How-to Guide
Polarized Endurance Training
INTRO
Can you structure your endurance training to get more return on the investment of energy you put out? Yes. Interestingly, some high-caliber strategies that help you progress faster may seem a little counterintuitive. Spending time training in lower intensity effort zones can ultimately help you go faster and farther later. That is the concept behind our course Going Slow to Go Fast, and it is also the methodology behind the concept called polarized training. This How-to Guide helps you implement this training technique if you decide to try it.
PRINCIPLES
Find Your Zones
We can measure training intensity (i.e. how “hard” exercise is) in a number of different ways including things like running speed, perceived effort, oxygen consumption, and heart rate.
When using any of these methods, we can separate activities into three intensity zones. These effort zones apply to any type of endurance sport (cycling, running, rowing, etc.). Below “Zone Guidance”, we will use running as an example of how to find your zone.
Polarize Your Training
To increase endurance capability polarized training means spending most of your time in two training poles: lower intensity efforts around 65% of your maximal heart rate and higher intensity zones around 85% of maximal heart rate or higher. The middle zone, around 75-85% maximum heart rate, is avoided in this training method.
Now that you have your training zones (by speed and/or heart rate), it’s time to go out and train!
- Zone 1 Training - 3 to 4 Workouts per Week: To try a more “polarized” approach to training, try doing 3-4 workouts per week where your heart rate stays within zone 1. Don’t worry if it feels slow.
- Zone 2 Training: Avoid!
- Zone 3 Training - 1 to 2 Workouts per Week: Do some type of interval training where you really push the intensity in spurts. The sprint intervals can be varied in length. An example is to sprint on a track for four to eight intervals of 10 to 60 seconds with maximal efforts followed by one to four minutes rest between intervals. Another approach is to find a hill and sprint up it then walk back down, rest and start again. For the recovery period, aim to be fairly well recovered so that you can put more into your sprint intervals.
Synergize Your Nutrition
Does it matter what kind of fuel we use for our different days with different training intensities? The research says it does. A common misperception is that if you are burning more fat during your exercise session, then you lose body fat more rapidly. That’s not how body fat regulation works, actually. But, the type of fuel you have - or don’t have - onboard while you train can affect your training adaptations and possibly can help you get a greater return on your efforts. Here are some things to keep in mind:
We burn a higher percentage of fat to fuel efforts at lower exercise intensities and a higher percentage of carbohydrate to fuel efforts at higher exercise intensities.
- Fuel for easy days: If you’re going for an easy jog (or equivalent intensity of any exercise), you don’t need to eat a giant bowl of pasta right before this exercise session; it’s simply not needed since you’ll be primarily burning fat as your fuel.
- Fuel for harder days: Performance at high-intensity workout will be highly dependent upon available carbohydrates. For Zone 2 and Zone 3 work, it make sense to have carbs in your system prior to these workouts.
ZONE GUIDANCE
Zone 1
- Feel: This zone is a relatively “easy” zone. Think about an easy jog, or even a brisk walk, or something you could do in the category of exercise that you can do for a fairly long time without getting tired.
- Breath: At the top of this zone, which is the border between zones 1 and 2, you should still be able to talk in complete sentences and/or continue breathing through your nose.
- Heart rate: is between 50-75% of maximal heart rate. The actual heart rate that occurs in this zone will vary by individual, the environmental temperature you’re exercising in, and activity type. For example, at a comparable level of perceived effort heart rate tends to be higher while running compared with cycling, and also higher in hot weather vs cooler temperatures. In these cases, go back to how the exercise feels to you in addition to monitoring your HR information.
- Find Your Zone 1:
- Test it: Using run pace and/or a heart rate monitor– run at an easy pace with someone for at least 20-30 mins while carrying on a conversation (out loud). Run slow enough so you can comfortably chat, ideally also breathing through your nose. After the workout, look at your average running pace and heart rate during the last 10-15 mins of the run. Use those values as the upper limit of Zone 1.
- Estimate it: A simpler (though less accurate) method to find your heart rate limit for the easy workouts would be to subtract your age from 180. For example, the upper limit of Zone 1 for a 40-year-old as determined by this calculation is a heart rate of 140 bpm (180 - 40 = 140 bpm).
- Polarized training goals: Aim for 3 to 4 workouts per week. To try a more “polarized” approach to training, try doing 3-4 workouts per week where your heart rate stays within zone 1 (don’t worry if it feels slow!).
- Fuel for easy days: If you’re going for an easy jog, it doesn’t make sense to eat a giant bowl of pasta right before this exercise session, because it’s simply not needed, you’ll be using a different fuel source during this training.
Zone 2
This zone is relatively harder but sustainable, fueled by mostly carbohydrate, and done only once or fewer in polarized training schemes. It is also the zone that many endurance races are conducted in.
- Feel: Challenging, but sustainable. The top of this zone would be where you would run a 10-km race, for example.
- Breath: Challenging to breathe through your nose and it would be hard to have a conversation in this zone, but you could communicate a few words, for example, to a training partner while running.
- Heart rate: Is between 75-85% of maximal heart rate.
- Find Your Zone 2: Run 10-km as fast as you can (either by yourself or in an organized race). The average pace and heart rate are a good indicator of your Zone 2.
- Polarized training goals: Zero to one workout per week in this zone!
- Fuel: Carbohydrates are used predominantly as fuel in this zone.
Zone 3
This zone is relatively the hardest as it is where you give near maximal to maximal efforts. It is not sustainable for very long, fueled by carbohydrates and the phosphocreatine system, and done once or twice a week in polarized training schemes.
- Feel: maximal or close to maximal efforts. So, doing high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or sprint races of very short duration qualify.
- Breath: Need to breathe through your mouth. Too hard to talk while performing at this level.
- Heart rate: Over 85% maximal heart rate.
- Find Your Zone 3: Zone 3 is everything above the fastest pace you can maintain for 5-10 minutes time.
- Polarized training goals: 1 to 2 workouts per week where you really push the intensity in spurts. The sprint intervals can be varied in length. An example is to sprint on a track for four to eight intervals of 10 to 60 seconds with maximal efforts followed by one to four minutes rest between intervals. Another approach is to find a hill and sprint up it then walk back down, rest and start again. For the recovery period, aim to be fairly well recovered so that you can put more into your sprint intervals.
- Fuel for harder days: Performing a high-intensity workout is highly dependent upon carbohydrates and phosphocreatine levels (see our How-to Guide - Ergogenics Aids for more on creatine), it makes sense to have some carbs in your system prior to a workout like this.
New to Endurance Training?
If you are new to endurance training but want to apply some of these principles, start with a period of lower-intensity Zone 1-only training for one month. In the second month, start your Zone 3 training with 1 to 3 bouts of 15-second sprints at 85% effort or higher, and build from there will longer and / or more sprint intervals according to your fitness. Keep listening to what your body tells you and you’ll progress faster if you do (which again, sometimes means holding back).
Sleep Low - Advanced Concept
If you are comfortable adjusting your carb and fat intake based around your intensity and want to take some additional steps, you can try the sleep-low approach.
To “sleep-low”, perform a high-intensity workout in the evening (ex. spin class, crossfit, etc.), and only consume protein, fat, and veggies after the workout. The lack of post-workout carbohydrate will keep your muscle glycogen stores low overnight while you sleep. Then in the morning, do an easy Zone 1 workout prior to consuming any food.
Consuming black coffee (or tea) and an electrolyte drink, may help you feel better during your fasted exercise than you would if you didn’t consume these performance enhancers.
When you sleep low and train fasted in easy Zone 1, you’ll stimulate the desired training adaptation response faster. The morning workout will likely feel harder than you might expect. Be sure to stay in your heart rate zone even though you may be going slower than normal. After the workout, consume a meal containing both carbohydrates and protein.
RELATED RESOURCES
Caffeine Products
- Any black coffee
- Any caffeinated tea
- Caffeine pills - Nutricost Caffeine Pills 100mg Per Serving, 250 Capsules
Electrolyte Products
- Drip Drop Electrolyte Powder
- Hydrant Rapid Hydration Drink Mix
- Ultima Replenisher Electrolyte Hydration Powder
Heart Rate Monitors
Pulse Rate Monitoring
A proxy for the more direct heart rate monitoring from chest straps.
- Apple Watch
- Garmin smartwatches
- Fitbit wearables
Chest Strap Monitors
- Polar HR Sensors on Amazon
- Wahoo HR Monitors on Amazon
- Garmin HRM-Tri Heart Rate Monitor on Amazon
