Let's take another step into the details of the metabolic profile and how to effectively target weaknesses. Once you have your metabolic profile in hand it’s important to know how to structure your training around the focus of this training block. The easiest way to explain this is with two real world examples. 

1. Imagine an athlete that has both VT1 and Balance Point below the balanced range but VT2 is within or above the balanced range. For the next training block they should focus on improving those areas while adding in 1 high intensity workout every 7-10 days that targets their VO2max to maintain it. 


Here’s a training split that would make sense for this athlete:

• Spend about 60% of their training time in Zone 2 to improve their VT1

• Spend about 35% of their training time in Zone 3 to improve their Balance Point

• Spend about 5% of their training time in Zone 5 to maintain their VO2max

2. Now imagine the same athlete has a perfectly balanced profile after 6 weeks of the training described above. Now they are primed to improve their VO2max to make room for further improvement to their thresholds.

Here’s what their training splits should look like:

• Spend about 70% of their training time in Zone 2 to improve their VT1

• Spend about 15% of their training time in Zone 3 to maintain their Balance Point

• Spend about 15% of their training time in Zone 5 to improve their VO2max

Now, despite having the proper training volume in each zone you’re still missing the answer to the real question at hand. Coach, what should I do today?

A real training plan provides specific workouts every single day so why should we do anything different? I, a semi-active retired athlete, should not do the same training as a professional cyclist on the Tour de France. Luckily, how much each of us needs to train to maintain or improve our fitness can be derived from our VO2max which means that the total weekly Kcals needed to maintain your fitness level can be calculated from your threshold test results. 

So, since the personalized training zone splits are represented as a ratio of total training we can apply that ratio to the total weekly kcals you should expend on training per week and get the exact amount of training needed in each zone for you to keep improving. Then it’s just a matter of selecting the proper workouts that sum up to your total training while making sure to save enough room for rest days.

Here are common examples of workouts for each training zone:

Zone 1. Rest Day. Since there’s not a clear way to distinguish between zone 1 and zone 2 (although we have some ideas) the easiest way to describe zone 1 is by labeling it as a rest day.


Zone 2. Long, slow, steady state workouts at and below your VT1. The key here is to stay at or below VT1 and make sure you’re ready to go again tomorrow!

Zone 3. Balance Point workouts are designed to extend fat utilization into the intensity spectrum. Here you want to target balance point by using either the Heart Rate or Minute Ventilation target as a ceiling, making sure you stay below Balance Point. Common Balance Point workouts are 6-10 minute intervals after a good warmup.

Zone 4. VT2 “threshold” workouts are common and mainly help with sharpening up before a race. The most common threshold workouts are intervals that can range from 3-8 minutes but another fun one is called the Lactate Clearing workout. Here you want to do 1-4 minutes just above VT2 and then a few minutes below VT2 but still in zone 4. This aims to get your body used to clearing the built up lactate at a reasonably high intensity.

Zone 5. VO2max workouts are definitely fast but not quite sprints. Intervals can range from 20 seconds up to 4 minutes for advanced athletes. Common workouts include 4x4 minute intervals and 30x30 second intervals with at least equal rest in between.

Tymewear recommends a daily workout based on your metabolic profile and your training in the last few days to make sure you always target the effort level most critical at each time. If you don’t want to do today's workout, no problem, just look through the full workout library that has been personalized to your thresholds.