Heart rate zones and why they matter

HEART RATE ZONES AND WHY THEY MATTER RUNNING

WHAT ARE THE ZONES? (% MAX HR) 1- 50-60% - You're barely moving 2- 60-70% - You can hold a conversation 3- 70-80% - [Nothing good happens here] 4- 80-90% - You can't talk, but can hold it 5- 90%+ - You're basically dying NEXT

ZONE 1 This is a walk. Light, active recovery. Maybe yoga? Point is, you're not tired or exhausted. Your body is essentially resting and recovering for more training. NEXT

ZONE 2 This is most of your aerobic training. Easy runs, you can hold a conversation, etc. While this is slower than race pace, gaining fitness in Z2 will have huge benefits for your more strenous training. Most of your work is done here. NEXT

ZONE 3 Lots of people hang out here, but you shouldn't. You don't gain much aerobic benefit, and you get almost 0 anaerobic benefit. It's a grey area to avoid. You're either not running easy enough, or hard enough. NEXT

ZONE 4 Reserved for sprints, tempo runs, fartleks, and other hard efforts. These are efforts used in tempo runs, pickups, and some HIIT training. Great for building anaerobic fitness. NEXT

ZONE 5 The hardest of sprints. Repeat/interval training and maximum efforts. If you're training for a marathon, you'll spend almost no time here, but shorter races (5k, etc.) you'll spend a little. NEXT

GIMME THE SHORT VERSION

HOW TO USE ZONES Spend most (60-70%) of your time doing easy runs in Zone 2. Spend 30% of your time in Zone 4 (intervals, tempos, etc.). Spend the remainder in Zones 1 & 5. Do this, and avoid Zone 3, and watch your run fitness flourish.