What zone do you run in?

Just a quick question what zones do people run in as I seem to spend 31 minutes out of 33 in zone 4 and wondered if this was normal?

[nowster Graduate10]

On a longer run (eg. 10km), I'm usually bumbling along in the lower half of Zone 4 (156-175), according to the watch.

Here's the HR graph for the run I did on Wednesday evening, including warm up and cool down walks.

Graph of heart rate over time.

[Grannyhugs Graduate10]

How do you feel during and after your run? HR zones can be personalised so this is more a case of you knowing what suits you, weather, terrain, hydration etc will all affect your HR in any given run. I have max HE set at 190 which is really high for my age but I run at a high HR with this setting I have a split between zones 3and 4 with moments in 5 for average speed 7:15/km. If I left HE zones at preset levels I’d be in zone 5 most of the time. This is me though, not you, work out what you are comfortable running at, adjust your max HR if necessary but be confident to run at whatever is comfortable for you.

[Woollyweaver Graduate10]

I used to have a pretty even spread between zones 2, 3 and 4, with the occasional spike into zone 5, but recently I have been trying hard to slow down (I'm injury prone 😖) and so for the last few runs I have made a conscious effort to stay in zone 3 or below for the whole run. It seems to be working and my legs are thanking me for it ☺️.I guess everyone's normal is different, and the zone that you run in will also partly reflect the effort that you are putting in. Are you comfortable running in zone 4?

[swissfish Graduate10]

I just checked my most recent 6k (40 minute) run on Strava. It showed my average heart rate was 159, with a maximum of 182. I had

Zone 1 = 2.5%

Zone 2 = 27.3%

Zone 3 = 52.3%

Zone 4 = 17.9%

The time in Zone 4 was all towards the end of my run - particularly that final 400m which is uphill!

To be honest I have no idea if that's good or bad - I've never paid much attention to my heart rate, but as I gain more experience perhaps I should pay more attention to it.

[Catwise Graduate10 60minGraduate]

The majority of my runs are in zones 4 and 5. Until last week I hadn’t run in over a month, so the numbers may be skewed, but my most recent run was:Zone 1 0%

Zone 2 1%

Zone 3 3%

Zone 4 54%

Zone 5 40%

I know this looks BAD but I felt really good! I’d spent 5 weeks in Cusco at high altitude so my heart rate was high all the time there, and I wasn’t able to run at all. Once I got back to sea level I felt great!

I did a run yesterday where I walked several times to get my heart rate down a bit, trying for below 150, (my max HR is 170), and even with the walking, this is what I got:

Zone 1 0%

Zone 2 0%

Zone 3 23%

Zone 4 59%

Zone 5 15%

Before I went out of town I was trying to do heart rate training, keeping my HR in zone 3, but after a couple months I didn’t feel like I was improving at all, not my pace or my ability to increase my running time while sticking with zone 3, I had to stop and walk as much after 2 months as I did in the beginning, just to keep my HR down.

[DylanTheRabbit Graduate10]

According to strava, mainly zone two. I haven't accurately tested my max heart rate, but at some point in an aerobics class my heart rate went above what my predicted heart rate for my age would be. So I added a bit too that as a best guess for my max heart rate (I lower the number by one every year).

It seems about right, if I stay at a conversational pace, it reads zone 2 moderate. If at some point in my aerobics class I feel like I might die, it reads zone 4 threshold.

[Cmoi Graduate10]

No idea. I go by effort and haven't bothered adjusting my Garmin settings. 220 minus age formula gives me a max heart rate of 160, which is clearly rubbish as in real life it's hit 187 when I'm running hard. Sorry, not very helpful!

[Hidden]

I’m more times than not in zone 5, I feel really good after runs room for improvement, breathing good, I think my zones need to change on my Garmin.