Many train hard and in a one-sided manner, without listening to their own bodies, which sometimes leads to a lack of desired progress. Learn to train smarter by understanding training intensities.

“Learn to train smarter” is a well-known topic and expression for top athletes, but a large portion of endurance and competitive skiers do not understand the importance of different training speeds. Since they often fail to distinguish intensity levels – or refuse to – their performance deteriorates over time. This decline is often blamed on aging. So, how can you learn to train more wisely? This article was originally written by Langd.se.

Get a Sports or Smartwatch

Nowadays, you can buy a watch in a sports or electronics store that displays your heart rate. Most models can even calculate your maximum heart rate and determine the basic zones you should follow in your training. However, if you want precise values, you need to undergo a stress test in a sports laboratory.

Listen to Your Body

No device can replace the signals your body gives you. Sometimes, you may wake up feeling tired, and your resting heart rate is higher than when you are full of energy. Similar deviations can occur in your heart rate during training. The ideal approach is to combine technology with your own feelings. Use the watch, but also learn to listen to your body and train without digital aids. Learn to distinguish between training intensities without relying on the watch. In a competition, you do not always have the opportunity to check what the device shows. You must feel for yourself whether you can increase the pace of your competitors speed up.

Take It Easy on Easy Sessions

After a workday, you may head out eagerly and not even notice that your speed is higher than it should be. If you repeat this often, your performance will decline in the long run. Training too fast is exhausting for the body, especially in terms of recovery. The result may be that your speed deteriorates, and you will not be faster in competitions than in training sessions.

Aim for variety in your training. Do endurance exercises and recovery sessions at aerobic intensity and occasionally include intervals at the anaerobic threshold. If you feel good, try a sprint session at maximum power.

Also Read: Interval Training or Endurance Training – Which works better?

How to Distinguish Between Training Intensities?

Training intensity zones can be divided in many ways. Below is a method you can use even if you do not own a heart rate monitor or smartwatch to train smarter.

Level I – Easy Pace

Maintain a pace where you can continue for hours. Plan a jog with a friend – if you can talk without getting out of breath and breathe through your nose, you are at Level I. This is the aerobic zone, where energy is produced using oxygen. There is enough oxygen, and no acid accumulates in the muscles. Maintaining this intensity on uphill sections can be challenging. In that case, it is best to switch to brisk walking or, in skiing, double poling.

Level II

This is no longer a relaxed jog, but you maintain a speed where it is already harder to talk. Nasal breathing is no longer enough. You are in a heart rate zone between the aerobic and anaerobic thresholds. There is a slight sensation of acid in the muscles, but your body can still break down lactic acid. Doing all endurance sessions in this heart rate zone several times a week burdens the body significantly. Stay at Level I and add intervals at Level II as part of your training.

Level III – Anaerobic Zone

You are in a heart rate zone corresponding to the anaerobic threshold’s lactic acid levels. Your muscles receive just enough oxygen for lactic acid breakdown to succeed without becoming too acidic. You breathe entirely through your mouth. You feel that if you were to increase your speed, you would exceed your limits.

Level IV – Race Pace

This is the speed at which you strive to give everything in a competition. In this phase, you are mainly during shorter races lasting about half an hour. Then, you can push yourself on steep climbs and recover slightly on descents. In longer races, such as ski competitions, you mostly stay below the anaerobic threshold and only exceed it occasionally. You feel a burning sensation in your muscles, your breathing is intense, and you may have a metallic taste in your mouth.

Level V – Speed Sprints

You aim to achieve maximum speed in short, approximately 15-second segments. In such a short time, your heart rate does not reach its maximum, but you strive for maximum movement frequency. You can regularly include short sprints in your training since they do not cause long-term fatigue but add variety to endurance training. You should not perform explosive sprints if you have severe muscle tension.

Challenge Yourself

Do interval training at Level III or Level IV. You can include them in your training 1–2 times per week, depending on how well your body recovers. These exercises include repeated 3–8 minute segments, with 1–4 minute recovery periods in between. The recovery time is usually about a third or half of the segment length. For example, if you run 6 × 4-minute intervals, take a 1:30–2:00 minute break between them.

Be sure to warm up before intervals, which should be at Level I. Only then can you perform the fast segments effectively. A well-developed cardiovascular system is one of the most important factors for athletic performance. You can accumulate kilometers and lift weights at the gym, but if you do not also train your heart and test it with rhythm changes and speed increases, your performance will not improve. If you are short on time, skip a basic endurance session rather than an interval session.

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