"Your training has to be centered around dominating the critical zone." -Brooks Johnson

Brooks Johnson, who has had an athlete in every Olympic Games since 1968, speaks about the importance of the "Critical Zone" (CZ) in training your athletes. The CZ is defined as the speed necessary to be competitive over the last 25% of any race.

For example, at the elite level you need to run 3:30 in the 1500m to be competitive, which is an average of 56 sec/400m. However, it is often essential to run the final quarter at a speed of 50-51 sec. Therefore, an athlete must be able to run a speed of 50-51 sec for the final 400m while in a fatigued state.

And this is important regardless of the ability level. If you were to put this theory to a female HS 800m runner who is of a 2:20 level, she is running a pace of 35 sec/200m. However, she will probably need to be trained to be able to run about 30-31 sec for the final 200m. Again, she must need to do this in a fatigued state, and her training must set her up to be able to do this.

If you have any further questions or are interested in potential workout ideas surrounding this philosophy, please do not hesitate to contact me.