Does anyone do Zone 2 running?

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

I am just starting to push my running distances- last year, a typical run for me would have been 7-11k. Now, my "window" is more like 10-17k. Today I broke 20km for the first time in a long time.

A friend at work is evangelising about Zone 2 running. She has previously done halves but is interested in marathon+ distances.

It got me thinking as I really enjoyed most of my slow 21k this morning and I wondered if anyone more experienced at distance running specifically practises Zone 2?

I love it…January I ran 5k all 31 days in zone 2 and by the end of Jan my zone 2 pace was about a minute per k faster and my 5k time was about 3 mins faster than at the start of the month. I now do 2 or 3 runs a week in zone 2 ranging from 5k to 12k. Supplement that with 1 day intervals and 1 tempo run…I’ve never been fitter. I look forward to my zone 2 runs the most…so enjoyable to be able to look around and enjoy the view while I’m out running and not be worrying about keeping a certain pace.

I try, but my zone 2 pace is soooooo slow, like 15 min miles 😭 I am not a fast runner in general - 5k is around 30 mins for me.

Ive been doing it since April and can’t say I’ve noticed any massive differences, but I am goibg to stick with it. I do enjoy the slower pace and it is very gentle on my knees which I have had problems with before. Maybe this time next year will be better!

Thank you both! My pace today was pretty slow but I did enjoy most of my long run despite the heat.

I think I'm going to give it a whirl.

Do you both use HR monitors?

My DH is very fit and is trying a different Garmin training plan for his next marathon in early Sept. It’s got him running 5days a week but slower so he is running more miles over the whole week despite running less on his individual runs as it’s runs by time. He finds it hard to slow down his pace but is benefiting in this hot weather & still out enjoying his running. It’s supposed to be really beneficial as part of improving your base fitness if you mix it up with sprints & hill reps too.

I started running with my cousin, her normal pace is a lot slower than the pace I normally set off at- my avg 5km time is around 30mins for what feels like an ‘easy’ pace (PB is 26:17), her easy 5km is 41mins.

Since I’ve been doing my long runs with her (during which my HR stays firmly in zone 2), my HR has significantly improved in my other runs- I did my normal Parkrun today with a large, very steep hill and my HR stayed in zone 4 (previously this hill at a similar pace be top end of zone 5 and would give me ‘new max HR’ notifications on my Garmin 🤣).

Well it definitely sounds like something to try! Thanks

@BeachgRunning yes I have heard that about mixing it up. I already do 2 fairly intensive circuit sessions weekly that revolve around box jumping and press ups so I am hoping that would help there as I don't have much more time for running in the week!

I just use the heart rate monitor on my garmin but I did have to adjust the pre-set zones…my natural max heart rate is way higher than the one it calculates so zone 2 was barely more than walking for me. Once I found out my actual max heart rate (did one of those fitness tests with bupa as part of my annual check up) zone 2 was a pretty steady and comfortable pace for me.

That's helpful @GTTSR as I don't even know my current standard HR!

I do use a HR strap which connects to my Garmin watch as they are more accurate. I get a bit caught up in the HR stuff as I am 39 and my max HR recorded on it is 205 which according to everything online is really high.

Yeah I think the pre-programmed heart rate zones can be really misleading …a good guide for zone 2 is a pace you can run and hold a conversation. If you don’t have something to measure heart rate, that’s what you should be aiming for. I just find them so enjoyable I want to run them all the time 😂 I have to force myself to do a couple of faster runs a week.