Zone 1 Running

by Ryan Camire
(Newport, NH)

Zone 1 running - as compared to the other zones.

"Hi Marius, I know that you have answered similar questions to mine, but I could not find anything specificly to satisfy me. I hope I am not being redundant.

I am following your 3:30 plan and as such most of your pace values are very accurate to mine. For instance, Effort 3+4 pace values are pretty close to what mine are when I am running at that effort level - and in fact my pace is a little faster than your plan calls for. However, when in effort 1 my pace NEVER matches up to your values as stated. The 3:30 plan calls for a pace of 9:01 for effort 1. At the high end of my effort one heart rate level, my pace is usually 10:20 - a full 1:20 off your stated pace. So my questions is: WHY? If my effort 3 and 4 are good, and in fact a little faster, what does this say about my fitness / running economy if my effort 1 runs are so far off?

Thank you for your time!

Ryan"

Answer Hi Ryan, like I've said in the previous threads on this, you don't want to compare pace and heart rate too much, especially across zones.

For elite runners you can do this and it will usually match up real well across, but if you have less miles in your legs you WILL have some zones that you are stronger in than others. It has do to with running economy, elasticity and metabolic adaptions.

My clear suggestion is not to worry about it and stick to either pace or heart-rate (or Effort) Remember it is the relative difference that is the most important here and the sessions are built in a way to take care of that.

I wish you all the best with your training,

regards,
Marius

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