1 riding. If you don’t know your zones, this means EASY! Little girls on roller skates should be passing you on the path.
Some of you are thinking right now, ‘this doesn’t include the hard group ride I do every Saturday morning though, right?’ Are you starting to see how you managed to get into this situation?
After a week, you should start to see your resting heart rate come down. Wait till it hits rock bottom and then rest another 3 to 5 days. Now, you’re body is reset. Time to get going.
The first thing you’ll notice when you’re well rested is your heart rate will increase quickly and go up higher. This does not mean you’ve lost fitness, it just means you’re fresh. In fact, during your week or two of recovery riding, the damage you’ve done to your body previously will heal and you might notice a significant improvement in fitness. Yes, that’s right. An improvement in your cycling strength from doing nothing. In other words you’ve done all the hard work and you’ve torn your body down over and over. Now all you have to do is let it build itself back up, stronger and faster than before.
So now you’re ready to go out to see if you can beat your average speed on your daily 18 mile loop. Wrong! You’ve turned over a new leaf and you’re now what they call in the industry a smart trainer. Build intensity into your program but make focus on quality rather than quantity. Instead of doing your 60 minute ride at 90% of your threshold heart rate, break the ride up into intervals. If you want to work on your threshold power, do 3, 10 minute intervals right at your threshold (your legs and lungs begin to burn and you find it hard to talk). Rest for 5 or 10 minutes in between and then go again.
After a month you might notice your threshold power or speed start to plateau. Take an easy week, let your resting heart rate drop back down (presumably its started to rise over the last 3 weeks of training) and then start to work on your anaerobic power and endurance. Do some shorter 3 minute intervals at maximum effort. Give yourself plenty of rest in between so that each interval is better than the one before. Experiment to see how much intensity you can handle in a week. Start with two days and build to three. Rarely will you want to do more than 3 days of intensity in a week.
Finally, the most important thing to remember is that when you start to get tired and the quality of your intervals starts to diminish, DO NOT try to push through. Rest up until the quality returns to your workouts. As much as you hate to miss workouts, nothing will hurt your cycling ability more than chronic mediocre low quality training.
About Josh: Josh Horowitz is a USCF Certified coach and an active Category 1 racer. For more information about his coaching services and any coaching questions you may have, check out his website at LiquidFitness.com. To find out more about the Liquid Cycling club, go to LiquidCycling.com.
Roadside St. 14 When you start each new Giro you understand you’re a year older. You feel a stranger to the village approach and for a moment ... More....
Professional cycling has, over the years, attracted only a few documentary film makers. A few, such as Jorgen Leth’s “A Sunday in Hell,” have even ... More....
I’m just digging out from a few days at the BMC training camp, and while I won’t be reporting on doing Jaeger-bombs and Redbulls with Cadel & George, ... More....
As the final Madison got underway the arena was packed to the rafters, all the talk of Six Days in crisis forgotten for now. The finale was ... More....
Six Day racing comes to Berlin for the 99th time on Thursday, 28th January, 2010 with the great tradition of winter track racing in Germany in a ... More....
American Classic spent the last couple of years reworking their line up and the 420 Aeros are the latest to leave the bench. Take a look at the new ... More....
A couple years in the making, Pez head up to see arguably the top custom builder on the planet. We hit Serotta's NY shop, take a peek at their ... More....
You’ve still got today and all of tomorrow to ‘git ‘er done! Your holiday shopping that is… and armed with the complete set of 4 gift guides ... More....
If the stocking's not full - somebody's not doing their job. Good thing we're here to help with a big ol' bag full of the kind of stuff we'd love to ... More....
Winter riding is almost upon us - except for you lucky Aussies - and that means less riding outdoors. But with an indoor trainer and a Netflix ... More....
Many ergogenic aids, both legal and illegal, have been touted as the magic bullet that will improve cycling performance. What about something that ... More....
Having goals is one of the important first steps in achieving your dreams. They can be small goals or they can be big goals, but without them you’ll ... More....
Is cycling your religion, or at least one of them? If so, you’re not alone. Many people define themselves as “spiritual,” even if they don’t practice ... More....
Post-Giro Roadside: I love Scotland; but there’s no Gazzetta in the morning, most of the coffee tastes like John Wayne brewed it beside the ... More....
Sunday July 20th 1969; that’s 40 years ago now but I remember it clearly as the day that I first became aware of professional bicycle racing – I was ... More....
Roadside Recap: As we make our merry way through the rounds of the PEZ Looks Back, Ed is up for his retrospective on the Tour that was. As the ... More....
Coming on four years ago, Saul Raisin was one of THE big things in US pro cycling. Top 40 in a hard Tour de Suisse and mountain king at the Tour de ... More....
The last time we spoke to Garmin's Steve Cozza was after the 2008 Paris - Tours; where he produced another solid performance from a consistent and ... More....
Just about to start his second season with Cervélo - thanks to strong Classic rides and his first Grand Tour finish, in the Giro - Englishman, Dan ... More....
In October, nine-time Tour de France rider Frankie Andreu announced that he would be Director Sportif of the Ohio-based KENDA Pro Cycling p/b ... More....
With so many (too many?) others looking back to best-of-2009 or decade highlights, why not look ahead? A new decade beckons, after all, so who better ... More....
We first talked with Lostende Bike Tours owner and avid cyclist Allan Reeves about his Pyrenees Cycling Challenge, from the Atlantic to the ... More....
So, riding in Texas is mostly flat, with only tumbleweeds and armadillos to avoid right? Well, not exactly. You see, Austin is situated in what’s ... More....
Roadside St. 14 When you start each new Giro you understand you’re a year older. You feel a stranger to the village approach and for a moment ... More....
Professional cycling has, over the years, attracted only a few documentary film makers. A few, such as Jorgen Leth’s “A Sunday in Hell,” have even ... More....
I’m just digging out from a few days at the BMC training camp, and while I won’t be reporting on doing Jaeger-bombs and Redbulls with Cadel & George, ... More....
Race report: Alejandro Valverde stayed upright to seal his Vuelta victory – the first Grand Tour win of his career. On such a short stage, ... More....
Race Report: Today David Millar won his 5th stage in all his Vuelta’s, he was given one of the swords that Toledo is famous for along with the ... More....
The loss of Franco Ballerini is not one that will be forgotten anytime soon. The sport's best are at a loss and two of the greatest riders of our ... More....
Updated! Hallelujah, they're racing in Qatar, and I just got back from celebrating with every other New Orleanian on Bourbon Street. There's ... More....
It was a dark Sunday morning in Italy when the news services announced that Franco Ballerini, ex-professional, former dual Paris-Roubaix winner and ... More....
The maracas shake, 'Cara mia, mine !' blasts from the PA. Bang! The little cannon fires and the hall fills with smoke. Yes, this is the right place, ... More....
When the K-Mart Classic of West Virginia stormed through the state in the mid-90s, it opened awareness as to just how great the bike riding is in ... More....
After riding the final 17 sectors of Paris-Roubaix yesterday, and typing to you with still swollen, sore, and blistered hands, I understand to my ... More....
Josh Horowitz is a USCF Certified coach and an active Category 1 racer. For more information about his coaching services and any coaching questions you may have, check out his website at 
![](javascript:showpic("http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/tech/amclass/amc420alarge.jpg",900,698);)
![](javascript:showpic("http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/photos/tech/serotta/meilarge.jpg",2000,1244);)
