Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back Time
Crunch fans.
I'm your host, coach AdamPulford, so frame this up here.
There were a few comments on aprevious podcast where I gave
the advice of doing someintervals Zone 3 or above that's
tempo threshold or higherwithin the first third or
halfway through a three-hourworkout, then riding Zone 2 for
(00:20):
the rest of the ride.
A few comments came insuggesting this is wrong because
it ruins the fat burning aspectof zone two intensity post
intervals up to 30 minutes.
Please hear me when I say thisIf you want to build fitness,
improve performance and trainyour energy systems to be able
(00:41):
to do more work so that you're abetter athlete this month
versus last month or this yearversus last year, combining
intervals with zone twoendurance in training will help
you achieve this.
I was going to let it go, butas a curious person, I went
looking for what other peopleare saying about this topic.
(01:01):
I even talked to a couple of myown athletes about this and of
course it's a very polarizingtopic right now Doing intervals
plus zone two afterwards versusjust zone two alone and this
conversation has been a cyclicalsort of thing in popularity for
many years now.
So where's the disconnect?
(01:24):
Why is this a polarizing topic.
To stay as neutral as I can,I'll admit that physiology is a
younger science we are stilllearning new aspects about it
and how best to train athletesand the concepts overall can be
very confusing.
However, this confusion isamplified by influencers and
(01:45):
talking heads that just want toget likes or go viral on the
latest hype and spread falseinformation.
Quick disclaimer, though,because I do not know everything
, nor do I claim that in any ofthese podcasts I'm still
learning as well that in any ofthese podcasts I'm still
(02:06):
learning as well, and everyoneshould be critical of the
information they receive,checking their sources and
making sure the advice is basedon truth, even information on
this podcast.
But this is why, if you go toour landing page on any of these
podcasts or the links in ourshow notes, you'll typically
find a whole list of researchand credible sources to back up
much of the information and theadvice that I'm providing, and
(02:30):
that includes on today's show.
So don't forget to do that ifyou want to learn more about
this topic.
Now that we have the juicesflowing and the disclaimers
disclaimed, let's dive into whycombining all intensities is so
beneficial for overallperformance.
So let's start with thatcomment about zone two and fat
(02:51):
burning.
So the sexy thing about zonetwo is burning fat, or fat
oxidation.
A couple of things.
One, using fat as a fuel sourceis really important.
As an endurance athlete, thisensures that you're using your
natural fuel stores properly forvarious intensities and can
help you preserve the muscleglycogen when you need it most,
(03:13):
ie at high intensity.
I did a podcast with CTS coachRenee Eastman entitled Don't Be
a Sugar Burner, and that'sepisode number 169.
And we talk all about this.
If you want to learn more,listen to that episode.
Zone two, or endurance training, as some of us call it, can
help improve some metabolicaspects if you have issues there
(03:35):
, primarily if you're burningcarbs or more carbohydrate at
lower intensities than youshould.
But you need to test in orderto do that.
Okay, we go through it all overon that podcast.
So, um, to make sure that youhave that dialed, whether you go
in and have a test or you do itout in the field, um, listen to
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that podcast.
It tells you everything thatyou need to know.
But if you don't have issueswith this which is most of us
out there, by the way no need totrain it and you can and are
burning fat all the time at allintensities.
Wait what?
Yeah, let's talk about humanmetabolism here for just a
(04:18):
minute.
For those who know.
Nothing new here, right?
For those who don't know, letme blow your mind with this.
You can and are burning fat atall intensities.
In fact, some athletes burnmore fat as a fuel source than
others, even at zone four that'sthreshold, people 91 to 105% of
(04:41):
your FTP.
Now I'm not going to get intofull details on this, but check
out the studies I've linked toin the show notes.
It is a proven fact and hasbeen for years and years.
And you know what else?
You can also increasemitochondrial density at all
intensities, not just zone two.
(05:02):
You can also increasevascularity at all intensities.
You can increase stroke volumeand cardiac output at all
intensities.
You can also increase muscleglycogen storage Guess what?
At all intensities.
I've got an awesome articleabout this.
Okay, it's fast cataching.
(05:24):
That wrote it.
A bunch of his coaches overthere, frank, shout out to you
there, also from High North, thehow and why of all this occurs.
Okay, so I linked to that inthe show notes.
Go through and read it.
But spoiler alert, they go deepinto the benefits of tempo and
sweet spot training when thetime is right in training.
(05:45):
So go ahead and read that.
But my main point is this Allroads lead to Rome.
Dr Andy Coggan has used thatphrase often when answering the
questions like what is the besttraining modality or intensities
to use for different intervals?
So I'll steal it here today inhonor of him and because it's
(06:08):
true.
Different intervals so I'llsteal it here today in honor of
him and because it's true.
What he means is that using allintensities and many methods to
organize training can get youthe same result.
One way is not the way, manyways are.
This is nothing new in thispodcast and I've mentioned it in
different ways myself, as wellas with guests like Tim Cusick
(06:28):
and Jim Miller that have stronghistories of proven performance
with their athletes.
However, because there stillseems to be a massive confusion
about how training works at themetabolic level, I'm setting the
stage today for more podcaststo come on these topics in the
future.
The goal will be to get peoplelike Dr Andy Coggan himself on
(06:51):
the podcast to help explain moreabout why this is.
Maybe even San Milan, if I canarrange it.
These guys are way smarter thanI am and can probably describe
it a heck of a lot better.
But as a coach, and as a coachrunning a podcast geared toward
getting the right information toendurance athletes short on
time, it's my job to takecomplicated topics, make them
(07:13):
simple to understand and applyit to your training.
And I need to do this withfactual information, not just
stuff that's going to blow upfor a week based on hype and
then slither off into nothingland.
So what's the practical advicetoday?
How can we make the advice oftrain all intensities and make
(07:33):
it more simple?
Well, let's talk about thistraining principle, because it's
going to be the guiding lightto help you make training
decisions.
That training principle iscalled progressive overload, and
the principle states that inorder to increase your fitness
and or your performance, youneed to increase your training
(07:54):
stimulus or your training stress, if we want to call it that
over time to keep improving.
You've heard me talk about thegeneral adaptation syndrome on
this podcast before.
In fact, I think I did it lastweek, where I explained that the
equation stress plus restequals adaptation.
In this case, training stressis agnostic.
In some sense, you can usevolume or intensity, or both to
(08:18):
offer the stress to your body ina training sense.
Think about TSS scores ontraining peaks.
So long as you adequately rest,you'll form an adaptation which
is getting stronger, faster,more resilient, bigger endurance
, that sort of thing.
Progressive overload specifiesthat the stress should start
wherever you're at right nowtoday and gradually increase
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week to week during your buildweeks, then allow for some
gradual detraining to occurduring recovery week to make
those full adaptations.
So what does this mean?
How do you track it?
During a phase of training,base training during a phase of
base training, for example, Iuse CTL to track this.
I make sure that the ramp rateis increasing by two to six TSS
(09:05):
per week or so, like this forprogressive weeks until I get to
the point where CTL stabilizesfor a few weeks.
And I use mostly zone two andsome zone three training for my
time crunched athletes.
During times of more intensivetraining, I'm looking at
different data like mean, maxpower time and zone training in
(09:26):
impact scores, kilojouletracking and more things like
this.
I've got some future episodes totalk about those in particular,
but on the most simple leveland let's go back to our base
training example, think of itlike this If you start riding
and training for your first timeever.
You could simply ride atendurance level or zone two,
(09:48):
which is roughly 55 to 75% ofyour FTP, every day for one hour
for several weeks and you cankind of keep on improving up to
a point.
But at some point your fitnesswill level out and if you want
to improve you'll need to addmore volume or more intensity,
or both At some point.
Everyone in this world levelsout on volume, even Tarek
(10:12):
Bagacha.
So adding intensity is the wayto add more stress.
Higher intensity causesdifferent stresses for each
athlete, depending on a numberof different factors, including
past training history, athletephenotype, lifestyle, sleep
habits, genetics and a ton ofother stuff.
So many more In fact.
(10:34):
It's hard to scratch thesurface on it here.
All that to say, at anindividual level, there's a lot
of art that comes into thescience of coaching somebody.
Well, there are some norms andsome general goals to aim for
when we're doing high intensityinterval training sessions and I
have episodes coming up aboutall of that, including time and
(10:56):
zone at threshold, vo two max,some anaerobic capacity.
For now, let the generalconcept of progressive overload
start to absorb and look for itin your training by observing
your ramp rates or CTL going upeach week or increasing time in
zone at zone three or higher ifyou're in a phase of training
where you're adding intensityright now Throughout the season.
(11:19):
The concept is to use thisprogressive dosing of
intensities in the right way tobring out the desired responsive
adaptation at the right time.
Improving fat metabolism is onlyone aspect of training and it
seems to be the popular choiceand popular theme with Zone 2
advocates Of which is one of thebiggest reasons.
(11:40):
The zone two disciples say notto do hard intensity with your
zone two days, but they'resignificantly losing the forest
amongst the trees here.
So let's summarize what welearned today.
Number one you burn fat andcarbohydrate and ATP, or
adenosine triphosphate, as afuel source at all intensities,
(12:03):
including at rest and duringmaximal efforts.
The percentage of eachsubstrate changes as the
percentage of intensity changes,but you're never purely 100% or
0% on any of them, so long asyou're alive.
Stop thinking about humanphysiology as ones and zeros.
It doesn't work like that.
Nor is it really helpful tothink like that.
(12:25):
It's all sliding scales.
Progressive overload may be oneof the most important training
principles to consider whendesigning and implementing
training programs.
So make sure in your monthlyblocks you're building and
dosing yourself with more eachweek with either volume,
intensity or both.
On those build weeks, then takea proper recovery week every
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three to four weeks and makesure that you're continually
adapting.
Remember, make sure to planyour recovery in Now.
The third point, to summarize,is combining intervals with
endurance.
Riding is a great combinationto deepen your fitness and
practice progressive overload.
If you're myopically focused onfat burning only as the benefit
(13:10):
, you are missing out on so manyother benefits of training,
thus losing the forest amongstthe trees.
A quick word about my background.
For those watching on YouTube,you may see a sad attempt at
hanging up some jerseys fromathletes behind me, and you're
correct.
That is exactly what'shappening.
It is a very sad attempt.
In an upcoming episode withAllison Jackson, she wondered
(13:35):
why I didn't hang up all thestuff that she sent me, so I hit
pause, I got them out and putthem up like this in like 30
seconds or less.
I also hung up this one here,which is a national champ Jersey
from another one of my athletes, lydia Cusack, who just took
fifth at cycle cross worlds.
By the way.
Now, because I am one of theprobably the laziest coaches
(13:58):
you'll meet.
When it comes to self-promotion, I'm taking advice from those
around me by being, andimproving upon that in 2025.
So over time, you willhopefully see a better attempt
from me at celebrating myathletes achievements, like some
framed jerseys in thebackground, for example, shout
outs and social media posts whenposts when they do a thing,
(14:19):
they have a great race, as wellas some athlete interviews
coming up.
But until then, you candefinitely throw some snarky
comments in on our YouTubechannel.
If you're watching here andshaking your head, it will
improve, I promise.
Trust me, I just don't knowwhen.
So that's it.
(14:39):
That's our show for today.
If you liked what you heard,please share it with a friend,
as that's the best way to growthe show.
If some of what you heard todayruffled your feathers a bit,
great, that means you'relearning and I encourage you to
head over to our landing pageand check out our show notes to
read more about the detail ofwhat I went over today.
And if this sparks morequestions, please submit them to
(15:02):
me by heading over totrainwrightcom backslash podcast
and ask a training question.
You can ask anything you wanton all things endurance related
and I'll do my best to answer iton future episodes and some of
these future episodes will godeeper into some of these
aspects by getting some otherbigger names and smart
physiologists on the show,because I think it's needed
especially in this time andspace.
(15:23):
So be sure to come back nextweek and for future weeks to
make sure to get all the actualtraining, advice and go deep
into some of these complextopics.
Thanks again for listening andwe'll see you next week.