Unpacking 'Within-Session Intensity Regulation': Defining the Concept

  @rookproductionsmedia
In recent blogs and newsletters, I have extensively discussed 'within-session intensity regulation.' I believe that proper within-session intensity regulation is one of the most critical components of the training process. It's a topic I spend a lot of time contemplating, planning for, and researching.

But what exactly do I mean by 'within-session intensity regulation'? In this blog, I'll attempt to clarify this concept.

Context

Imagine you're training for an Ironman. You're currently in the midst of a four-week Specific Strength training block, focusing on (i) accumulating a substantial overall training volume and (ii) engaging in long, tempo runs on hilly terrain. Your training program emphasizes low-intensity sessions below the lactate threshold, allowing you to train extensively and frequently without inducing excessive fatigue (7, 8). The only sessions in your plan that exceed the lactate threshold are (i) a midweek trainer workout involving 8-minute...

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Why low intensity training needs to be of low intensity

If any of you have listened to Dan’s chat with Triathlon Taren on his podcast recently, you would have heard him talk about the importance of getting your zone 2 intensity right and ensuring that level 2 endurance training is at the correct physiological stress, i.e. below the first ventilatory (or aerobic) threshold. The reasons that this is so important are both from an adaptation perspective (i.e. ensuring we are making the correct physiological adaptations), but also from an overall physiological stress, which effects our ability to train consistently well. This blog discusses why ensuring that your level 2 training is actually at level 2 could be the key to unlocking your ability to train consistently as you pursue your Long Distance Triathlon goals.

Indeed, one of the most important factors impacting the success of training for long-distance triathlon is intensity distribution and discipline, concepts we will cover in great detail in Endure IQ LDT102: Training...

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