Unlocking A Hidden Gear with Zone 2
[00:00] Intro
I have a real-world example and provide feedback on something I've been exploring in myself.
Many of you know I'm a huge fan of wearable technology. I'm wearing two devices on my hand and wrist here Whoop and Oura Ring. One of those things that I wanted to see if I could do this year was improve my cardiovascular performance.
I have been training in a protocol called zone two, and I'll get into that in a second, but I wanted to share some details because now that it's getting into springtime here in the United States, I've been back on my bike. That is how I did most of my cardio training before this fall and winter,
I have a ton of data on how my average rides go. So, with the nice weather, I decided to hit the bike and see how the season's first ride went.
During the wintertime, you expect hibernation to occur. All the holidays happen. You have a lower performance coming out of the winter and going into the spring, and you expect gains to come back as you get back into the swing of things.
For me, this year, that has not happened. I've improved pretty substantially. I'm going to share some numbers. And there are two rides that I've done. And the reason I did this is that with my rides, I typically can gauge how hard it feels and look at my Whoop numbers and see where it should be or have a feel for where it should be.
[01:50] Performance Data
In my earlier ride, where I only went like a couple of miles, it wasn't anything crazy. I was like, these numbers look low. And so this is what my longest ride was over the weekend, and I'll have images on the screen, so you'll see them. But the strain was 9.4. The total duration was an hour and 41 minutes.
Strain is a summarizing metric of the cardiovascular load - the level of strain your training takes on your cardiovascular system based on your heart rate - achieved during an individual activity or over the course of a day. Strain is scored on a scale from 0 to 21.
The distance was 21 miles. The average heart rate was 126. The max heart rate was 162. I found a very similar ride from a year ago. Exactly. And in that, the strain was 14.8. An hour and 23 distance was16 miles, average heart rate 148, and max heart rate 178. So this is a massive difference for me.
I did some percent difference calculations here and just looking at the average heart rate alone, I am 16% lower. Strain is 44% lower than it was last year. It's incredible to see this amount of performance gain. I went on another bike ride just with the 16 miles to see where I would be.
I was an 8 strain an hour and 22 to 16 miles. 122 beats average and 155 max. And that in strain is 59.6% lower.
It's insane. The ability to drop my exertion that much lower in only a year to me is just mind-boggling. So the question that's now probably on everybody's mind is, what did I do?
It gets really fun because I haven't had an example explaining this training zone two. I've been fascinated by endurance athletes, cellular functioning, and those aspects. I mean, it's kind of like, what kind of engine do you have in your system is like, how well does your body transform food into fuel, and perform well.
March 2022 - 21 Mile Ride Whoop Data
March 2021 - 16 Mile Ride Whoop Data
March 2022 - 16 Mile Ride Whoop Data
[04:02] What is Zone 2?
What is zone two? If we are strict about zone two is a measurement of blood lactate, which is a byproduct of ATP generation in your muscles. And a lot of attributes that to the soreness of your muscles, but really what it means is your expending energy at a rate that your muscles can't clear the byproduct from it.
Zone 2 is defined as your highest metabolic output/work that you can sustain while keeping your lactate level below two millimole per liter (mmol/L)
Zone Two is designed around improving the efficiency at which your cells will clear lactate from it. But, I have to be honest, I messed up. I did not realize it was a lactic acid measurement. I had initially thought it was only a zone two heart rate, which can be an approximation.
But if you want to go deep into this, you have to do the blood measurement. I want to be upfront. I'm not doing that. I am only focused on spending more time at a zone two heart rate.
What is zone two heart rate? Two heart rate is between 60% and 70% of your max heart rate.
What are the benefits of Zone 2?
The fitter a person is, the healthier a person is, the more work they can do with less lactate
For a given individual, we use this metric of zone 2 as a place to understand
- how metabolically healthy they are;
- how good their mitochondria are; and
- how much work can be done while keeping your lactate about 1.7 to 2.0 mmol/L
So it's specific to you. So you need to be wearing some device that monitors your heart rate accurately. But what you need to do is do this during exercise. So you know what your max heart rate is and need to wear it for a long period of time because that's what it's all about trends. So there's that.
[05:32] A Deeper Dive
For a deeper dive into the science behind all of this stuff, I will link it to a couple of podcasts that I enjoy. I've probably always mentioned Peter Attia on many of these podcasts, but I get so much good information from him. And I can't stress it enough. There's a podcast with Indigo San Milan.
[00:05:50] He is a researcher in this category of mitochondrial functioning and cellular functioning. And how do, you know, elite performers convert energy into fuel their bodies at high levels? There's also an AMA from Peter, where he goes deep into the category.
[06:19] How I apply Zone 2
Now going back toward my application of zone two, as I was saying and very clear about, I've only been sitting at zone two as a heart rate measurement.
Zone two is an easy zone to sit at, and the way Peter describes it. I would agree with him is it's an all-day pace. I could sit there and just kind of glide at that rate. No problem.
The two ways I do this are with a treadmill, and that's roughly 3.5 miles per hour or maybe almost four now, miles per hour, and a couple of degrees inclined, nothing crazy.
I would do stair climbers for this as well. I would do an eight-speed on that machine at the gym.
The next question here is, what is dosing? Peter? We're looking at his podcast again. He recommends 45-minute sessions. I would do 40-minute sessions because I was also going off of my Whoop data which in Whoop, it gives you a targeted strain for your day.
When you do that, I would always attempt to hit low optimal strain for my day no matter how I felt at a minimum. So if that meant I had to go a bit longer or crank up the intensity, I would do that so that I covered my bases.
Peter recommends around three to four sessions at 45 minutes minimum.
[07:59] Zone 2 can help anyone
I think this is important for just about anybody.
Zone two is such a low intensity that you can accumulate and train your cells to operate more efficiently. One of the things I think people end up getting too lost on is that they have to go hard or push themselves too fast. Then they get super sore or can't keep up with the pace they want to go mentally. So their body gives out on them.
I think that shoots you in the foot for future progress because, in this modality, you can go from doing what you can and or doing less than what you think. And then when you do need to push beyond that unlock, that hidden gear for yourself, it's way easier than you anticipated it because you built up this tolerance over time, and then your body's like, We got this. Like, you've trained us. You've put the work in. So now when we have to, you know, kick it up to 11, we can go for it.
it's so cool to have this dataset that I can look back and be like, wait a minute; something's weird here. And then look back and compare like this.
Just looking at my heart rate, my average heart rate went from 126 or was 148 to 126. That's crazy. I'm not a competitive athlete by any means, but to be able to drop my exertion needed to perform a ride of 21 miles. Lower than I did at 16 miles is so crazy to me.
[09:36] Closing - Are you using Zone 2?
I'm going to leave it there, for now. I'd like to hear what people have to say about this.
What do you know about zone two? Do you train with zone two? W, how do you use zone two? If you are measuring blood lactate, what do you do for that? Because I haven't done it. I might do it now if people are interested in seeing that. I don't know my power output.
Peter recommends two millimoles of lactate. What is your power output?
This is a fascinating topic for me, and having this data and say, look, my body's adapting. So I'm physiologically adapting is so fascinating.
Keep hammering.
Links:
#85 – Iñigo San Millán, Ph.D.: Zone 2 Training and Metabolic Health
Bonus
Rich Roll — Reinventing Your Life at 30, 40, and Beyond (#561)