Who is this Joel guy?

It is common to initially experience this with running. It seems impossible to run in zone 2. However, if you stick with it consistently for weeks/months at a time, you'll eventually see significant improvements in your pace in zone 2. I went from 10+ min pace at zone 2 to 8min pace at zone 2 in 1 year.

Also, while Iron Fit/Friel give good guidance to find your zones, they aren't always perfectly tailored to every individual. One way to double check whether you know where zone 2 turns into zone 3 for you is to determine when your breathing begins to become labored while running. Is this at the same HR as you have for your z2/z3 division? If not, try adjusting your z2/z3.

Ah great! Thank you. I will try that tomorrow! I'll also stick with it

I wouldn't be surprised if you could walk fast ans be about the same speed as running zone 2 I'd your doing 10min mile pace. I am no gazelle either, although it took a while to bring the heart rate down. 186bpm seems really high for lactate threshold, but hey- we are all different. Tell me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't your zone 2 be like 160bpm if that's the case?

Anywho... Run at your zone 2 HR and when your HR gets 10 beats above where it should, walk until it comes back down to zone 2. Run again and keep repeating with a walk when it gets out of range. Eventually, you will not be walking anymore. Also, I sing to myself when I run. If I can sign along to the iPod, I know I'm going slow enough! And... Nobody has ever stared or laughed at me for doing it! Lol

Well do the fast shuffle then

I'm not sure if it seems high... I did the run to check it. The 30 min and getting the average bpm in the last 20 min. But yes. you're right. Approx top of zone 2 is 160. I'll try to sing a bit hahaha. Not a major vocalist though lol

Another thing that always trips me up is weather -- my HR is crazy in the heat. You should ensure you note the temperature during any HR tests and adjust accordingly. Unless I am trying to heat adapt -- I run on a treadmill indoors to keep my HR down and train according to zones.

I also second walking breaks. You will still be gaining fitness and you need to keep your volume high.

When I first hooked up my heart monitor I got some very high readings.

I douse the sensor pads and seem to be getting reasonable #'s now. Last couple of treadmill runs 135 bpm at 6 mph. My Tomtom software calls this ENDURE zone so I guess that is Zone #2

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Yeah, I was thinking that as well. There's a very good chance that could be it. It has been pretty hot (over 85, and some days ~90s) so that could definitely be it. I guess I should try to stay inside more often.

You have thrown out a ton of numbers and some don't always correlate well with each other. You should either use the Garmin or Friel not some combination of both.

Did you do a Friel LTHR test? Or did you do something on the Garmin?

If you did a Friel test and your LTHR is 182 then your zone is from 155 to 162. How do you feel when running less than 162?

How old are you? How long have you been training?



I will add that this type of training works. I used the Maffetone Method to calculate zones. Which put my zone two at 142bpm. I have done all but a few of my runs at or below that HR. Don't get hung up on pace. My first few runs were at 13:30 to 14:00 min/mile and on top of that I was only running 1 mile at a time. Slowly I have added time and distance. Now when I am at 142 I'm running close to a 9:15-9:30 min/mile. I just ran a 5k on very little speed work at 6:52min/mile.

With this approach you have to give it a ton of time to work. This isn't HIIT. This is building your aerobic base. It takes time.

You're right, I apologize, I wrote my post in a bit of a tizzy. I use Friel. I do. I just use a Garmin to solely track my current HR/zone.


Did the Friel LTHR test. Thirty minute race-pace, average HR last 20 min, 182.


Honestly, not too bad. I actually took the advice of this thread and tried training indoors not in the sun and I was able to keep my HR under control much easier. Anything under 162 I'm able to basically speak my address without huffing and puffing.


I'm 26 and have been only training zones like this for about a week, however, I've been sprint tri training since January this year.



That's really encouraging. I've been a bit underwhelmed by the staying in zone 2 concept because it doesn't have those immediate results, which is fine, I can be patient and keep trucking along but It's just really good to hear.


I'll keep it up :) Thank you!

Curious as to how this has progressed for you since posting? I've been messing around with the various zones/plans as well and quickly figured out Z2 is not at all the same across various plans. Calculating zones using Friel's method doesn't translate into the zones for the Be Iron Fit plan. BIF basically has no Z3 (it's only a 3% range).

So yes and no. Zones are just a % of your HR. So if you have the % that BIF uses for each zone, and the % that Friel's method uses for zones, and the zones that Garmin uses and % you can just create a spreadsheet tracking and translating them all. Honestly, it worked really really well last year, but it's now the start of my season and I gained 10-15 lbs this winter hahaha so I need to do the stress test again soon.