For years, runners have used heart rate-based training to maximize their running potential. This method includes five “zones” at which your heart is beating at a percentage of its maximum capacity. In zone 1, you’re warming up for a run, and in zone 5, you’re at an all-out sprint.
Recently, zone 2 has gained MVP status among the five zones, thanks in part to longevity gurus like Peter Attia, M.D., who calls zone training one of the four essential “pillars of exercise” for staying healthy as we age. The following guide teaches you everything you need to know about zone 2 running—and how to capitalize on its benefits. 🏃🏻♀️ Ready to take on your longest run yet? Our How to Run Longer program will help you make it happen!
Zone 2 running means staying within that second of five heart rate zones, which equals about 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. It’s the zone in which you can have a conversation, but not sing an entire tune. For runners, zone 2 training calls for sustained efforts at a comfortable pace, and its a key workout on any training plan.
When you see easy runs on your training plan, you’re meant to run them in zone 2, along with most of your long runs. Zone 2 training is how runners build aerobic fitness, which is essential for improving speed and endurance for race day. At this easy pace, your body has enough time to clear lactate (a substance leftover in muscles from energy creation) from your blood.
Once blood lactate levels begin to rise, you shift into higher training zones, which begin working a different energy system. At lactate threshold, or anaerobic threshold, “this is the point where your blood lactate levels begin rising so quickly that you’re in an unsustainable state—you’re producing so much lactate that you can’t clear,” Fitzgerald says. This reaction creates a burning sensation in your legs that eventually creates too much fatigue for you to continue at that pace.
Higher-effort runs boost your body’s ability to clear lactate, so you can handle faster paces. But adequate zone 2 training helps you maximize the benefits of more intense runs. It also helps you build efficiency at any pace.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
