Establishing Training Zones the D3 Way
Swimming:
The swims are based on a time send off. If you swim with a Master’s program or are a long-time swimmer, you may choose to use different intervals. If you are new to swimming or only swim on your own, then you’ll want to pay attention to the time of your 1000 yard (or 500 yard) TT (Time Trial). Once you have your T-Pace*, we’ll be able to establish your swim paces.
1. T-Pace is your 1000 TT divided by 10 (or your 500 TT divided by 5).
For example, let’s say you swim 19:00 for your 1000TT. This will leave you with a T-
Pace of 1:54 (19:00/10).
2. Tempo Pace: This is T-Pace + 3-5 seconds. Since you have determined your T-Pace to be 1:54 (in the example), then your T-Pace +3-5 seconds is 1:57-1:59. This should be a moderate - hard effort, but certainly not at the same effort as the 1000 TT.
3. Endurance Pace: This is 5-10 seconds per 100 slower than your T-Pace. Using the example, this is 2:04 per 100.
4. Supra-Threshold: this pace is faster than T-Pace and is included in sets that contain a lot of rest. You may swim 50s and 25s at this effort and every once in a while a set of
100s. In the example, your T-Pace is 1:54, so you may swim the Supra-Threshold at
1:53/100 or faster.
Biking:
Training zones are structured to take into account 3 different tools to measure our effort
(RPE, Power and HR).
1.
RPE – Rate of Perceived Exertion. This is your own personal scale of how hard you are going. You’ll use the following scale of 1-10:
1-4 – Very easy for between intervals or warm up or warm down.
5 – Still very easy, conservational, and could go ‘all day’ at this effort.
6 – Still easy and conversational, but you know you are working a bit harder than a 5 effort.
7 – This is where the talking gets shorter and you are limited in how long you can go at this effort. Half Ironman efforts are usually in this range.

8 – This would be Threshold* Pace - sustainable for 1 hour
9 – This is a very hard effort – probably something just under VO2, and it’s probably sustainable for 30 minutes max.
10 – Absolute max effort that lasts about 5 minutes or less. This would be a VO2 effort.
2.
Heart Rate: Use the following scale for HR Zones based on a 30 minute TT (Time
Trial).
Zone 1: Easy aerobic and your ‘go all day’ zone.
Zone 2: Hard enough to know you are working but still sustainable for a number of hours.
Zone 3: This is equivalent to a 7/10 RPE effort and although you are still able to have a conversation, your sentences are getting shorter.
Zone 4: This is your Threshold Pace – one hour of your best effort.
Zone 5: This is above your Threshold pace, and while you can sustain it for a while, it’s not going to be very long.
3.
Power Zones:
Zone 1: Easy conversational effort in the range of 65% of FTP
Zone 2: Still conversational, but you are working a little harder. Up to 72% of
FTP**.
Zone 3: Tempo effort. Up to 85% of FTP
Sweet Spot: A zone between aerobic and tempo. This zone crosses over a bit, but there is a huge benefit to this zone as you can ride either end of the range depending on how you feel – from 82-88% of FTP.
Zone 4: This is your short-course race zone and your range - from 92-100% of
FTP.
Zone 5: This is above your race zone and is only sustainable for a few minutes.
The range is from 105-125% of FTP.
Running:
RPE: Same zones as are used in Cycling above.
HR: Same zones as are used in Cycling above.
Pace: Daniels Running Formula Tables were established by Jack Daniels, PhD. The idea is to run by Pace in conjunction with your HR and/or RPE.
After running a known distance (a 5k or 10k works great!), take that time/pace and find your VDOT from Dr. Daniel’s tables see here: http://www.coacheseducation.com/endur/jack-daniels-nov-00.htm
It’s strongly recommended to read all 4 parts of this article or read the book, “Daniel’s
Running Formula”.

(Another website that uses this training philosophy is McMillan Running: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/ - McMillan took Daniel’s ideas and has a great site with tons of information.)
On the Daniel’s website you’ll see two tables. In Table 1 you’ll see a distance on the top row, and times below those distances. For example if your time for a 5k (5000 in the table) was 25:30, you can find the closest time is 26:22 (Always round down to be safe.
You can adjust up in a few weeks). Now, find that the corresponding VDOT number.
(For our example of 26:22, VDOT is 36).
In Table 2, we’ll look for the VDOT of 36 (either on the far left or far right columns, respectively). Along the top of the Table we’ll see E (Easy) / L (Long), MP (for
Marathon Pace), and T (Threshold Pace).
For a VDOT of 36 the E/L pace is equal to 10:40 per mile. M Pace is 9:33, and T pace for miles is 8:55. These are the 3 paces you’ll use most often and you’ll see in your training program.
*For more information on Determining Heart Rate and Swim Pace Zones: http://d3multisport.com/heart-rate-training/defining-triathlon-training-zones-and-paces/
For a more detailed definition of Heart Rate Zones, please see our HR Zone refresher: http://d3multisport.com/heart-rate-training/being-in-the-zone/
To calculate your Heart Rate and Power Zones there are two options:
If you using Training Peaks, use this link for instructions:
Or you could use our online Excel tool: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AikxNxkWLAlvdE1ia2Y3d0NMYW9VZ
UZfRHBSQUhBdlE&usp=drive_web#gid=2
**For more information on power, please see “Power Training Basics and Terminology” article: http://d3multisport.com/training-with-a-power-meter/power-training-basics-andterminology/