YES a million and 6 times yes.

I talk about aerobic base building + low zone running a ton on here. NOT because running fast is bad or high heart rate training is bad. But because many people run too intense/hard too often or not hard enough.

This often puts them in the zone 3 threshold zone which for training purposes can often be 1) too hard to get the same low zone benefits but 2) not hard enough to get higher zone benefits.

You won’t die if you run in zone 3. It is often your threshold pace (what we test in ENDURE) & where you may find your self crushing 5-10k’s or tempo runs at.

The goal of zone work is to spend MOST of your time ~80% accumulating volume + miles in easy, recoverable, aerobic developing intensities. Then the other 10-20% in zone 4-5, Maybe a little zone 3.

For HR these are based off your HR max. 220-age is roughly the best guess but testing this is far more accurate.

“But keeping my heart rate down/running slow is too hard!!” This … is the point. And likely an indicator you need more of this work. Which can take a long time to develop. We need to slow down, be patient & maybe implement walk:run for a little.

Wrist based HR monitoring isn’t perfect. A chest strap will be more accurate. Using this along RPE + talk test within your program can be helpful!

We can also use zones for general health & a way to make sure we’re meeting the exercise guidelines. For general health train in a mix of intensities & don’t stress too much over perfect zones.

If you want a program that does this for you + teaches you how + helps you start running in a realistic, approachable, science based way checkout ENDURE which has helped 1000’s of women just like you run slower, faster + cross many finish lines between🙌🏻. Link in bio!