Runners often talk a lot about Zone 2 training, but Zone 1 cardio is also a valuable piece of increasing your endurance and aerobic capacity. Let’s look more at how it works and where to incorporate it.
Using heart rate to guide training has become an increasingly popular and common way to monitor and guide your training effort. Over the last 12+ years as a coach, it’s a tool that I’ve helped many runners learn how to use because it allows them to break out of ego and worry about pace!
It’s also become easier thanks to nearly every smart watch, GPS watch and fitness tracker having heart rate built in to the wrist. I’ve often talked about how this may not be terribly accurate, but that’s seems to apply only as we start to move out of Zone 1.
You’ve probably heard that you should mainly workout in Zone 2. Often called the fast burning zone or the primary focus when we talk about applying the 80/20 rule of endurance training.
But what about the other zones? Specifically, what about Zone 1? How do you stay in Zone 1? What are the benefits to Zone 1? How does it fit into the bigger picture?
Stick with me and keep reading to learn all about Zone 1 because it’s absolutely an important piece of your training.
What is Zone 1 Heart Rate?
Zone 1 should be 50 to 60% of…
