Zone 2 running: pace, heart rate, and why it feels too slow

Zone 2 running is the only workout where the main instruction is "slower". Most people try it once, get overtaken by a man in jeans walking his dog, and go back to running every run at the same medium-hard pace.

That medium-hard pace is the problem. So what is zone 2 running? Easy running at 60–70% of your max heart rate, slow enough to talk the whole way. It feels too slow because, compared with how you usually run, it is. This post covers how to find your zone 2 running pace, when walking is the right call, and why your heart rate climbs halfway through even when you don't speed up. If you'd rather have someone else hold you to it, that's what a running app built for hybrid athletes is for.

What is zone 2 running?

Running in zone 2 means keeping your heart rate at roughly 60–70% of your max, around 3–4 out of 10 on effort. You should be able to speak in full sentences. To get your numbers, plug your age or max heart rate into a free HR zone calculator, or do the math yourself.

Zone 2 is the second of five zones; if you want the whole map first, here's a guide to heart rate zones. This post is only about running in it. The broader case for zone 2, including for people who mostly lift and do their cardio on a bike, is in why zone 2 matters for lifters.

Quick reference, using the same zone model as the rest of this blog:

Why zone 2 running feels too slow

Because you've been running in zone 3.

Most recreational runners have one pace: whatever feels like "a decent run". For most people that's steady, moderately hard, and above zone 2. When you put a heart rate cap on it, your pace drops, sometimes a lot. That isn't a sign you're unfit. It's a sign your easy runs weren't easy.

Hills, wind, heat and trail all push heart rate up further. The cap doesn't care about any of that, and neither should your ego.

The good news: well-trained endurance athletes do most of their training at this kind of low intensity (Seiler, 2010). You're not doing beginner runs. You're doing what the fast people do on most days.

Zone 2 running pace: there isn't one number

There's no universal zone 2 running pace, because pace depends on your fitness, the terrain, the weather and how tired you are. Your zone 2 pace on a cool flat morning and on a humid hilly evening can be very different. Heart rate and effort are the targets. Pace is the result.

How to find yours:

1. ›Pick a flat route and warm up for 10 minutes very easily.
2. ›Run 20–30 minutes keeping heart rate in your zone 2 band, and check you can talk in full sentences.
3. ›Note the average pace. That's your zone 2 pace today, in these conditions.
4. ›Repeat every few weeks on the same route in similar weather.

What you're hoping to see over months is your pace at the same heart rate getting faster. That's the aerobic base improving, and it's the real reason to do this.

Cross-check with effort

Heart rate isn't the only signal. The talk test, where you try to speak a few sentences out loud, tracks the first ventilatory threshold well and can be used on its own to set training intensity (Woltmann et al., 2015). If you can talk comfortably, you're in the right place. Pairing heart rate with effort ratings is also how you avoid being bullied by a bad sensor reading; autoregulating with RPE works for runs as well as lifts.

If your watch says zone 2 but you can't finish a sentence, trust your lungs and slow down.

Walking is allowed

If you're newer to running, there's a real chance that keeping your heart rate in zone 2 means walking some of the time. That's fine. It's the correct answer, not a failure.

Ways to use walking well:

• ›Walk the hills. Uphills spike heart rate fast. Walking them keeps the whole run in zone 2 and costs you almost nothing.
• ›Run-walk intervals. Something like 4 minutes running, 1 minute walking, repeated, is a common way to build up.
• ›Walk to reset. If your heart rate creeps above the band, walk for a minute until it settles, then run again.

Over a few months, most people find they need fewer walk breaks at the same heart rate. That's the base building.

Cardiac drift: why your heart rate climbs when you don't speed up

You start a 60-minute easy run at a comfortable 140. Forty minutes later you're at 150 and you haven't changed pace. You didn't get less fit mid-run. That's cardiac (or cardiovascular) drift.

During prolonged exercise, the amount of blood your heart pumps per beat gradually falls, and heart rate rises to compensate (Coyle and González-Alonso, 2001). Heat and dehydration make it worse. In one lab study at 21 °C, cyclists who were dehydrated by 2.8% of body weight had heart rates about 18 beats per minute higher than when they were properly hydrated, at the same workload (Heaps, González-Alonso and Coyle, 1994).

What to do about drift on zone 2 runs:

• ›Expect it. On long or warm runs, some upward drift is normal.
• ›Slow down to stay in the band if the goal is truly easy running. Your pace in the last third of a long run will often be slower than the first third, at the same heart rate.
• ›Don't panic on hot days. A higher number for the same pace in summer is physiology, not lost fitness.
• ›Start hydrated. General practice; for specific fluid needs, especially in heat, talk to a qualified professional.

Drift is also why race-day heart rate targets get complicated: any marathon heart rate explained as a single fixed number ignores the fact that heart rate creeps up over the race.

Where zone 2 running fits in a week

Zone 2 is the base, not the whole plan. Most of your running should be easy, with one or two harder sessions on top. Those harder sessions are where you work around your threshold; lactate threshold explained covers what that number is and how to raise it. If structured intervals feel like too much, unstructured speed play is a softer way in, and there's more on fartlek, tempo and intervals in our run-workouts guide.

A simple week for someone running four times and lifting twice:

Keep the rest of the week truly easy and the hard day can be truly hard. Save zone 5 heart rate for intervals and hills, not Monday's easy run.

Common zone 2 running mistakes

• ›Trusting the default zones. Your watch probably set them with an age formula. A running hr zone based on age is a population average, so cross-check with the talk test.
• ›Watching pace instead of effort. Stop checking whether today's pace is "respectable". Nobody is grading it.
• ›Running with faster friends. Lovely social run. Not zone 2.
• ›Making every run zone 2. You still need some faster work to get faster.
• ›Quitting after two weeks. The base takes months. The slow pace is the price of entry.

How exrsz handles zone 2 running

exrsz builds a periodized plan from your goal, schedule, level and equipment, with easy runs as the base and harder runs placed where they won't collide with your lifting. It adapts each week to how you actually trained and reshuffles missed sessions, so a skipped Tuesday doesn't turn into a panicked hard Wednesday.

FAQ

What is zone 2 running?

Zone 2 running is easy running at about 60–70% of your max heart rate, slow enough that you can talk in full sentences. It builds your aerobic base with low recovery cost.

What is a good zone 2 running pace?

There isn't a universal one. Your zone 2 running pace depends on fitness, terrain and weather; run by heart rate and effort, and let pace be whatever it is today.

Is it OK to walk during zone 2 running?

Yes. Walking hills or taking short walk breaks to keep your heart rate in zone 2 is normal, especially for newer runners, and the walk breaks shrink as fitness improves.

Why does my heart rate go up during a zone 2 run at the same pace?

That's cardiac drift: as a run goes on, the heart pumps a little less blood per beat and heart rate rises to compensate. Heat and dehydration make it bigger, so slow down to stay in the band.

How often should I do zone 2 runs?

For most runners, the majority of weekly runs should be easy, with one or two harder sessions. Zone 2 is the default, not the exception.