The Problem with Zone Two is...
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at 1:15PM Everybody else.
Zone Two is the pace where you build "all-day" aerobic fitness. To do this, you need to go really slowly. This is fine, except everybody else around you is going faster. The comparing mind gets upset and develops a nasty case of "keeping up with the Jones's", and you start going faster.
You see this all the time. Just think of your last bike workout when a guy passed you and you pushed it just a little to try to catch him. Or when you run just a little faster to match your last run's pace. Yes, yourself at a different time, past or future, still counts as somebody else.
This is why most age groupers plateau in performance and never get as fast as a pro. They go too hard and this wears them out so they can't build the fitness they need. Solid training means a lot of going easy with tiny doses of going harder, like medicine. If you don't go hard too often, you can keep training day after day instead of having to stop because you're burned up.
Reader Comments (2)
Thanks to this week's podcast (February 19, 2013), which is about this same topic...I ran what might be my very 1st 40 minute treadmill run completely in zone 2 and it was awesome!....yet somehow hard! I felt so weird to NOT do any speed work or incline work at the end. But the great part - I felt like I could go forever! Which I guess is the point. Thanks so much for your podcasts. They are so helpful. I'm doing my 1st triathlon in 6 years (after taking a bit longer than expected to get back into the swing after having my daughter). It feels great to be back in the swing of things and your info is so helpful.
Glad you liked it! Keep us posted with how it's going. Turn off the speed and distance stuff and go by feel. You're doing great!