Resources

What does an 8-week Zone 2 base plan look like?

Build an aerobic base you can keep. Most of the running is easy Zone 2, with one hard session a week and a long run that grows to two hours.

What is Zone 2 training?

Zone 2 is easy aerobic running at 60–70% of heart rate reserve, an effort you can hold for hours. It's how you build an aerobic base: a lot of easy miles, week after week.

How do you run a Zone 2 long run?

Ninety minutes to two hours, all in Zone 2. Start in the lower half of your range, let the slow climb carry the number up, and finish at the top of the zone instead of over it.

Is Zone 2 60–70% of max heart rate or heart rate reserve?

Both, and that's the problem. The same 60–70% gets applied to two different formulas, and they disagree by about 20 BPM. Use heart rate reserve, which accounts for your resting heart rate.

Why is my easy run heart rate so high?

Because the run isn't as easy as it feels. Slow down, keep at it, and the pace you can hold in Zone 2 rises.

Is Zone 2 training worth it?

Yes for runners. The critique of Zone 2 is about fitness advice for non-athletes, not about how runners train. Easy miles are still most of a runner's week, and the critique doesn't argue otherwise.

How long should a Zone 2 run be?

Two or three easy runs of 45 to 75 minutes and one long run of 90 to 120, every week. Hold the heart rate, and the pace you can hold at it rises.

What is cardiac drift?

The slow climb of heart rate through a steady run, with no change in pace. A few percent is normal in cool weather, more in heat, and slowing down is the fix.

What does an 8-week VO2 max training plan look like?

Raise your ceiling in an 8-week block: two interval sessions a week on top of easy running, the Norwegian 4×4 twice at first, then the 4×4 and the Billat 30/30.

How to increase your VO2 max

Intervals from the top of Zone 4 into Zone 5, the evidence behind them, and how they fit with Zone 2.

How do you run the Norwegian 4x4?

Four 4-minute intervals from the top of Zone 4 into Zone 5, 3 minutes of jogging between, four times.

How do you run the Billat 30/30?

30 seconds at the slowest pace that draws your full VO2 max, 30 seconds of jogging at half that pace, 16 to 20 times.

What is threshold running?

Threshold running is the hardest effort you can hold with your blood lactate steady. Tempo, threshold, and sub-threshold all name that line or the work just under it, and it sits between easy running and VO2 max intervals in a well-built week.

What heart rate is sub-threshold?

Sub-threshold is a margin under your own threshold heart rate, which a 30-minute field test estimates. On a watch it's Zone 4, and the line to stay under is Zone 5.

How do you run a tempo run?

Thirty minutes at the pace you could race for an hour, with an easy warm-up and cool-down around it.

How do you run a sub-threshold session?

Reps of 3 to 12 minutes just under threshold with a minute's rest, 30 minutes of work. Every rep ends under your threshold heart rate, and Zone 5 means ease off.

What is the Norwegian singles method?

Three sub-threshold sessions a week, everything else in Zone 2. The Norwegian double-threshold model, adapted for recreational runners.

Zone 2 vs threshold vs VO2 max: which should you train?

Train all three, with most of your week in Zone 2. Whether your hard days go to threshold or VO2 max intervals depends on your goal and your hours.

What does an 8-week Norwegian singles training plan look like?

Run faster at the same heart rate: three sub-threshold sessions a week on top of easy running.

What does an 8-week HYROX running plan look like?

Get your running ready for a HYROX race in 8 weeks. Three runs a week: build the base, add race pace and running straight off a station, then back off and arrive fresh.

What is compromised running?

Compromised running is running under fatigue carried in from work that isn't running. A compromised run is any run that starts that way.

How do you train compromised running?

One station straight into a run, with no rest in between, repeated four to six times.

What running intervals should you do for HYROX?

Six 1 km reps at your target average race split, run on fresh legs, with 90 seconds of walking rest between reps.

What does your heart rate actually do during a HYROX race?

It rises through the first kilometer to a plateau and holds there for the rest of the race.

How far do you run in a HYROX race?

You run 8 km, or 4.97 miles: eight runs of approximately 1 km each, one before every workout station. The full distance you cover is longer, because the course also includes the Roxzone, and the organizer doesn't publish how much longer.

Is treadmill pace accurate?

On average, yes. Treadmills tested under a runner's load held an average belt speed between about 98 and 103% of the set speed.