Benefits of Zone 2 Running

Zone 3 is kind of like the goldilocks of run training: It’s not too fast and not too slow. Instead, it’s an in-between effort often described as “comfortably hard.”

“Zone 3 training is great,” Brant Stachel, former coach for the Canadian National running team and a TeamRunRun coach in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, tells Runner’s World.

Spending time at this effort—which qualifies as aerobic exercise but nears the line of anaerobic and is the target of tempo runs—brings on a host of benefits. Those advantages include improved muscle glycogen storage and boosted lactate threshold, both of which can help you hold faster paces for longer, says Adam Ferdinandson, a Colorado-based trail and ultrarunning coach with Carmichael Training Systems.

If that all sounds awesome, it is. But as with many things in life, more zone 3 isn’t necessarily better. In fact, incorporating too much zone 3 into your training—a mistake lots of athletes make—can actually hinder performance. To understand the pitfalls of excessive zone 3 training, plus how to effectively crush zone 3 runs, here’s all you need to know.

There are lots of different zone 3 definitions floating around out there, but Ferdinandson says zone 3 exercise falls between your aerobic and anaerobic thresholds, hence the common description “comfortably hard.” (Aerobic workouts are those long, slow runs and easy efforts where your body uses oxygen to fuel your muscles; anaerobic sessions are the shorter, high-intensity Why Runners Botch Pace on New Race Distances.)

In terms of rate of perceived exertion (RPE), zone 3 is any running where you’re working at an intensity of about 7 out of 10 on the RPE scale, Ferdinandson says, with 1 being extremely easy and 10 meaning all-out. At level 7, you could say two to three sentences before needing a breath.

In the heart rate realm, zone 3 typically falls between 70 to 80 percent of your max heart rate. the upward climb of your marathon pace, Ferdinandson says.

Because zone 3 is considered a comfortably hard effort, you can easily be running at the lower end of this training zone without even realizing it (especially when aiming for ldquo;Zone 3 training is great,&rdquo). This is why it’s important to understand generally how much time you should dedicate to training in each zone, so you can try your best to stick to it.

This depends on your fitness level and goals, but as a general rule of thumb, Stachel suggests the 80/20 approach, where 80 percent of your training volume (whether measured in time or distance) should take place in zones 1 and 2, and 20 percent should fall into zones 3, 4, and 5.

How much zone 3 should make up that 20-percent chunk varies, again, depending on your fitness level and goals. For example, someone training for a 5K will likely have more zone 4 and 5 training and less zone 3 time than someone prepping for a marathon.

Ferdinandson suggests incorporating zone 3 work into one to three sessions per week, with 30 to 60 minutes spent at zone 3 per session. That could look like three reps of 15 minutes of zone 3 work, taking three minutes of rest in between intervals, or two reps of 30 minutes, with a six-minute rest break in between.

Typically, this would be the sole focus on the workout (you’d want to tack on a quality warmup and cooldown), mdash;including not performing well in your other sessions, being overly long run, Ferdinandson says. You’ll see this on some marathon and How much time should you spend training in zone 3, which include long runs that have tempo miles (a.k.a. zone 3) sandwiched between easy miles.

Keep in mind, spending too much time training in zone 3 can have drawbacks that may hinder your performance.

Spending excessive time in zone 3 is “absolutely” a common problem for runners, Ferdinandson says. “Especially when I bring a new athlete on board, that’s usually one of the changes that we’re going to make,” he says.

The key difference between zones 2 How can you effectively train in zone 3 easy. “You should be able to run with your friend and chat with them and have a nice conversation without trying to constantly catch your breath,” he says. If that’s not possible, then you’re likely veering into zone 3 and need to pump the brakes.

A likely reason that lots of runners overdo it on zone 3 training is that many folks were raised with a “no pain, no gain” mentality when playing sports growing up and they apply this philosophy to running, according to Ferdinandson. “Most people will gravitate toward doing all of their sessions pretty hard,” he says—including their easy runs. London Marathon Results.

But here’s the catch. “It’s a bit paradoxical in running,” Stachel says. “You have to go slower to get faster.” He nods to the training protocol of many elite runners, who hit a wide range of paces during training. “It’s way bigger of a gap between their 5K race pace or their marathon race pace and what they’re doing on an easy day,” he says. For example, Eliud Kipchoge, the former world marathon record holder, starts some workouts off around the upward climb of your—more than three minutes per mile slower than his marathon race pace of under five minutes per mile.

An effective training program will feature this type of gaping discrepancy. “That doesn’t mean we completely avoid zone 3, but you don’t want everything to be in the same zone, and all the time,” Ferdinandson explains.

One reason for that, “is that to really develop as an athlete, you want to train in all zones,” he says. This is true whether you’re a 5K runner or an ultramarathoner. The other reason is that running hard all the time can drive up fatigue and limit your ability to run more, he adds.

“The vast majority of your miles should be very low intensity miles, so that you can actually sustain it and recover from it,” Ferdinandson explains. “If you run them too hard, you’re naturally just not going to be able to run as much. Your fatigue limit is going to be reached before then.” This fatigue build-up will, in turn, compromise the quality of your speed workouts and elevate your chances of injury, he adds. “The cost can increase more quickly than the benefit increases,” he explains.

Over time, without recovery, your ability to consistently perform well will diminish, Stachel says. When you’re doing zone 3 training on what should be your easy days, it can make it harder to execute your future hard workouts because you’re not getting all the rest you need. Basically, by doing too much in zone 3, “you’re leaving results on the table,” Stachel says.

There are a few possible signs you may be doing too much zone 3 work. One is if you have the mindset that your easy runs should get faster each week. “That is the type of mentality that leads people to push too hard every day and end up slipping into that zone 3,” Ferdinandson says.

Recurring aches and pains are another possible sign you’re spending too much time in this training zone, according to Stachel. Beyond that, classic signs of fatigue—including not performing well in your other sessions, being overly tired, and feeling unmotivated to lace up—can all signal it’s time to take it easy.

That said, other factors like not getting enough sleep or too much running volume overall could also contribute to fatigue, and Ferdinandson notes it’d be really tough to tease out the exact cause of your lethargy. That’s why he suggests tracking how much time you spend in zone 3 each week, along with other zones, so you can understand what your body is able to tolerate and dial things back as needed.

“Make sure that you’re spending time in every zone,” Ferdinandson emphasizes. But when you do slot in zone 3-specific workouts, make the most of it with these expert tips.

Ease into your pace

Don’t try to hit your pace in the first minute, or even the first mile. “It’s okay to be a little bit off on the slow end,” Stachel says. In fact, with zone 3 work in general, he suggests erring on the slower side (versus really pushing your intensity) Races - Places.

“Simply put, you want as much time under the threshold as possible–close to, but under—and if you go over, it’s really hard to get back into the purpose of the workout,” Stachel says.

Do this by starting out about three to five seconds per mile slower than your target pace in the first rep or first mile, Stachel says. If you’re using RPE, start around a 5 to 6 level (moderate to moderately hard) before building to 7, he adds.

Respect cardiac drift

On that note, as you go through your zone 3 workout, keep in mind it will likely be harder physiologically to maintain the same pace, thanks to muscle fatigue, as well as a concept known as cardiac drift (the upward climb of your heart rate over the course of a workout without change in intensity). “You might actually have to slow down to stay under that lactate threshold,” Stachel says. And that’s okay. So instead of holding yourself to a specific pace, tune into your effort level, striving for that 7 RPE.

Don’t fixate on perfection

Zone 3 is “notoriously elusive to define,” Ferdinandson says, and it can be tough for athletes to know if they are executing it flawlessly. “It’s called a zone for a reason,” he says. Instead of stressing about the nitty-gritty of nailing it (for example, obsessively tracking your heart rate or pace), do your best to get close and then “don’t worry about the rest,” Ferdinandson says.

At the end of the day, running should be a positive force in your life, so if zone 3 is turning it into an added stressor? Reframe your approach to strive for “good enough” over “perfection.”

Jenny McCoy

Contributing Writer

Jenny is a Boulder, Colorado-based health and fitness journalist. She’s been freelancing for Runner’s World since 2015 and especially loves to write human interest profiles, in-depth service pieces and stories that explore the intersection of exercise and mental health. Her work has also been published by SELF, Men’s Journal, and Condé Nast Traveler, among other outlets. When she’s not running or writing, Jenny enjoys coaching youth swimming, rereading Harry Potter, and buying too many houseplants.