Heart Rate Zone Training

I gave a talk on heart rate zone training over the weekend to a group from the DC Tri Club New Triathlete Program. I thought that it would be good to share the information here for those who would like to learn more. Here's the first part:

Why Use Heart Rate Zone Training?

The first reason, to become a better athlete. Improvement comes through progressive overload - that is hard efforts bring gains. To work hard, you need to have easy days for recovery. Unfortunately, most people just do every workout at a moderate intensity. By using heart rate, you have a tool to make sure that the easy days are easy so that the hard days can be hard.

The second reason is coming next...