You're right, it leads to a lot of disappointment - it's really nice to hear someone say that it's fine to run your easier runs in zone 3 or 4 and over time you will adapt. I started running in May this year, 2-3 runs per week (with an injury break) and I was trying to stick to the Maffetone method, so keeping HR below 150 for easy runs, and it's so frustrating because I end up travelling so slow, sometimes close to 8:00/km, which is not at all fun, and I could never understand it given I've run a 50 minute 10K and 6:00-6:30\km pace feels easy for me. You notice such small improvements and it's disheartening, so what you've said gives me good confidence that doing your easy runs on feel, over time, will improve things.
I wish I had this video a year ago. I went 2 years without getting really any better at running. My 5k time could not for the life of me break 30 min. I ran 3x a week roughly 3.5 miles per run. I always heard that you should be able to have a conversation while running and thats the best training so i tried doing that all 3 runs. Except i couldn't really actually converse so it was a lot of crappy run walking. Just abysmal training. This year I decided that instead of heartrates i was going to increase milage and think about a half marathon. I slowly increased to 20 miles a week over a couple months and then its like superpowers unlocked. Now i could actually run for over an hour at a pace and i understood what zone 2 was. From there training honestly got so easy and so much more fun. I went from hating my running but doing it for health to loving my runs and my progress. I ran my half at 1:57 which honestly blew me away and made me feel like superman lol. Not that fast to experienced runners but like, for years i coudln't even 5k under 30 minutes and now i'm running those paces for hours. I really felt like the common advice led me astray for a long time. I wish i could go back and slap myself for all the inefficient training i did.
I started running a bit over two years ago, and at the start I couldn't run in zone 2 at all, but now I can (at about 6:40/km pace), it just takes time for your body to adapt. It is also a good point that calculated HR zones are not necessarily very meaningful, I have run a few half-marathons in zone 4, which shouldn't be possible. The calculated HR zones are just intended as reasonable population averages and may not work for every individual.
3:15 I learned via doing a lactate threshold test that my upper end of Z2 is at 166bpm LOL so the 140bpm rule really does not apply to everyone. Z2 still has its place but if I'll do it all over again, I wouldn't mind running until I am tired as a beginner just to buy in into running then slowly work my way into learning how to run easy by feel.
I enjoyed the video and it coincides with my experience thus far. I've been running for about three months and I have continued to make progress despite some issues with ITBS. I have been doing PT twice a week focusing on hip and glute strength which has helped tremendously with my running. I average 140-141 bpm on my runs, and I go low and slow with walking intervals to let HR lower enough to run again. Learning to listen to my body has been the hardest part by far and lowering volume as needed to recover better has been paramount. All the training plans in the world won't work if we can't be honest with ourselves about how our body is receiving and recovering from the efforts. Appreciate the video!
I have been using zone 2 for the last 5 months. I went from not even being able to jog a 10:00min/km to now 7:30min/km. At a heart rate of 130. It works it just takes time and is kinder to the body. I haven't had any injuries. I used the method you are talking about when i started along with a couch to 5k training plan. I got runner's knee twice. Give me the maf method any day. I would add when doing the maf or a zone 2 running program. If you start to get frustrated. Take the watch of or hr strap. And just go for an easy run or run/walk by rpe once a week for a month or something like that. It really helped me when i was getting frustrated with it.
Thats fantastic!! Love to hear that you've had some great success with it! Great tip about mixing it up to ease the frustration. Thanks for your input 🙌
I've been following Garmin's suggested workouts for a few months now, and something weird happened. After about 1 month it changed the suggested pace of base runs by 35 seconds (faster) in a single drop. That brought my Base runs typically into Garmin Zone 3 (Aerobic, average HR 148) rather than Zone 2 (Easy, averaging 143). It said somewhere that these sessions enable me to build up mileage, and it's suggesting I do a lot of it. Z3 is 78-84% of my HRmax, which sounds higher than typical Zone 2 training. But it does seem to be working for me in this phase of training. Oh and I do incorporate a fair bit of hills in my typical runs, where I keep up the pace so HR will go up on average as well.
It may be that it takes Garmin a month or two to gather enough data to estimate your base pace properly, so it was just using a default value for the first month. If I have an injury or a break in running, the predicted race pace feature takes a month or so to recalibrate when I get back to running again.
I randomly stumbled on your video, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I haven't ran in a while but recently started up again for a marathon early next year. I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said! Awesome job!
This video showed up in my recommendations and I'm really glad that I clicked on it. There's some great insight here! I think that in exercise science there's a desire to find universal principles, a grand unified theory that works for every level of athlete and applies equally well to running, cycling, rowing, cross-country skiing, and every other endurance sport. But running is the only one where we have to bounce our entire weight off of the ground thousands of times in every workout, and most of us don't have the power-to-weight ratio of Olympic athletes. Despite decades of running, I can't stay in the official zone 1 with my heart rate below 72% of max at any pace, but I know what an easy recovery run is for me. I've heard a lot of long-time runners say that they ran too fast all of the time when they started out, and might have said that once or twice myself, but we survived to become veterans nonetheless so maybe that wasn't so bad after all. In running, we have to move our legs differently to go faster. Developing the leg strength, neuromuscular patterns, and running economy for faster paces makes slower running easier. And gifted elite runners were always fast and always will be, which is why they're elite, but the rest of us have to work on it consistently or we will get slower and slower as time goes by. Anyway, running can be challenging and is often frustrating, but I think that being able to deal with that is the most important quality for someone who wants to be a life-long runner. Thanks for making this, and the best of luck in your training!
This is soooo refreshing to hear! I've personally been confused by the whole zone 2 thing. Everyone agrees that we should do more zone 2, but not everyone agrees on what zone 2 even means haha. Is it LT1? LT2? Is it a 3 zones system? 5 zones? is it Mafatone? is it conversational? Do we adjust for heat? What happens with cardiac drift? There are so many questions! I personally have to "run" incredibly slow to stay below 150bpm and I flat out can't do it in summer, and I've been running for 10 years. I also am able to hold a conversation at the top end of 170bpm, so the conversation test doesn't work. What worked for me was to learn what "easy" feels like based on how well my body recovered after an easy run. So I would look at overnight HRV, resting HR and general feel the day after the run. This to me is the best indicator to know if I've gone easy or not. But it takes a while to develop that feeling.
Thank you for such a thoughtful comment! It is soooo confusing!!! So interesting regarding the conversation test! It definitely seems too oversimplified to work for everyone. Great tips, thank you so much 🙏
What if you don't have a zone 2? What if, walking, you can only speak a few words, and the slowest jog you can do is already having you gasping for air? Take me 35 min to "run" (alternating jog and walk) my 4k loop around the house. And each run leaves me with really bad pain in the shin and loosing roughly 1kg in sweat. Been running like that for 1 year and a half, adding up to almost 1000km. Still extremly painfull. Still can't talk a dingle word while jogging. Still finishing all my runs drenched in sweat with blood taste in my mouth. Running coaches only see healthy individuals. They have no idea how painfull it can be for people with limited pulmonary capacity, limited cardiac capacity, a deformed spine and obese. How many years how many thousans of kilometers before one can run for 5k? At my progress rate, I'll be long dead before I can run 5k.
Thanks for the comment! Everyones journey is so different! That sounds really frustrating but I love your determination. There is such a spectrum of ability and thats why going off "feel" is so important when the heart rate doesn't match "typical" values. Do you do any cross-training? The bike/swim or elyptical might be a great way to add in some more aerobic stimulus without causing the shin pain that you mentioned! 😊🙏
I am running for almost 1 year, trapped in just pace 8:00/km for less than 5 minutes and my HR goes easily to 185bpm and beyond. I'm 35 y/o and my VO2Max 35mL/kg/min in my garmin, and still running about 1-3 days a week. I dont really mind it 🐢💨
When I struggle to hit zones especially after longer breaks I tend to go running 2 times a week with possibly higher heartrate to get running benefits. For the zone 2 stuff I do inclined walking on a treadmill and try to get my heartrate to 140-150 by adjusting the incline or speed to hit my zone 2 very consistently. I do that until my running hear rate is adjusting and i can run my easy pace with low heart rate again. It works everytime. Plus if you are just beginning or restart your training after a longer break it is very very generous to your ligaments, bone tissue and stuff so you do not overstress them instantly.
Oh the algorythm blessed me with some good content, I was getting so confused by watching these pros talk about training. My cardio is abysmal after an ACL injury, at the same I could hold a conversation at 158 bpm, it's all very complicated :D
Sounds like good, practical advice. Recently started running after illness, but did an upper-body endurance sport before, and always struggled with the zone 2 thing. For the running, I started jogging till I hit the heart rate limit, then walked, then jogged again. I wasn't getting in more than twenty strides before my heart rate - not my breath - made me walk. No progress discernible! Took a few weeks out of this stage to follow a 5km plan intended to get me running 5km without stopping, no reference to heart rates. It felt so liberating to just run without that limit! The running intervals tested me but it turned out they increased at an achievable rate and I did get to a non-stop 5km. Having fìnished that programme I'm back to trying zone 2 again. Back to not running more than 50-100m without hitting the heart rate limit... Must admit I often wonder whether those percentage values are actually the same or even close for everyone...
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! It is such a great feeling to be able to run freely! Maybe you could combine both methods? Some runs at zone 2, some based on feel? :)
@@strongerstride yes, I think that's the plan. :-) I'm intrigued by the science behind it and, no matter how much I've heard about it so far, I still think there's more to be learnt...
i call bullshit. zone 2 heart rate training is exactly what works for beginners, and theres plenty of science behind it. personally i started brand new to running, and training overall about 7 months ago. back then i couldent go faster than 10:30min/km to not blow my HR zone, and it felt really slow. but i improved rather quick, and now im down to about 06:30 min/km at same hr, so a 4min/km improvement in just bit over half a year. to say zone 2 training just work would be an understatement, because it works way better than i could ever dream or imagine. regarding to not be able to run the entire time in the start, the body only know stress levels, and couldent care less about what you actually doing. that means if you have to do some walking in the start to keep your heart rate low is perfectly fine, because you get all the benefits, and it really aint taking long at all, before its not needed any more. if you changed your title to say dont expect a brand new beginner to be able to run the entire time in zone 2 from the start, i would totaly agree, but just because you have to start out with run/walk routine, even the walking part is still considered important part of the training. if somone is in such bad shape all they can do to get into and stay in zone 2 is walking, well then walking is for them pretty much considered training
Zone 2 is great to build up the distance for beginner and build up the aerobic base. But I as a beginner realized that zone 2 does not build up speed. It needs additional speed training for further improvement.
dead wrong. started brand new to running 7 months ago. back then i couldent "run" quicker then 10:30min/km to not burst my zone 2 hr limit. now 7 months later i run at 6:30min/km at same HR as when i started out, so a whole 4min/km improvement in just over half a year, and no speedwork included. im gonna add that next year, but so far ive only done zone 2 all the way. when i started, i couldent run a 3km quicker then about 24 min even if my life depended on it, and now i do the same distance in about 19.5 min as my easi run. havent bothered doing it as a race agein, but if i was to try it agein, i would guess i would get it done in less then 13-14 min
I agree, don't worry about these zones in the beginning. Besides, what really limits people are not their cardio system, but rather their musculoskeletal system. I remember when I first started running my legs would be sore as hell afterwards, but other than that I was fine and if I did stop running during a run (and walk a bit), it was very difficult to start back up running, because my legs became like lead weights.
Hi I've adopted rate of perceived exertion for my easy running, I think as long as a run feels easy forget what your heart rate says, over time the heart rate will reduce. Bottom line is Don't let heart rate dictate your run, it all take away the enjoyment of running.. I think certain influencers can get carried away with trying to impose the elite model of training on to recreational runners bearing in mind elites cover in excess of 100 miles a week, so they obviously have to run the majority of their runs easy or they get injured.
this was immensely helpful and resonated a lot with my experience trying to establish a regular jogging routine! I found it really disheartening to see heart rates over 150 even when I felt that I was already really slow... but I've been focusing on a higher cadence now while keeping it really really slow. I feel surprisingly good now, am able to stay comfortably below 150 and hope to improve slowly over time :)
Totally agree. I took up running at 59 and found it really difficult to work out my zones as based on my age I would never have got faster than walking without going into zone 3 or 4. I was fairly fit with a resting HR of 50 from cycling. I’ve just started training for the London marathon and would be walking if I stuck to heart rate zones so just go by feel! I walk my dogs and my heart rate stays below 100 so not out of zone 1 but shoots up when I start running!! Totally confused as does walking count as aerobic training? You’re totally right. 😊
Really wanted to hear what you have to say about this - but I am afraid the music is playing too loud for me to be able to listen to. The words drowns in the background noise, making it too difficult to make out what you are saying. :(
Oh I'm so sorry! I'll work on that for the next video. There's lots of great information from the comments on this post that will be helpful. But as a top line summary - zone 2 training isn't always appropriate for beginners as they are unable to run while keeping their heart rate low enough. So going off feel may be more appropriate. Focussing on keeping runs as easy as possible or breaking them up into walk/jog intervals can be helpful.
@@strongerstride I will check in for your next video then. I suffer from tinnitus and some times I have real problems of differenting sounds when theres multiple on top of each other, so try to make people aware so their content may reach out to more - if I find they have content I'd want to see more of. :D Thank you for taking your time explaining also. I have found if I were to do an easy run I really need to do it as a walk/jog. Running without breaks WILL make my HR go above z2. Usually up to z4 for me...
Yes, for beginners I think it's more important to focus on adapting the body to running and staying injury free. That means dealing with impact, muscular strength, proper running form etc. Next is building up the habit of running and slowly increasing mileage. All this is way more beneficial to your health long term, because it will enable you to practice running for many years instead of dropping out after a failed attempt.
I have to say I found this video really confusing, but it might just be me 🤣 I think what I heard was that beginners shouldn't limit themselves to the concept of arbitrary zone 2 heart rate?
Haha it can be confusing! But basically in summary: When you’re just starting out, any running, regardless of how ‘slow’ you it is - will probably put you at a heart rate that is higher than what would be classified as ‘zone 2’ (60-70% max heart rate). Therefore, focussing on ‘feel’ instead makes more sense initially 😊
Thanks for your comment Kenny, and great question! It varies but typically a little higher than when I’m not talking to the camera 😂 This run was 146 average. Usually my “easy” runs (if it’s cool temp, flat and actually easy) are around 130-135bpm
Thanks for the comment! There is definitely no correct hear rate, everyone is sooo individual! There is just a lot of talk online about particular heart rates e.g. 140 being a number to aim for but there are way too many individual variables to make that true. Thats why I think going off feel makes more sense for most people :)
You're right, it leads to a lot of disappointment - it's really nice to hear someone say that it's fine to run your easier runs in zone 3 or 4 and over time you will adapt. I started running in May this year, 2-3 runs per week (with an injury break) and I was trying to stick to the Maffetone method, so keeping HR below 150 for easy runs, and it's so frustrating because I end up travelling so slow, sometimes close to 8:00/km, which is not at all fun, and I could never understand it given I've run a 50 minute 10K and 6:00-6:30\km pace feels easy for me. You notice such small improvements and it's disheartening, so what you've said gives me good confidence that doing your easy runs on feel, over time, will improve things.
Thats fantastic to hear! Good luck with your training, hopefully it's more enjoyable without being too dtrict with the HR :)
I wish I had this video a year ago. I went 2 years without getting really any better at running. My 5k time could not for the life of me break 30 min. I ran 3x a week roughly 3.5 miles per run. I always heard that you should be able to have a conversation while running and thats the best training so i tried doing that all 3 runs. Except i couldn't really actually converse so it was a lot of crappy run walking. Just abysmal training. This year I decided that instead of heartrates i was going to increase milage and think about a half marathon. I slowly increased to 20 miles a week over a couple months and then its like superpowers unlocked. Now i could actually run for over an hour at a pace and i understood what zone 2 was. From there training honestly got so easy and so much more fun. I went from hating my running but doing it for health to loving my runs and my progress. I ran my half at 1:57 which honestly blew me away and made me feel like superman lol. Not that fast to experienced runners but like, for years i coudln't even 5k under 30 minutes and now i'm running those paces for hours. I really felt like the common advice led me astray for a long time. I wish i could go back and slap myself for all the inefficient training i did.
Wow, great progress! I'm so glad to hear you're loving it now!
I started running a bit over two years ago, and at the start I couldn't run in zone 2 at all, but now I can (at about 6:40/km pace), it just takes time for your body to adapt. It is also a good point that calculated HR zones are not necessarily very meaningful, I have run a few half-marathons in zone 4, which shouldn't be possible. The calculated HR zones are just intended as reasonable population averages and may not work for every individual.
3:15 I learned via doing a lactate threshold test that my upper end of Z2 is at 166bpm LOL so the 140bpm rule really does not apply to everyone.
Z2 still has its place but if I'll do it all over again, I wouldn't mind running until I am tired as a beginner just to buy in into running then slowly work my way into learning how to run easy by feel.
I enjoyed the video and it coincides with my experience thus far. I've been running for about three months and I have continued to make progress despite some issues with ITBS.
I have been doing PT twice a week focusing on hip and glute strength which has helped tremendously with my running. I average 140-141 bpm on my runs, and I go low and slow with walking intervals to let HR lower enough to run again. Learning to listen to my body has been the hardest part by far and lowering volume as needed to recover better has been paramount. All the training plans in the world won't work if we can't be honest with ourselves about how our body is receiving and recovering from the efforts. Appreciate the video!
Sounds like you’ve learnt a lot already, that’s great!! Keep it up and thanks for the comment!
I have been using zone 2 for the last 5 months. I went from not even being able to jog a 10:00min/km to now 7:30min/km. At a heart rate of 130. It works it just takes time and is kinder to the body. I haven't had any injuries. I used the method you are talking about when i started along with a couch to 5k training plan. I got runner's knee twice. Give me the maf method any day.
I would add when doing the maf or a zone 2 running program. If you start to get frustrated. Take the watch of or hr strap. And just go for an easy run or run/walk by rpe once a week for a month or something like that. It really helped me when i was getting frustrated with it.
Thats fantastic!! Love to hear that you've had some great success with it!
Great tip about mixing it up to ease the frustration. Thanks for your input 🙌
This is amazing information. And really validating. Thanks so much!
I've been following Garmin's suggested workouts for a few months now, and something weird happened. After about 1 month it changed the suggested pace of base runs by 35 seconds (faster) in a single drop. That brought my Base runs typically into Garmin Zone 3 (Aerobic, average HR 148) rather than Zone 2 (Easy, averaging 143). It said somewhere that these sessions enable me to build up mileage, and it's suggesting I do a lot of it. Z3 is 78-84% of my HRmax, which sounds higher than typical Zone 2 training. But it does seem to be working for me in this phase of training. Oh and I do incorporate a fair bit of hills in my typical runs, where I keep up the pace so HR will go up on average as well.
Hmm interesting! I'm not quite sure why it has done that but it sounds like its working for you which is fantastic! Hills are great too!!
It may be that it takes Garmin a month or two to gather enough data to estimate your base pace properly, so it was just using a default value for the first month. If I have an injury or a break in running, the predicted race pace feature takes a month or so to recalibrate when I get back to running again.
I randomly stumbled on your video, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I haven't ran in a while but recently started up again for a marathon early next year. I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said! Awesome job!
Thank you! Good luck with the marathon prep!
This video showed up in my recommendations and I'm really glad that I clicked on it. There's some great insight here! I think that in exercise science there's a desire to find universal principles, a grand unified theory that works for every level of athlete and applies equally well to running, cycling, rowing, cross-country skiing, and every other endurance sport. But running is the only one where we have to bounce our entire weight off of the ground thousands of times in every workout, and most of us don't have the power-to-weight ratio of Olympic athletes. Despite decades of running, I can't stay in the official zone 1 with my heart rate below 72% of max at any pace, but I know what an easy recovery run is for me. I've heard a lot of long-time runners say that they ran too fast all of the time when they started out, and might have said that once or twice myself, but we survived to become veterans nonetheless so maybe that wasn't so bad after all. In running, we have to move our legs differently to go faster. Developing the leg strength, neuromuscular patterns, and running economy for faster paces makes slower running easier. And gifted elite runners were always fast and always will be, which is why they're elite, but the rest of us have to work on it consistently or we will get slower and slower as time goes by. Anyway, running can be challenging and is often frustrating, but I think that being able to deal with that is the most important quality for someone who wants to be a life-long runner. Thanks for making this, and the best of luck in your training!
This is soooo refreshing to hear! I've personally been confused by the whole zone 2 thing. Everyone agrees that we should do more zone 2, but not everyone agrees on what zone 2 even means haha. Is it LT1? LT2? Is it a 3 zones system? 5 zones? is it Mafatone? is it conversational? Do we adjust for heat? What happens with cardiac drift? There are so many questions!
I personally have to "run" incredibly slow to stay below 150bpm and I flat out can't do it in summer, and I've been running for 10 years. I also am able to hold a conversation at the top end of 170bpm, so the conversation test doesn't work.
What worked for me was to learn what "easy" feels like based on how well my body recovered after an easy run. So I would look at overnight HRV, resting HR and general feel the day after the run. This to me is the best indicator to know if I've gone easy or not. But it takes a while to develop that feeling.
Thank you for such a thoughtful comment!
It is soooo confusing!!!
So interesting regarding the conversation test! It definitely seems too oversimplified to work for everyone.
Great tips, thank you so much 🙏
Are you sure you HR measurements are accurate?
Positive
What if you don't have a zone 2? What if, walking, you can only speak a few words, and the slowest jog you can do is already having you gasping for air? Take me 35 min to "run" (alternating jog and walk) my 4k loop around the house. And each run leaves me with really bad pain in the shin and loosing roughly 1kg in sweat. Been running like that for 1 year and a half, adding up to almost 1000km. Still extremly painfull. Still can't talk a dingle word while jogging. Still finishing all my runs drenched in sweat with blood taste in my mouth. Running coaches only see healthy individuals. They have no idea how painfull it can be for people with limited pulmonary capacity, limited cardiac capacity, a deformed spine and obese. How many years how many thousans of kilometers before one can run for 5k? At my progress rate, I'll be long dead before I can run 5k.
Thanks for the comment! Everyones journey is so different! That sounds really frustrating but I love your determination. There is such a spectrum of ability and thats why going off "feel" is so important when the heart rate doesn't match "typical" values. Do you do any cross-training? The bike/swim or elyptical might be a great way to add in some more aerobic stimulus without causing the shin pain that you mentioned! 😊🙏
I am running for almost 1 year, trapped in just pace 8:00/km for less than 5 minutes and my HR goes easily to 185bpm and beyond.
I'm 35 y/o and my VO2Max 35mL/kg/min in my garmin, and still running about 1-3 days a week. I dont really mind it 🐢💨
Nice work! Keep it up 😊
I found what you said was on point. I usually run 5km in around 30 minutes, but Z2, I end up walking
When I struggle to hit zones especially after longer breaks I tend to go running 2 times a week with possibly higher heartrate to get running benefits. For the zone 2 stuff I do inclined walking on a treadmill and try to get my heartrate to 140-150 by adjusting the incline or speed to hit my zone 2 very consistently. I do that until my running hear rate is adjusting and i can run my easy pace with low heart rate again. It works everytime. Plus if you are just beginning or restart your training after a longer break it is very very generous to your ligaments, bone tissue and stuff so you do not overstress them instantly.
Then incline walking sounds like a great addition!
Oh the algorythm blessed me with some good content, I was getting so confused by watching these pros talk about training. My cardio is abysmal after an ACL injury, at the same I could hold a conversation at 158 bpm, it's all very complicated :D
Oh wow an ACL recovery would be tough! Lot's of patience and determination required, glad you're able to get back into it!
Sounds like good, practical advice.
Recently started running after illness, but did an upper-body endurance sport before, and always struggled with the zone 2 thing.
For the running, I started jogging till I hit the heart rate limit, then walked, then jogged again. I wasn't getting in more than twenty strides before my heart rate - not my breath - made me walk. No progress discernible!
Took a few weeks out of this stage to follow a 5km plan intended to get me running 5km without stopping, no reference to heart rates. It felt so liberating to just run without that limit! The running intervals tested me but it turned out they increased at an achievable rate and I did get to a non-stop 5km.
Having fìnished that programme I'm back to trying zone 2 again. Back to not running more than 50-100m without hitting the heart rate limit...
Must admit I often wonder whether those percentage values are actually the same or even close for everyone...
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! It is such a great feeling to be able to run freely! Maybe you could combine both methods? Some runs at zone 2, some based on feel? :)
@@strongerstride yes, I think that's the plan. :-)
I'm intrigued by the science behind it and, no matter how much I've heard about it so far, I still think there's more to be learnt...
i call bullshit. zone 2 heart rate training is exactly what works for beginners, and theres plenty of science behind it. personally i started brand new to running, and training overall about 7 months ago. back then i couldent go faster than 10:30min/km to not blow my HR zone, and it felt really slow. but i improved rather quick, and now im down to about 06:30 min/km at same hr, so a 4min/km improvement in just bit over half a year. to say zone 2 training just work would be an understatement, because it works way better than i could ever dream or imagine.
regarding to not be able to run the entire time in the start, the body only know stress levels, and couldent care less about what you actually doing. that means if you have to do some walking in the start to keep your heart rate low is perfectly fine, because you get all the benefits, and it really aint taking long at all, before its not needed any more.
if you changed your title to say dont expect a brand new beginner to be able to run the entire time in zone 2 from the start, i would totaly agree, but just because you have to start out with run/walk routine, even the walking part is still considered important part of the training. if somone is in such bad shape all they can do to get into and stay in zone 2 is walking, well then walking is for them pretty much considered training
Love this, as a new runner I ran into the same problem. Thank you for explaining this. Your channel is great, easy subscribe.
Thanks so much Jess 😊
Zone 2 is great to build up the distance for beginner and build up the aerobic base.
But I as a beginner realized that zone 2 does not build up speed.
It needs additional speed training for further improvement.
dead wrong. started brand new to running 7 months ago. back then i couldent "run" quicker then 10:30min/km to not burst my zone 2 hr limit. now 7 months later i run at 6:30min/km at same HR as when i started out, so a whole 4min/km improvement in just over half a year, and no speedwork included. im gonna add that next year, but so far ive only done zone 2 all the way. when i started, i couldent run a 3km quicker then about 24 min even if my life depended on it, and now i do the same distance in about 19.5 min as my easi run. havent bothered doing it as a race agein, but if i was to try it agein, i would guess i would get it done in less then 13-14 min
I agree, don't worry about these zones in the beginning. Besides, what really limits people are not their cardio system, but rather their musculoskeletal system. I remember when I first started running my legs would be sore as hell afterwards, but other than that I was fine and if I did stop running during a run (and walk a bit), it was very difficult to start back up running, because my legs became like lead weights.
Hi
I've adopted rate of perceived exertion for my easy running, I think as long as a run feels easy forget what your heart rate says, over time the heart rate will reduce.
Bottom line is Don't let heart rate dictate your run, it all take away the enjoyment of running..
I think certain influencers can get carried away with trying to impose the elite model of training on to recreational runners bearing in mind elites cover in excess of 100 miles a week, so they obviously have to run the majority of their runs easy or they get injured.
Love this! Enjoyment is most important!
Good video. That's exactly what I keep telling beginners joining our run club.
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Awesome! Thank you!!
this was immensely helpful and resonated a lot with my experience trying to establish a regular jogging routine! I found it really disheartening to see heart rates over 150 even when I felt that I was already really slow... but I've been focusing on a higher cadence now while keeping it really really slow. I feel surprisingly good now, am able to stay comfortably below 150 and hope to improve slowly over time :)
Thanks so much for the comment! That's fantastic progress! It's amazing what our bodies can do hey!
Totally agree. I took up running at 59 and found it really difficult to work out my zones as based on my age I would never have got faster than walking without going into zone 3 or 4. I was fairly fit with a resting HR of 50 from cycling. I’ve just started training for the London marathon and would be walking if I stuck to heart rate zones so just go by feel! I walk my dogs and my heart rate stays below 100 so not out of zone 1 but shoots up when I start running!! Totally confused as does walking count as aerobic training? You’re totally right. 😊
Oh London will be amazing! Walking is great too! Good luck with the training!
As a beginner/non runner this was really interesting info and easy to understand with some good suggestions for getting started and making progress x
Thanks! Hopefully you can implement these ideas in your training soon 😊
Really wanted to hear what you have to say about this - but I am afraid the music is playing too loud for me to be able to listen to. The words drowns in the background noise, making it too difficult to make out what you are saying. :(
Oh I'm so sorry! I'll work on that for the next video. There's lots of great information from the comments on this post that will be helpful. But as a top line summary - zone 2 training isn't always appropriate for beginners as they are unable to run while keeping their heart rate low enough. So going off feel may be more appropriate. Focussing on keeping runs as easy as possible or breaking them up into walk/jog intervals can be helpful.
@@strongerstride I will check in for your next video then. I suffer from tinnitus and some times I have real problems of differenting sounds when theres multiple on top of each other, so try to make people aware so their content may reach out to more - if I find they have content I'd want to see more of. :D
Thank you for taking your time explaining also. I have found if I were to do an easy run I really need to do it as a walk/jog. Running without breaks WILL make my HR go above z2. Usually up to z4 for me...
Yes, for beginners I think it's more important to focus on adapting the body to running and staying injury free. That means dealing with impact, muscular strength, proper running form etc. Next is building up the habit of running and slowly increasing mileage. All this is way more beneficial to your health long term, because it will enable you to practice running for many years instead of dropping out after a failed attempt.
Absolutely! Love this!
I have to say I found this video really confusing, but it might just be me 🤣
I think what I heard was that beginners shouldn't limit themselves to the concept of arbitrary zone 2 heart rate?
Haha it can be confusing! But basically in summary:
When you’re just starting out, any running, regardless of how ‘slow’ you it is - will probably put you at a heart rate that is higher than what would be classified as ‘zone 2’ (60-70% max heart rate).
Therefore, focussing on ‘feel’ instead makes more sense initially 😊
@@strongerstride Thank you - makes sense to my slow brain now 😆.
Happy Xmas!
Important message
Agree! For beginners, it should be about logging kms and enjoying the runs.
Sophie, curious, whats your heart rate while running and filming?
Thanks for your comment Kenny, and great question! It varies but typically a little higher than when I’m not talking to the camera 😂 This run was 146 average. Usually my “easy” runs (if it’s cool temp, flat and actually easy) are around 130-135bpm
Thank you so much for this...
Thanks for watching 😊
You are suggesting maybe too much what a ‘correct’ heartrate is. 160 can perfectly be in zone 2. Great advice though!!
Thanks for the comment! There is definitely no correct hear rate, everyone is sooo individual! There is just a lot of talk online about particular heart rates e.g. 140 being a number to aim for but there are way too many individual variables to make that true. Thats why I think going off feel makes more sense for most people :)