Are you a slave to the beep?
You know the one. You’re out for a beautiful run, the sun is hitting your face, your legs feel like they’ve finally joined the party, and then: BEEP. Your wrist starts vibrating like an angry hornet because your heart rate just ticked one beat over your “Zone 2” limit. Suddenly, you aren’t a triathlete enjoying the outdoors; you’re a lab rat chasing a moving target on a tiny screen.
Does that sound like a fun way to spend your Saturday morning? I didn't think so.
At Animis Racing, we see it every day. Athletes get stressed out, confused, and, frankly, a bit bored of their own training. They’ve got the latest GPS watch, a chest strap that chafes, and a spreadsheet of zones that looks impressive until race day turns messy.
But here’s the kicker: despite all that tech, they often aren’t getting faster. They’re just getting better at obeying a beep.
As a Trisutto-certified coaching provider, we take a different view. Heart rate can be useful, sure, but it’s a terrible master. The real breakthrough comes when you stop outsourcing your effort to a wristwatch and start learning what your body is actually telling you.
That’s where the MMM Intensity System comes in. There’s a method to the madness — and it’s simpler than you think.
Why do we ditch the zones? It isn't just because we like to be rebels (though that helps). It’s because, as any seasoned coach will tell you, heart rate is a fickle friend.
Think of your heart rate like a teenager: it reacts to everything, it’s rarely where you want it to be, and it’s highly influenced by external drama. Had an extra espresso this morning? Your HR is up. Did you have a row with your boss? Up it goes. Is it a bit humid outside? Up. Did you sleep poorly because the cat decided to have a 3 AM rave? You guessed it: up.
If you strictly follow heart rate zones, you are training based on a number that might have nothing to do with how hard your muscles are actually working.
Then there’s the "lag." You start a hill climb, your legs are screaming, but your watch says you're still in the "recovery" zone. By the time the watch catches up, the hill is over. Or consider "cardiac drift," where your heart rate climbs higher and higher during a long ride even though your effort hasn't changed. If you follow the watch, you end up slowing down to a crawl just to keep the number in the "box."
It’s confusing, it’s distracting, and it creates a massive amount of "tech-anxiety." You’re so busy looking at the metrics that you forget to look at the road, the water, or: most importantly: the signal your own body is sending you.
In the Trisutto world, we believe in Speed through Endurance. We believe in clear, jargon-free guidance. And we believe that the best computer you own is the one between your ears.
The MMM System is our way of grading effort based on perceived exertion. In plain English: instead of letting a gadget tell you how the session feels, you learn to feel it for yourself.
That sounds almost too simple, doesn’t it? Good. Because the best systems usually are.
Now, I could tell you the exact breakdown, but that’s something we save for our athletes. What I will say is this: the system gives you clear gears to work with, from truly controlled aerobic work right through to the sharper stuff, without the usual techno-babble and zone confusion.
The magic is not in memorising numbers. It’s in knowing when to hold back, when to press, and when to unleash a little more. That’s the bit most athletes miss when they get hypnotised by heart rate zones.
I know what you’re thinking: "But Penny, how do I know if I’m actually in the right zone if I don't check my watch?"
The answer is: you stop chasing zones and start building feel.
By stepping back from the tech, you develop what I call a pacing-brain. You notice the sound of your breath. You feel the tension in your quads. You notice how the water feels against your forearm during the "Place-Press-Push" phase of your stroke.
And that matters. A lot.
Because when everyone else is having a mini emotional breakdown because their power meter has lost signal, you’re still moving well. Still calm. Still in control. That’s a serious edge.
This is the Trisutto way. It’s built on Desire, Discipline, Dedication, Determination, and Detail: the 5 D's. It takes discipline to stay patient. It takes detail to understand your effort. And it takes determination to trust your body instead of worshipping the altar of the smartwatch.
Once you get it, training becomes less noisy, more precise, and oddly enough, a lot more enjoyable.
This isn’t just theory. It shows up every time you train in conditions that don’t fit neatly into a chart.
Take the bike, for example. In Trisutto, we’re big fans of "stomping": low cadence, high-torque riding. If you’re staring at a power meter, you might see a number you like, but you can still miss the actual point of the session. The goal is to feel the pressure through the pedals, recruit the right muscles, and build strength that lasts. That’s Speed through Endurance in action.
It matters even more in real-world conditions, where wind, traffic, corners, rough tarmac, and the odd stiff breeze don’t care what your watch says. Training by feel helps you stay smooth, steady, and switched on when the road gets a bit messy.
Ready to test this for yourself? You don’t need to launch your Garmin into the nearest lake just yet. Start here:
That’s the starting point. The deeper structure behind it? That’s where things get interesting.
At the end of the day, triathlon is as much a mental game as a physical one. If your training is making you miserable because you’re constantly "failing" to hit a heart rate target, something has gone a bit sideways.
The MMM system works because it teaches awareness, restraint, and control. It helps you understand effort in a way that actually holds up in the real world, not just on a spreadsheet. And yes, there’s more to it than I’m giving you here.
I could spell out every layer, every gear, and every cue. But that’s something we save for our athletes.
What I can tell you is this: there’s a reason the Trisutto philosophy works. It’s not flashy. It’s not overcomplicated. It’s built on Desire, Discipline, Dedication, Determination, and Detail — and on knowing exactly how hard to work, and when.
Ready to stop staring at your wrist? Come train with us.
We're Coaches Jacqui and Oliver Saxon, the Animis Coaching Team.
We are a mom and son coaching team who have changed our lives through the sport of triathlon. We aim to break down the mysteries of triathlon training and show you, the avid traithlete, how simple and flexible it can be so triathlon training really does become part of your lifestyle and not just a hobby.
