When you dissect speed, there are a variety of zones that correlate to various energy systems. When you dissect sports, athlete’s need more than just absolute speed qualities to perform.
Insert speed endurance.
Working alongside these zones, speed endurance acknowledges two factors
Speed is the base of all running – sprinting OR distance
Speed Endurance is the gateway to building work capacity for our athletes
Zone 1
Basic speed training… this is largely where we live 90% of the time in Parisi Classes. Zone 1 sessions are where we break down speed training into specific skills. Athletes are going to get a safe entry point in to enhancing work capacity, as well as improving the mechanical pieces that will allow them to tap in to further zones.
Zone 2
This is where athletes will be sprinting 15-60 seconds at a maximal effort. If you don’t have a firm handle at zone 1, you can’t get to this level. An athlete needs to have a proficiency in maximum speed mechanics to be able to maintain 100% intensity for upwards to 60 seconds.
Zone 3
1-6 minutes of work. This is where field athletes with shift-specific energy systems come in to play. Hockey players in the first or second line. Midfielders in lacrosse, field hockey offensive sets, basketball players during a quarter. These types of athletes need to get into this zone.
Here is where a Sports Performance Coach comes in. All of this is a progression in an athlete's training.
Zone 1= improvement in baseline speed mechanics.
Zone 2= mechanics hold up under longer duration (up to 60 seconds of total work). Now this is where a coach can assess mechanics at 15/30/45 seconds. If an athlete can maintain technique over 15 seconds, he can enter this zone.
Zone 3= when an athlete is proficient with technique for 60+ seconds, your athletes NEED to run. If we cap them at 10-yard sprints over and over again, they will never build the specific energy system development that they need for their sports, that their coaches are going to demand from them in practice, OR what your athlete needs to do to pass a preseason conditioning test.
Speed endurance is a series of progression. Can we live in zone 1? Yep. You really can. Can we progress to zone 2 for the majority of our athletes. Yep, you bet. Zone 3 is for our athletes that get to that elite level. We do work with this level but understand that zone 3 work is earned through discipline in training.