Zone 2 Training For Beginners & Advanced Athletes

hi there today I'm going to be running a sub three hour marathon on the track over here and I'm going to be sharing a low heart rate training guide variety of different ways Zone 2 Math training and this is for runners of all levels and ages from beginners to Total Advance let's get started I'm using a chorus Apex Pro 2 with track mode setting it to a lap one 400 meters so uh yeah let's do this let's get this started over here going to be running a 648 minute mile Pace that's about a 4 13 minute per kilometer should get me in around 258 259 for the marathon here that's about 105 and a half laps and I'm over here on a track in Irvine California beautiful morning sunrise the topics that we'll cover are in today's video are what is low heart rate training and why how to train with low heart rate how to overcome frustrations and challenges with low heart rate training because this definitely sometimes happens the 10 common mistakes with low heart rate training how much Zone 2 training is right for you and when and how to add speech work let's start out with the basics and from there we'll get much more into the weeds what is low heart rate training it is really kind of a game that you play while running where you're trying to keep your heart rate in a specific Zone you want it not too fast and not too slow with low heart rate training you build a strong foundation for your running skills so that you can run longer with more energy you want this to be at a comfortable level you want to train your body your heart to become stronger want to teach your body to be efficient with the use of energy so that we use body fat for energy instead of glycogen from sugar carbs Etc and this way you don't run out of energy there are many different ways to calculate your heart rate zone and your training intensity we'll talk about this in much more detail later first the basics foreign I'm feeling good over here It's a beautiful morning it surely helps so why low heart rate running I've been running mostly at low heart rate for about 10 years now and there's a variety of different reasons but the three main reasons number one it lowers your risk of injury more than half the recreational Runners get injured every single year and this breakup inconsistency of training sets you back significantly in your running progress when you train at a low intensity the impact on your body is significantly less you gradually build up the training volume and you strengthen your muscles your tendons your ligaments your bones all of these things gradually adapt the second reason here you feel great before during and after your run many athletes go out there and they're exhausted in the middle or at the end of their Runa after that run especially for non-elite athletes recreational Runners with full-time jobs family lives and a lot going on we want to be able to finish a run get energy out of it and feel that you can do that same run over again so that it actually brings you energy you want to go out there and run nicely again the next day and then the third reason is over time you can run faster with the same heart rate many athletes run out of energy at the end of a race and so when you train your heart to pump more efficiently for your body to use energy more efficiently you can actually finish a race with energy left in the tank and so aerobic fitness Improvement is not a big advantage over there how to do low heart rate training this happy heart rate zone is zoned to this aerobic Zone there are five different ways that we can do this let's talk about the first two over here that you don't need a heart rate monitor for in the last few three that you do need a heart rate monitor for the first one here is nasal breathing and this is a great one for beginners without any equipment you only breathe in and out through your nose keeping your mouth closed if it becomes too hard to breathe through your nose you slow down your running pace or you take a walk break and this will lower your heart rate the positive here it's a simple method there's no equipment needed the negative is that it's not 100 accurate to determine your exact heart rate zone some people have bigger nose holes nostrils and other people can also become quite efficient in nasal breathing over time there's definitely some adaptation overall though I think it's a great starting point the next one is the talk test here you warm up for 15 minutes and you run at a conversational Pace with a friend or you can call a friend or you can sing a song if it becomes too hard to breathe you slow down your running pace or you take a walk break to help let your heart rate go down the positive it's a simple method no equipment needed the negative is the percent accurate to determine your exact training zones because some people's perception of a conversational Pace are just others than other people so for these first two you don't need any equipment and that's the easy part of it let's take some water from my self-made aid station it's really nice set up a table over here so I brought a few bottles and some gels and so I can easily take it when I want to get some energy in there and we're five miles in mile 5 in 646 feeling good so far the next one heart rate zone calculator you can use a formula with a resting heart rate and a max heart rate to calculate your training Zone the positive here is this is a calculation based on your individual data one negative here is that many athletes don't know the accurate max heart rate it's sometimes still an estimate to get to that Max heart rate it's quite challenging actually it is a higher risk of injury when running all out to find out your max heart rate and the next one is the meth 184 malab a DrPhil methadone you can use the formula where you take 180 and you subtract your age then you adjust this number with your health and fitness profile you can actually pause the video to read the exact details over here I would be way too much out of breath to try to explain the whole thing over here the positive it's a simple ballpark number that works reasonably well for the majority of athletes another positive it takes your health and fitness profile into account so if you're healthy and consistent training you could train at a higher heart rate well when you're recovering from an illness of coming back from an injury you would be training at a lower heart rate and I really like that part about the formula another positive is there's no max heart rate test needed so less chance of injury the main negative is that it's not accurate for everyone further personalization may be needed for example if you're an athlete of 55 plus or you have a high max heart rate or a low max heart rate you have to do some further personalization then the last one here is to do a blood lactate test in a medical lab you go to a medical lab and you take blood samples at different running intensities and here you find your recommended training zones the positive here it's the most specific data based on your individualized test scores a negative here it's quite expensive I can be a hundred dollars to 200 or more to get this done another negative is that you have to run all out during one of these tests so for injury-prone athletes it definitely increases your injury risk over there to be sprinting all out another negative is it can still be inaccurate it's just one data point there are a lot of factors that can impact your lactate thresholds from day to day such as your fatigue levels your hydration temperature and altitude these can all lead to inaccuracies and I've personally had some inaccurate lactate tests as well where I had to come back the following day because the data was simply off I'm running with a few energy gels I'm using Precision hydration 30 grams of carbs about 100 calories now one thing I often do is I actually tape I know if you can see it assault electrolyte pill to my gel so that from time to time if I want to take in a salt pill at least I already have them attached to my gels and I can just combine them so one way that I make sure keep the electrolytes up bike is when the gels are not too thick so you can just take them down without water very important one when you're far away from eight stations time to bring the sunglasses out two miles in energy levels are good Park Road is under control let's see over here average heart rate for the first eight miles is 147 not sure if you can see any of this so out of those five methods to calculate your heart rate zones I would pick just one that you feel makes the most sense for you and keep it simple you can also choose a few different ones compare what the outcome is and just make your own best judgment over there you don't have to always stick with the same number either it might be a little bit of dialing in to find that right heart rate zone for you over there once you have picked our trade zone the game can really begin you can start running and when you feel your heart rate goes too high you slow it down a little bit when you feel it's too low you pick it up a little bit but a bit of an adjustment phase to get used to it over there one common response here with low heart rate training is I have to slow down so much and it is quite frustrating I even have to slow down sometimes to a walk break and even then I have to watch my pace if you're experiencing this realize you're absolutely not alone here I've experienced this and so I have many other guests on my podcast the extra mileage show as well so what to expect from low heart rate training over those first few months here are some of the things that you might experience within minutes of starting your run your heart rate will shoot up you have to slow down significantly or take walk breaks you don't understand why you have to run or walk this slow am I really this unfit yoga pass left and right by other Runners you used to be faster than them your friends might wonder what's going on with you running so slow you might feel embarrassed to share some of your lower runs on social platforms you wonder if you calculated your heart rate zones correctly this is probably the correct heart rate but you can always do a talk test or use some of these other calculators and see how those numbers compare with each other you wonder if you have an exceptional High max heart rate am I an outlier over here most probably you're not but you can always play around with some numbers the main objective is to slow down even if it is a ballpark number just get used to slowing down your intensity you finish your first few rounds at a very slow pace and you're not feeling tired at all you feel like you could have continued running much longer am I doing this right when your lizard brain start feeding your doubtful thoughts just remember the following You Are Not Alone almost everyone's struggles starting out with low heart rate training in the first few months realize that you will not be walking or running slow forever patience is absolutely key here most people won't see results right away or go backwards first have a beginner's mind and think long term here yeah 649 mile 10. foreign let's talk about overcoming challenges and frustrations with low heart rate training ego is the number one enemy for most athletes and for most people having to slow down be quite challenging getting passed by other people on the bike path or posting slow times on Strava some people care about that once you can let go of all of that and think long term versus short term it can really make a big difference we only have a beginner's mind put in a time and effort to slow down and think long term over here investing their time is absolutely worth it in the long term in the short term it might be challenging but long term it will pay off also some people found it helpful to change your watch setting so instead of distance that you've covered in your pace you start to just look at heart rate and time that you spend in the zone a lot of people have found this one to be helpful over the years I've studied a lot of high performers and there are a few different characteristics that are quite common among them here are three of them persistence determination and discipline an intensity discipline can be really hard if you feel discouraged and unmotivated to train ask yourself this question how bad do you want it another important lesson to remember if from time to time you want to run faster during the base building phase by all means go for it if you want to run with a friend not look at your heart rate just do it if you have a lot of energy and you want to just get out there charge it go on a group run or just run a bit faster by all means go for it just don't overdo it see too many athletes train in that yellow zone way too many times let's talk through common mistakes with low heart rate training healthy athletes who are training the right way with low heart rate training should be improving should become faster at the same heart rate over time if that is not the case several factors could be blocking your progress and there are 10 only got one hand there ten common factors so let's talk through them real brief not sleeping enough sleep is incredibly important for recovery from your workout High mental stress levels if you're stressed out of your mind it's going to be quite hard to improve aerobically so find ways to fix this poor eating and disordered eating can be a variety of things from junk food not taking in enough calories taking in too many calories environmental stresses so heat humidity health challenges and changes illnesses sickness Etc a negative mindset if you're frustrated all the time with having to slow down that's definitely making an impact on your running performance bringing in too many stress factors at once sometimes I see it nasal breathing keto fasting Cadence all of this stuff just focused on running relaxed at a low intensity keep it simple running at an incorrect heart rate either too high or too low and then over training and under training and those last two I want to talk more about so how much zone two of low heart rate training is right for you what is that right training volume and that is a half marathon in 129. feeling good over here if you're enjoying this video please make sure to like hit that subscribe button and the bell it really helps get the channel in front of more people and educate more people about the benefits of low heart rate training so yeah if you found any benefit in this video or any other video on my channel I would greatly appreciate it if you can hit that subscribe and like button thank you my training philosophy is holistic and it's all focused on how to become a stronger healthier and happier at least and this approach everything is connected from your training volume your intensity quality of your sleep nutrition your mindset all of those things come into play over there if one of those is off then some of these other running volume things are not going to make an impact if your stress levels are really high or your sleep quality is not good then the amount of training volume training more is not going to make a positive difference over there it is pretty hard to give like the minimum amount of training volume per athlete because this depends on so many variables too also your health profile your Fitness level your race goals your motivation your available time to train all of it is connected a few people in the personal best running coaching program on Strava on YouTube they would actually perform better if they were low at a training volume and allow more time for Recovery in this image you can clearly see the adaptation curve for your Fitness level so after you stimulate it you need to be able to recover well in order for you to improve your Fitness level if that recovery is not happening you're not going to improve your Fitness level here many athletes get injured they got burned out when the volume and the training intensity is too high it is different and that's why it's not possible to give a minimum amount of training some athletes respond well at three hours a week almost at six and others at ten this is something that is so highly individualized that is something you have to experiment with yourself and once again journaling is a powerful tool here write down all of the things that you're noticing with the amount of training volume with the heart rate zones and how your body is responding to that in training thank you 15 miles in 648 running good over here staying hydrated feeling good so far I'm wearing the OG Alpha flies once that's some colorway once again by my daughter last night with the Sharpie so it's black and they definitely have some nice pop these are shoes I've ran at many marathons and sometimes I just like to stick with a consistent shoe instead of mixing up the shoes so yeah I bought a few pairs of these they work well 16 miles in and the miles are ticking away 6 46.

one more thing to add about training volume is even for me right now with two busy kids a startup the podcast and our running training program I simply don't have the bandwidth to run 60 70 80 mile weeks like I've done in some of my Peak training and so for me it's better to run a bit lower volume but really focus on that sleep so that my overall stress levels are lower because I'm not gonna lie my stress levels and I'm sure you might relate from daily life already quite High so this is why it's a fine balancing game with how much training volume and even training intensity to add over there a bit of a puzzle and sometimes that abs and flows too sometimes you have busier periods in your life then you can train a bit less or at lower intensity and when it's more time to train and just pick it up a bit more flexibility on the day today absolutely key here let's talk through a few training guidelines over here start conservatively see too many people start at a high training volume and not being able to keep up gradually build this up increase your training volume by 10 per week Max don't do three hours one week six hours to next week take a step back week every fourth week of about 30 to 40 percent drop in volume train consistent and be patient over here patience is absolutely the name of the game it is a fine line with training volume though because we do want to add in enough training volume to add positive stress on the body and adaptations just make sure that you're able to recover well listen to the body there be patient and make changes on the day-to-day if you have had a poor night's sleep maybe cut it a bit shorter dial back to training intensity a little bit feeling absolutely amazing make sure that you run a little bit extra if you want to so that app and flow in training is key for long-term success foreign 650 minute miles and the wind is starting to pick up a little bit serve it in the front one way in the back another keep plugging away so what kind of progress can you expect with low heart rate training I want to share three examples from athletes with low heart rate training over a period of time the first athlete over here is James he's one of our personal best program members he's 51 years old and he's training at a heart rate of 119 to 129. so when he's doing a math test that is your warm up on a track for 15 minutes and then you time every lap that you're doing either in miles or in kilometers and then you gradually become slower over time typically what he noticed in the first month his first mile was 13 minutes second 13 26 and on the third 1402 after three months of low heart rate training mostly he was able to shave more than one minute per mile off so below that you can actually see it in kilometers as well then the second example over here is of my own personal running progress aerobically over a 24-month period so at a low heart rate the first month I was able to run an 8 25 minute mile so a 5 to 14 minute per kilometer and this was on flat on the Hills I was definitely a lot slower the second month 7 43 minute per mile for 48 minute per kilometer and after 24 months I was able to run a 6-12 minute per mile or 351 minute per kilometer at the same low heart rate and then I want to give an example of my wife Jennifer she's not really into running she is more into pickleball hello and so when my wife and I started walking consistent 20 to 30 minutes a day a resting heart rate dropped by 20 beats over a periods of just three months and so walking is draining a lot of people think you have to run and you have to run fast in order to improve aerobically absolutely not slow down and you might start noticing that even walking can bring you aerobic benefits on my podcast the extra mileage show this often comes up as well about the importance of walking and slowing down many athletes have to slow down their Pace significantly with low heart rate especially if there's Hills involved humidity wind hot temperatures all of these things can impact your aerobic base it's so nice to have access to a little eight station to is the last stages of the race so I'm gonna start taking in some caffeine you can find quite a few different gels that have with caffeine and without this one it's just enough that don't start getting jittery but it keeps the Mind sharp especially if I have to think about what to say next year [Music] okay mile 20 649 minute mile let's talk about speed work when and how to add feet work there's absolutely a time and place to add speed work see quite a few people make the mistake with low hard drive training that all they do is always run at a lower heart rate if your body is ready after a while and I agree with DrPhil methadone's approach here about three months of low heart rate training gives it a good time to develop that aerobic base after that start easing into some speech work here are a few basic fundamentals for that e ASE into speed work after you've been training at low heart rate you don't want to right away go out like a wild racehorse you want to gradually get used to it again so I would say go 10 beats over your low heart rate zone initially see how that feels then 15 beats then 20 Beats gradually building it up to find an intensity that is right for you I see the mistake being made that some athletes right away go way too hard or I also see quite a few people that do their low intensity runs too hard and they're high intensity runs not hard enough you want to somewhere I said depending on the type of workout you do I like the seven to eight out of ten I think that's a good gauge to get a decent push in there and ease your body into speed or when you finish your speed workout and when you finish a certain rep you want to feel that you could still have push it a bit harder you would have still been able to push it a little bit further you don't want to be completely out of it because it just takes away from the recovery the next day you want to be able to train the next day you can here are two examples of speed workouts this one is for a beginner here four times 400 meters run on a track with one minute rest in between intervals we want to run this is a decent effort level maybe seven eight and with 9 out of ten not harder than that they're gradually letting your heart rate go up over here just making sure you know this is not an all-out Sprint and then an example of a marathon specific workout can be the first 15 miles at low intensity so the first 24K and then the last five miles 8K you pick it up to a marathon pace or faster great training for the Mind learning how to hold back and seeing how that marathon pace feels at the end so yeah the biggest mistake I see which speed work is too much too soon or once people start adding in speed work it just becomes too many times you really don't need to stimulate that higher intensity Zone that much and that frequent it is the low heart rate training that builds that basis and the speed work is icing on the cake thank you mile 22 at 6 49. here's a running technique or breathing technique to try next time double NL hard to Exhale I found it really helps lower my heart rate especially towards the end of a run towards the end of our race when he sometimes stands up tell yourself to run relax ease into it anyways four more miles to go I'm gonna stop talking so much and focus on finishing strong over here mile 24 going to stop talking got some energy left so it's going to pick up the pace a little bit over here let's go mile 26.

618 zero point two and a little bit to go let's finish strong running a little bit extra just in case the GPS watch is off yes ah that was awesome that was so nice to finish strong I'll be able to pick up the face a little bit I did so much talking at the beginning stages so I didn't want to talk too much but yeah geez the light is Harsh over here so yeah overall that's nice 257. for the full Marathon so that was 105 and a half laps over here in Lane one there in there so big thing with marathons is to hold back into early stages I always try to Pace myself for all their even be a little bit conservative and if there's energy left that can go faster at this point I just want to make sure that I was able to present well share my thoughts instead of running too fast and running out of energy later on but overall that was awesome it was really nice to have a little eight station set up over here so that I didn't have to carry all of my water on my back um one thing I've had in the past that some birds have flown away with all of my gels so this time I have my gels over here on the table but I also had a few extra boxes just in case the birds would fly off at some backup boxes that I could grab if needed over there yeah I was able to take some gels in on my run have some water have some electrolytes so the nutrition and hydration was all on point today low heart rate training can really work for everyone for beginners Advanced Runners men women in their 20s 30s all the way 50s 60s 70s and Beyond and I made it back to my ice bath and it feels so good to improve aerobically the running volume is only part of the process everything is connected over here like we said earlier so find out gradually what the right training volume for you is don't only focus on the low heart rate running and the training volume really look at that quality of the sleep at your nutrition your stress levels really play it on the day-to-day how you want to adjust your training over there I want you to see what training volume is doable for you with your work schedule your life schedule and don't stack your whole schedule so full either make sure that you have a little bit of a buffer that if unexpected things happen in your personal life that you don't feel stressed out about missing a training run over there have that buffer have that flexibility there outside of that look at other areas in your life that you can work on sleep recovery nutrition your mindset all of these things are connected if you're looking for specific training schedule for additional help of a like-minded community of other Athletes Training with low heart rate and if you want some additional coaching check out the PB program this is my running coaching program at pbprogram. com I know there was a lot of information in this video if you would like a summary with the takeaways of this video check out extramiles.