Connor O’Neill | PERFORMANCE COACH

Heart rate and zone 2 training is a little bit of a hot topic in the endurance world. I’ve always been a proponent of pushing yourself and finding your limits, which is why I’m not the biggest fan of how zone 2 is preached.

HR during exercise is a pretty good metric for intensity.

If it jumps up fast, reaches a high number, or takes awhile to lower back down, this usually indicates not a great fitness level.

If your heart rate doesn’t elevate much, or it drops back to normal quickly after being high, this usually means your in good cardiovascular shape.

If you also want to get a specific response from your training, targeting and working in a specific heart rate can do this.

This is also where I start to diverge into my thoughts on zone 2 training.

Seeing endurance training as a pyramid is what shifted my perspective. It’s also important to note, this is specifically for people who want to improve to run more competitively or want to get faster.

If you purely want to run for fun and are not concerned with speed or getting a lot fitter, then consistently training in zone 2 is perfect.

Simple put, zone 2 is necessary but at the end of the day it doesn’t make you move faster. Getting faster requires you to run faster, which ultimately means you’re going to be working more in zones 3 or 4.

Personally, this also makes training more fun because who doesn’t like going fast⚡️

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Do you agree or disagree?

Other questions on endurance training or running, leave them below🤙🏼

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