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You’re Doing Zone 2 Wrong (Even If You Think You’re Not) | Scott Johnston Round 2

Floris Gierman

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Thanks to Bear Mattress for sponsoring this video. Visit https://www.bearmattress.com/floris and use CODE: Floris to get 40% off your Bear mattress! Coach Scott Johnston is back. We dive deeper into Zone 2 training, common mistakes runners make, VO₂ max myths, recovery, and how to balance intensity and volume for long-term progress without burning out. 🔥 Transform your running in 90 days with expert coaching. Join the Personal Best Program today: https://www.skool.com/personalbest

Congrats to @etapepartners for winning a $150 Path Projects gift card!

Chapters:
0:00 – The truth about zone 2 training
1:00 – Training for the Uphill Athlete
1:20 – BEAR mattress sponsorship
2:40 – What people get wrong about low heart rate training
10:10 – MAF training explained (180 – age)
14:11 – What people get wrong about high-intensity training
23:18 – Introducing our new Personal Best Running Club
24:07 – Recovery times by training zone
28:27 – How Jakob Ingebrigtsen runs double threshold sessions
34:50 – Balancing volume, intensity, and priorities
37:14 – Overtraining signs and recovery debt
47:45 – Motivation, body signals, and when to stop
51:40 – How to do run-walk training in zone 2
55:40 – How to measure progress in run-walk training
57:12 – Sample run-walk training week
59:22 – Guidelines for beginners starting easy training
1:02:04 – How to do cross-training during injury
1:05:12 – Lever treadmill tool (injury recovery)
1:07:23 – Returning after injury or time off
1:13:20 – Training in heat and adjusting effort
1:18:58 – Does aerobic threshold improve over time?
1:20:58 – Breathing vs heart rate for intensity
1:24:00 – Training at altitude (heart rate adjustments)
1:25:35 – Where to find Scott, his books, & programs
1:27:03 – Final advice for recreational runners to improve without burnout

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FIND SCOTT:
► Website: https://evokeendurance.com/
► Instagram: Instagram: coach_scott_johnston
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► Reddit: Reddit: evokeendurance
► Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
► Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5hEgBO6...

LINKS & TOOLS MENTIONED
► Buy my new book Running Breakthroughs: https://geni.us/running-breakthroughs
► Path Projects: https://pathprojects.com/flo
► Personal Best Running Club: https://www.skool.com/personalbest
► Training for the New Alpinism: https://a.co/d/056KjXT1
► Training for the Uphill Athlete: https://a.co/d/00NXdpdR
► Extramilest Episode with Dr. Phil Maffetone: Dr. Phil Maffetone Interview by Floris Gie...
► Extramilest Episode with Kilian Jornet: Kilian Jornet's Running Advice, Recovery, ...
► Extramilest Episode with Courtney Dauwalter: Courtney Dauwalter's Advice to Improve You...
► Extramilest Episode with Taylor Knibb: Taylor Knibb’s Advice To Improve Your Runn...
► Extramilest Episode with Dr. Stephen Seiler: 80/20 Training to Race Faster, with Dr. St...
► Run, run, run, by Fred Wilt: https://www.amazon.com/Run-run-Fred-W...

YOU CAN FIND ME, FLORIS GIERMAN HERE:
► Buy my new book Running Breakthroughs: https://geni.us/running-breakthroughs
► My Personal Best Running Coaching Program: https://www.skool.com/personalbest
► Podcast: https://extramilest.com/podcast/
► Strava: Strava: strava
► Instagram: Instagram: florisgierman
► Extramilest Website: https://extramilest.com
► Path Projects Website: https://pathprojects.com

ABOUT THE EXTRAMILEST SHOW: A podcast and YouTube channel where host Floris Gierman interviews world class athletes, coaches and health experts on the topic of how to become a stronger, healthier and happier athlete.

🔥 Transform your running with expert coaching. Start your 7-day free trial. https://www.skool.com/personalbest

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20 Comments

@FlorisGierman Creator 6 months ago (edited) Pinned

🔥 Transform your running in 90 days with expert coaching. Join the Personal Best Program today: https://www.skool.com/personalbest

@johannessteen1950 6 hours ago (edited)

3rd time listening to Scott. And 1 month into consistantly low aerobic training. At least two months on this plan. Feels like the right move. Still early in the process, but this has been so far such an eye opener. Thank you Floris and Scott!

@etapepartners 5 months ago

I was self coached until 4 years ago when I started working with Scott and his team . On my own, I took great pride in my high intensity workouts…which were mostly what I did…and my races were at 90% of my max hr…but these were multi hour races .the first thing Scott had me do was a Z1 running test…and guess what? I could not actually jog in z1. My ADS was so bad I was anearobic all the time. It took 18 months of z1 volume to fix the problem…and since then my results have been amazing

@johannessteen1950 3 weeks ago

Is Scott Johnston the world's most interesting man? I think so.

@spudius1337 3 months ago

I just started running with 0 background and definitely deficient aerobic capacity and I find gems like these interviews. Currently doing the one minute run walk combos and working on a couch to 10k program. This definitely gave me the trust that I am doing the right things.

@namastedawg 6 months ago

He's the best guest. Can't wait for round 3.

@byronlane6641 3 days ago

From 36:40 and how to come back from over training.

Arthur Lydiard had a great line in the 1960s about what he would tell his runners if they were overtrained. He told them to go out and run for three hours as slow as they possibly could every day until they felt better. And it worked! It is the intensity more than the volume.

@stuff2edit 6 months ago

As someone who grew up swimming year-round, that’s 100% true. All we did is hammer it in the pool. when I made the transition running later in life definitely got injured because of this mindset.

@Paeoniarosa 6 months ago

I'm a hiker rather than runner and have been listening to a lot of interviews with Mr. Johnston. Floris, you ask the best questions and don't waste time. Appreciate it.

@Globiworld2000 8 days ago

Such a great comment- “you cannot coach motivation” all those Goggins instagram gurus telling you about how much you can achieve but just you need to find motivation,build habits and guy why trained 1000’s athletes over 30 years that you cannot teach that. I had the same idea- almost every interview from high achieving athlete telling that he is obsessed and since age of 4 been doing things 10x more because somehow he love it- yet nobody show you somebody who achieve greatness and was struggling with motivation and learn it to be obsessed - you cannot learn it - it has to be fire in you given by Almighty.

@DanielEhn-o7s 1 month ago

Hello! I’m 52, l have done very much zon 2, now l can run at heart rate 112-117 and pace under 6 minutes 1k.

@OscarStrand-in6hg 6 months ago

I love these 2 interviews with scott! Would like to hear more about his ideas with regards to muscle endurance though! He says he would like to talk more about that but doesnt get any follow up questions, maybe that could be a solid topic for a third interview? 😊

@jesseshaver2262 6 months ago

I’d like to hear a discussion with him about balancing strength training (not to just support endurance training, but wanting to get strong and big), as well as endurance training. As in, chasing both a “good” 10k, mile, marathon, etc; as well as a big squat and dead lift

@efrainquintero2827 4 months ago

The best lesson I have ever taken. I had been doing zone 2 since november 2025 and in january began to feel more tired. So I began to suspect that those videos about zone 2 on internet were wrong, but since I'm not an expert, I couldnt find the real cause of the fatigue. The problem is not the zone 2 but the approach. This video saved me from being fucked and months of resting. I could say that this information can be useful for those who are burned out because of their job. It can also take up to a year or more to recover from work-related burnout. Greetings from Mexico.

@AndreaAcostas755 6 months ago (edited)

I am definitely in the overtraining stage I literally have all the symptoms that coach Johnston mentioned. Thank you Floris for asking the question about walking/running method.

@jvyeknom 5 months ago

I was over training a few years ago and ended up with Planter Fasciitis.
I didn't think i would run again.
I ended up just taking the whole winter off and into the spring. I would just weight train and walk.
That was the cure, I eventually got better and now I'm back to running again.

@25djdoop 5 months ago

Sad to learn I'll never be as fast as Kipchoge (sarcasm font). Great talk!

@DanSantana10 6 months ago

This was the video I didnt know I needed. Resting when sick/injured or simply overtrained, has always been my weakness and I've always tried to push through. I'll start taking it more seriously now. Thank you.

@wesfin 5 months ago (edited)

52:44 how to run slow at zone 2 heart rate at beginning of training
Incline hiking, cycling, swimming
1:15:48 why hr goes up when it’s hotter
1:19:05 both zone 2 aerobic threshold rises near anaerobic threshold and pace rise at the start of training
—1:20:50 for the first year of consistent training zone 2 aerobic threshold hr will increase then stabilize near anaerobic threshold