I’ve started running. It has felt hard, but I want to get better at it. So I’ve been researching how to run correctly and how to train my cardiopulmonary system for sustained effort.
The main thing that keeps coming up in my research is the importance of Zone 2 training. Zone 2 is a heart rate range where you can keep up conversation fairly easily. It would be considered an “easy” effort level. For me, Zone 2 is roughly 136-153bpm.
Zone 2 training involves exercising in a way that keeps your heart rate in that zone for a long period of time. This is apparently one of the best ways to build cardiopulmonary endurance.
Despite how “easy” it is to workout this way, it’s hard for me. I’ve never done training like this. My major fitness influences to this point in my life have been wrestling and CrossFit, which both are very high-intensity for shorter intervals. Training at a low-intensity for a long time feels… wrong.
Wrestling and CrossFit ingrained in me the macho-mentality that if you’re not giving your all, you’re not doing enough. So every workout I would go out there and push myself as hard as I could. Surely, I thought, that is the only way growth happens? At the very edge of capability?
But now I’m trying to unlearn that. In fact, for the running training I’m doing, about 80% of my training should be “easy” Zone 2 work to build my cardio base, and the rest should be interval training to build my VO2 max and anaerobic endurance.
Yesterday I went for a 3.5 mile zone 2 run and I was shocked at how slow I had to go to maintain that heart rate. On inclines, there were sections where I had to walk because even a mega-slow jog uphill was elevating my heart rate too high.
While this type of training is tough for me mentally and feels watered down compared to what I’ve done before, I’m going to trust the science and keep at it. Over time I expect that my Zone 2 speed will increase and I will have a much bigger gas tank. For now I just need to eat my humble pie and do my granny runs around town.
At least I look cool with my safety vest and headlamp. /s
