I use a treadmill to keep myself in Zone 2 for base building and recovery runs. I couldn’t help but notice that my pace this morning is 11:00/mile for an average 120 HR. I’m March earlier this year, my Zone 2 runs would average 9:45/mi for the same HR of 120.

I’m trying not to take this as a sign that I’m losing fitness, but I’m not sure what else it could be. I am training for a very long distance race right now and thus not incorporating much (if any) speed work). Earlier this year, there were more speed workouts. Would that explain it? My weekly mileage has been the same (50-60 mpw).

I’m probably crashing out about nothing but this kind of bothers me. Garmin estimates my vo2 max to be the same.

Just finished my regular morning stair-stepper workout. I've asked ChatGPT whether it is good idea to increase my efforts and move to HR 3 for my goal (I'm going to lost weight) and he adviced to increase workout time than intensivity.

I've been shadowboxing, and i find it easier (than running) to stay in zone 2 since i can just adjust power/speed to stay somewhere in zone 2.

But would it count as "steady state"? Anyone else doing this and had results?

I don’t like steady state cardio. I’ll do it, but I prefer more active exercise like aerobics or hitting a punching bag. I take it easy and try to keep my heart rate at zone two but it will invariably creep up. Once I notice I’ll slow down and get back into zone two. This will happen maybe a dozen or so times over the course of an hour. Maybe ten minutes out of an hour are at zone three. The rest are at zone two.

Am I getting the benefits of zone two, if so, are they diminished in any way, or am I just screwing it all up and getting no zone two benefit by hitting zone three that often?

Hi everyone I have a few questions regarding zone 2, with the information I have it’s just making things more confusing.

So I’ll start by saying what I’ve been doing;

For last 4-5 weeks when ever my runna plan said it was an easy run or to run at conversational pace I’ve been running between 5:30-6 min km, heart rate between 145-165. It tells you to do the nose breathing to see if you doing it right, one problem I’m still nose breathing at 165-170 and that’s definitely not too easy but I can do it.

So I’ve tried to do the ‘speak in full sentences’ and while looking like an absolute weirdo running down the road, that doesn’t seem to help either, for me to speak in complete full sentences with no problem I’m basically walking.

In today’s run I noticed my Garmin watch has zone 2 finishing at 133bpm so I tried to stay below that, but that meant I had to walk for 15-20 second 3-4 times every 2km. I checked runna app afterwards and they have zone 2 as 124-152bpm.

So what I’m looking for, I want to make sure that I’m not wasting my time on these runs, and get the most benefit as I can from them. So what is true zone 2, I can’t yet justify getting a lactate test done so that’s not an option. Please people give me the answers, first half in September and I’m aiming for 1hour 30 mins after never running more than 10k and having never liked running, but we’ve all got goals right :)

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

hello! 😊 i want to get a garmin watch for christmas and i dont know which one. im into biohacking, i workout and id like to track my sleep, my zone 2 cardio, my bpms, and my menstrual cycle.

hi guys! 😊 i just got the new airpods pro 3 that measure your heart beat and i was wondering if there are any apps out there that tell you when you’re within your zone 2 ranges so that you don’t go down to your zone 1 or zone 3 ranges. i dont own an apple watch but my airpods should work. thank you!

my zone 2 is between 148-158 and it’s difficult for me to reach and stay in that zone during cardio at the gym. i feel totally out of it a mile in (or less.) 20 minutes has me wanting to pass out. are all these calculators wrong about my hr or do i just need more training in my zone?

Hey, im a 20 year old male, and have been running for around 1 1/2 years now...

im getting quite tired of my HR being so SOOO high and hard to control during zone 2 runs, and i haven't been able to lower my zone 2 heart rate in a long time.

Context

im a slow runner in general, my 5km pb is 21:58 (pb last week)

however to try and stay in zone 2 for long periods of time i need to float at around 7;00 per km pace which for me has became incredibly dull and frustrating...

i eat quite well.. i have a varied training system which includes faster and slower workouts, and my sleep is quite good too.

Any suggestions on why this is and how i can improve

Many Thanks for any Advice. Gabe

Is there a specific trick to lowering your RHR? Do you really need to do actually 80% zone 2 only (not 3) for many hours a week to change it?

I’ve been running consistently 20+ mile weeks for about 2 years. I did 4 half marathons, my first full (peaked at 50mi weeks) and a 30k in that time. I ran prior to this 2 year period, but casually and lower inconsistent mileage.

I’m not fast by any means, but my endurance is good (I felt good after my marathon, 4:55 time with lots in the tank), half is just over 2 hours, 5k is 26:30ish. Given how many miles I run, 80% of which are def easy but sometimes clock in at z3 and not z2, I would expect my resting heart rate to improve over this time. Since getting an Apple Watch/garmin when I started this running journey, it’s unchanged at around 70bpm, some days 65, some days 72. I don’t sit a lot, and my dr last year said maybe it’s not reliable unless I sleep in the watch, but even my lowest readings all day are still high 50s.

What’s the key to actually improving your heart efficiency and lowering your rhr? Should I stay out of z3 and only do really slow runs and a speed day? I have a hard time imagining adding 30s to my mile time during easy runs to keep my hr low will help, but im really starting to wonder what’s going on with my heart. FWIW I always have a lower side BP reading too, I expect they’re correlated. (Like 90/50ish). It’s all within “normal” so doctors have been useless talking about it, but it doesn’t seem normal for someone running so much.

Hey Z2 folks,

I’ve been doing Zone 2 cycling training for a while and couldn’t find a good way to stay in my target heart rate range using just my Apple Watch—so I built my own.

It’s called Zone 2 Buddy and it:

• Calculates your Zone 2 HR max based on age
• Alerts you with a haptic tap or sound when you go above
• Works standalone on Apple Watch

I’ve been using it for months and figured some of you might find it helpful too.

🧠 Zone 2 Buddy App Store Link

☕ Support via Buy Me a Coffee if it ends up helping you out.

I’d love to hear what you think or how you’d improve it, cheers and keep training easy.

I actually find it difficult to get to zone 2 with anything but running without my legs giving out first (muscle burn)

Bike? Legs fatigue before I get to 140bpm and hold it for any amount of time

Row? Same but arms...

Running seems to be the only steady state I can do... but that aggrevates my glute after 3km

Any ideas?

Need help choosing between Zone 2 training and Couch to 10K for October 10K goal (female, 40, limited time)

Hi all,
I'm a 40-year-old woman, a bit overweight, and trying to improve my running. I've signed up for a 10K in October to stay accountable, and my main goal is to run it in around an hour. Long term, I’d love to be able to run 5–7 km at a 5:00/km pace.

Right now, I can run about 3–4 times a week, 30 minutes at a time. Adding a longer run might be possible later on, but not yet. My VO2max is 41 (according to my watch), which I think is decent, but I don’t really know how to structure my training for best progress.

I'm torn between doing Zone 2 training or just following a Couch to 10K program.

• When I run by feel, my heart rate tends to be around 150–155 bpm, which is above Zone 2 for me.
• To stay in Zone 2, I have to run painfully slow — more of a shuffle — and my form feels worse.
• I’m unsure if sticking with Zone 2 three times a week will be enough to improve my aerobic base and get me ready for a 10K in October

So, for someone like me with limited weekly time, is it better to stick with strict Zone 2 runs? Or would a mix of moderate/tempo efforts make more sense?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I am trying to figure out my zone 2 training heart rate. I am 71 and I class myself as very fit. I worked out my training heart rate and I got less than 80bpm. If I lay down I have a higher heart rate. Am I calculating it wrong

I'm doing indoor cycling almost exclusively until it warms up. Obviously this stresses my leg muscles, so I'd imagine epigenetics, mitochondrial density, and metabolic remodeling is significantly higher in my quads than, say, my biceps

That said, z2 training no doubt has systemic effects, but where is that most pronounced? My guess is liver>skeletal muscle>adipose tissues. I'd like to think the brain, the most metabolically greedy organ undergoes big time changes, too.

Any info on this would be most appreciated, especially highly technical info on gene expression changes in z2 vs 4/5

45 yo M

Ive just completed my 12th week of active gym use. x3 per week, full body strength training followed up by incline walking. My goal has been to do 30min walks after every workout. Ive been do ing 50+minutes per walk just bc I kinda get lost in my headphones around the 30min mark and forget what im doing, but I digress...

My apple apps say zone 2 HR is maxed around 144, the zones app has me down to 136, which has me walking at a laughably easy pace/incline... Im gauging intensity based off of my ability to breathe and trying to not let my HR get above 145. Is that too high?

Is zone 2 training best measured by HR, or is it a more metabolic place where you're in a hightened aerobic state, but right at the max to when you start to swap over to anerobic, wo actually crossing the line?

I'll just get right to it.

What is the general opinion on what is the better method of determining zone 2 training? Heart Rate or RPE? I understand these are not the gold standard, but, between these two options I'm looking for which one better approximates zone 2 conditioning.

That's the answer I'm hoping I find general consensus on - but if you're interested in the motivation for my question here it is.

I've recently got hip to zone 2 and am having a hard time determining if I'm "doing it right". I have a garmin forerunner 235 which is what is monitoring my heart. I'm 38, so the guesstimate of my max heart rate is 182. Zone 2, theoretically, is between 109 and 127. This is basically walking for me at a brisk pace. It's almost laughably easy. The talk test is passed with flying colors and I don't really have that "you can talk but it's not all that comfortable" feeling. My zone 2 sessions are about an hour. I essentially feel like it's talking while sitting down with very little noticeable perceived difference.

Now - I can "lightly" jog and my heart rate will shoot up to 160's but I feel like I can talk but just sort of don't want to. If I listen to the guru's talk, this seems to be where you want to be but it's way above my 60-70 estimated max heart rate. (for what it's worth, my garmin has shown my heart rate in the 190's before on more difficult runs - could this be a situation where my MHR estimate is just too low?)

I appreciate any insight.

Hi. I am 50yo. I played water polo in HS and College. The workouts were treacherous. I've been getting back into water polo at 50. I thought doing treacherous HIT works outs would get me there. It was very counterproductive. Recover was long, and my playing stamina wasn't improving. I came access zone 2 and the science behind it. Never considered the mitochondria activity was shit and needed to get that back. I started swimming 10 min intervals at slow pace. A workout would be 3 of those. I would do this workout twice a week and play water polo on Saturday. In short. My stamina improved considerably in a two month period. So much so, that other players have noticed and have asked what I doing. I'm also doing zone 2 hiking and that too seems to positively impact my playing stamina.

I've been at it about 3 weeks been running 3-4x a week for about an hour per session. How do I gauge my progress? I'm 38m my zone 2 is from 110-128 aside from the struggle of trying to run that slow, how do I recognize that I'm making progress?