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23 APR 2026

Chris' note - today in The Infirmary we posit that perhaps triathlon needs way fewer zones than some of the zones system out there. If you want to go on a truly deep exploration of this "revolutionary" assertion, go ahead and give this week's show a listen.

Does the world need yet ANOTHER zone system? Probably not, but systems that articulate our training ranges are more than just data—they change the way we think and communicate about training intensity. More zones say “this is a really complex system—you better get it right,” and the downfall is difficulty understanding and complying with the system. At the other end of the spectrum, a system with few zones is easier to establish and maintain, but it may end up leaving some training differentiation on the table.

To show you why we need a different system for triathletes, let’s turn to road cyclists. In order to succeed, most road cyclists need the following abilities:

• A robust endurance engine that allows for long days in the saddle and a long time to exhaustion (TTE)
• The ability to cross gaps (2-6 minute efforts)
• The ability to push very hard for 30 seconds to 2 minutes
• A passable or superior sprint

One of the older models out there, Joe Friel’s, has seven zones that reflect these needs. Endurance is broken down into recovery, endurance, tempo, threshold, and then supra-threshold A, B, and C, each of those reflecting, respectively, the last three items on the list above. While it’s possible that cyclists may need differentiation with that fine detail, I contend that even a road cyclist’s “menu” could be simpler than seven ranges, but I could probably only get it down to 4:

• My endurance range would encompass recovery and intensities up to lactate threshold 2, since ALL of those zones (four in Friel’s model) are endurance related.
• A VO2max zone
• An anaerobic capacity zone
• A sprint zone

You might be able to see where I am going. Road cyclists have a more diverse menu of needs than triathletes do, with more intensities that they need to practice for their racing, because all four of those abilities come into play in a standard road race.

Triathlon is different: our goal in triathlon is to train the three sports so we can hold a moderately-high level of effort for a long time. As I’ve said before, triathlon is much less about going fast than it is about slowing down as little as possible. A road cyclists needs to endure, be able to ride very hard for 2-6 minutes, extremely hard for 30-120 seconds, and probably sprint from time-to-time. They have more specificity requirements in order to be their best.

Triathlon? It’s a much simpler equation: train the systems of the body that will improve our ability to hold that moderately-high level of effort for a long time. If you find yourself putting in the same kind of efforts on the bike in a triathlon that you would in a road race, I have some bad news for you: you will probably walk the run if you do so.

How Training Works

Wow we’re really going for it, here. How training works in one article, or even a single subheading? I really did eat my Wheaties this morning. But too many athletes misunderstand training in general and training for triathlon in particular. Athletes very often take the view that in order to do well in a triathlon, their training needs to look like their racing. Workouts are rehearsals, in this model, and if you’ve read any of my other writing you know that I vehemently disagree with this perspective. Yes, specificity is important, but…probably less important than you think. Again, what we want our triathlon training to do is to improve our ability to hold moderately-hard efforts for long periods of time. That’s it. That’s the game. Counterintuitively we do that by training across the intensity spectrum, but only hitting that “moderately-hard” intensity in a focused way in the last six-to-ten weeks before an event. I’m getting ahead of myself, though, so let’s pull on the reins a bit, Chris...

Want to read more? Head on over to our Substack, where you can read the whole article for free...​

The 2026 Camp Waitlist

Yes, sadly, if you want to come to Camp you'll be like Mark, here: wistfully reaching out to a better place and time.

But in seriousness, we usually have some participants melt away as we approach camp, so if you moved from FOMO to SAHMO (sadness at having missed out), then you still have a chance: join the camp waitlist for the possibility of coming to Bend at the end of May for five days and four nights of totally dialed triathlon and endurance training. You can still get all the details here, and join the waitlist at the button below.

As always, thanks for reading.

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