A beginners guide to zone training
When you first start HR training, you will only have 3 zones.
Trying to break it into 5 or 7 zones leads to confusion and feeling awful when you’re not hitting your numbers.
Zones are arbitrary numbers on a continuum.
A continuum that changes with training and with non-training.
As runners, we can use the concept of zone training but apply it over the whole week.
The 3 zones you will be focusing on as a beginner
For now, we don’t need to define these with numbers. We can start with the effort or perception of effort.
It’s important to note that right from the start you might not be able to “run” in an easy zone. This is ok, and very normal.
As your endurance develops your metabolic curve will shift. And running will start to feel easy.
If running is moderate or hard, you may find it easier to do easy training outside of running.
This is where triathletes can shine.
Use other sports for easy training
Cycling, swimming, hiking and walking are all great easy training options.
It’s much easier to keep your HR low in these sports.
When you are running it will probably be in the moderate training zone.
Hard. But not crazy hard.
That’s ok. Our approach then becomes to balance out your week with easy training outside of running.
The forgotten zone for new runners
The last “zone” you should focus on as a new runner is your fast training.
We want to learn how to run fast.
You can do this with strides, sprints and hills.
Each of these will teach you how to move fast - which will be important to develop as an athlete.
I don’t like the advice of always running slow and easy.
Instead, I use 3 workouts: easy cross-training, moderate running, and a dash of fast running.
With the right dose of each, you will see your running become easy training as well.
That’s all for today!
Chandler