There is so much technical advice. I've come full circle and returned to running on Perceived Effort.

I'm also a firm believer that if your not training 4 or more times a week and putting a larger volume of k's in per week doing predominantly zone 2 training has no where near as much impact on your fitness as zone 3 does.

When I was in uni studying kinesiology I remember profs speaking with us about the benefits of building some lactate to improve the body's ability to shuttle and remove it, as well as the mental side of things. Weird to see things changing again and again.

Zone 3 is not inherently bad. It just cost more recovery relative to zone 2.

Can confirm. After a lab test (HR and lactate) my "true" zone 2 upper limit was 10 BPM higher than Garmin's estimate. That's also where I started to care about lactate equilibrium, which massively helped me to run marathons more consistently. All my recent PBs had negative splits.

I have come to the same conclusion. I used to train mostly in what is called zone 3 (with some 4). The Garmin zone I don't really look at, BTW. Then I started getting to do Zone 2, but honestly I don't see that improving my times, it only serves to give you mental endurance for longer runs. I have switched back to mostly zone 3, as I used to.

I am so unfit currently that a massive part of even my "easy" training is in zone 3...great news! ;)

When I was a kid, eggs were bad. Then they were good, then bad, and now good again. Same with butter: good, bad, good.

Never go with the fad, just enjoy the process and listen to your body on the day.

45 years old here. After smoking for 20 years, I quit 6 years ago, and 3.5 years ago I started running, 5k and 10k. Instead of running randomly, I decided to set up a training plan, mostly Zone 2 with a few intervals, just like you mentioned in the video, two big problems came up: first, I don’t have enough time to run long enough for Zone 2 to be effective; second, I quickly got injured for 3–4 months. I recovered and kept going, but even though my endurance improved, I didn’t make much progress. During all this time I tried to avoid Zone 3, even though that’s where I enjoyed running the most. Earlier this year I decided to run in Zone 3 just for fun and ignored the rest (this is not an advice). Since then, my weekly km has increased, my enjoyment has grown, my endurance has improved a lot, and my times have gotten faster. Five months ago I ran a half marathon, and I’m almost sure I’ll set a new PB in my next 10k. There’s no single recipe for everyone—running should be enjoyable for beginners like me. If it’s fun and not injurious, it becomes sustainable.

User note: Garmin gets a lot more useful if you find out your zones properly and then change them to match on the watch! Otherwise, it's just a glorified stopwatch.

Where was this video 4 years ago!!! I was so confused about the heart rate people were telling me I should be running at, and my actual heart rate. Took me long time to figure out that zones are VERY individual, and establish my actual ranges - things made so much more sense then.

Wow...Didn't see this one coming... Changes things quite a bit. Thanks for sharing!

So agree! Marathon specificity is in zone 3. Marius Bakkens threshold sessions start at 2.3 mmol of blood lactet - zone 3!

Great video Ben 👍

Love your videos ❤!
Personal experience: Too much baggage takes the joy out of running, at least for me. That includes getting overly fixated on training plans, zones, every detail.

What I focus on: overall volume and, even more so, relative effort over the longer term (2/3 weeks on, one deload week, rinse, repeat till taper time). Each week, I do one “too old for this s***” session (or "speed"), one workhorse session, one long run, and fill the rest with variations of easy running, adding strides if I’m feeling good, cycling, Yoga, strength stuff.  

Above all, I pay attention to how I feel on the day (push harder when I feel strong, or back off when my body or mind says no). Zones are only guides, too. They shift over time, and most of us can’t afford regular lab tests or lactate meters.

Surprising your body by switching things/sessions/zone work up now and then can be a pretty good training stimulus, too. And I have no idea what “junk miles” are even supposed to be.

I switched to zone 2 base to attempt "proper" training for a 20mile race. It made me slower.  If you are busy and fitting in work, family and other sports just  train for you want to do. Not faff around running slowly for probably not enough miles!

Agreed 💯 I’ve made an LT1 bridge day my second workout in the week. All for the reasons you mentioned. It’s helped a lot.

You can set your zones on your Garmin.

Really well thought out and presented video.  My tested zones are pretty much bang on with yours and use the Joe Friel model as well.  Game changer.  Undertrained and got frustrated my first year of running because of my high max hr and LTR.  Changed everything when I got them sorted and stopped trying to keep my HR around 140 on easy runs.  It was a learning curve for sure.  I fully agree that Zone 3 is underutilized in general and it's one of the reasons I've liked the Hanson's Method so much this block.  The Thursday tempo(MP) run and prescribed long run pace  give you a good amount of work in zone 3.  It's enough to get the motor moving and comfortable at the middle zones and feel like you're challenging yourself on the run without having to take a day or two to recover.  Through this block my Zone 3 paces from have moved from top end of zone 3/low zone 4 at times(MP) to low zone 3/high zone 2.  Zone 2 is important as is touching all the zones but too much of it leaves me board and uninterested but it was great at helping me build up to a 60mi/week base though.

Just finished a 5km run in Zone 3.