Personal Fitness Zones

As I read more articles relating to training regimens for a variety of race lengths, it has become increasingly evident some scale relating to a runner''s current fitness level needs to be incorporated into the discussion.

It was not uncommon to read an article last year where week one of a training regimen contained a four mile run. The problem I had was that I was not able to run four miles in the condition I was in last year within the first week of a training program.

The fitness zone scale should be as simple as possible. I would recommend a three-tiered personal fitness zone scheme. If you were to incorporate a red, white and blue color scheme it would facilitate remembering the zones. Red would be the beginner level, white would be the intermediate level, and blue would represent the advanced fitness level.

Establishing the lines between the groups could be subject to a fair amount of debate. The Red level could consist of anyone who has not run regularly in the last year - regardless of whether you have been an avid runner in the past or a newbie. The White level is where most active runners would fall - runners who have been engaged with running for a length of time, but would not regard themselves as elite runners aspiring to win races. The Blue level would be the elite level of running, the top ten percent of all runners by age.

Within each zone would be divided into three levels or stages; beginner, intermediate and advanced. I would regard my entire last year as progressing from the beginner to the intermediate levels within the red zone.


Here is another website I found to be very useful for extrapolating upon your historical performances to gain some insight how well you could perform at other distances if you were properly trained.
http://www.runningforfitness.org/