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Heart rate zones indicate the intensity of effort during the workout, from easy to maximum.
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The areas are subjective and require a specific training method to improve effectiveness.
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Beginners should focus on zone 2 to build an aerobic base, while experts need to vary the stimuli.
Heart rate zones area way to understand how your body is using energy. These are intervals that detect the effort you are making from monitoring your heart rate. The purpose is to measure how hard you are training: it starts from zone 1 (Z1), super easy, to zone 5 (Z5), the maximum effort you are able to sustain.
Zones offer a universal language for talking about different types of training because they are based on the perception of effort and not on pace. The pace at which to run in each area is subjective and varies from person to person.
To each his own area
Try to imagine running with former marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge. If you both start running in Z2 you probably would not run more than a few meters together. You would see Eliud receding into the horizon faster and faster because the pace required to get his heart rate into Z2 is probably very sustained for any amateur runner. If instead we assumed that you and Eliud would run at the same pace, you would be running in two different areas.
Knowing your areas requires the application of a more or less painstaking method of training, which can help you get into, or get back into, shape and improve faster.
N.B. In addition to structuring their workouts based on the 5 zones into which their heart rate can be divided, cyclists can opt for power monitoring, which identifies 7 training zones. Whether to prefer one or the other is a subjective choice. It is also possible to mix and match the two training strategies.
Training with zones
If you have been running for a short time, the first step is to become familiar with the Z2. You should set up your runs so that you run 70-80% of the time in Z1 and Z2 to build a good, firm aerobic base. After that, you can start to insert some progressive strides at the end of the stroke to get familiar with a different type of effort.
If, on the other hand, you already have some experience and your goal is to improve to try to be more efficient and run faster you will need to vary the stimuli in your workouts. Train mainly in Z2 and insert at most two more intense workouts in Z4 or Z5 each week. Doing uphill sprints is also a great way to get your frequency up and give your physique a strong training stimulus.
The purpose of the more intense workouts is to get out of the comfort zone you find yourself in when you run in Z2. But remember that some very fast athletes do undemanding runs for most of their training. Let’s dispel the myth that to run hard you must always run hard, even in training. The idea that running slower to get faster might not make sense, but believe me, it does make sense!
(Via Strava)