It’s the end of a very busy semester, teaching-wise, so I’ve been delayed in getting my posts up on a timely basis. I’m hoping that once the semester is over, I can get back to posting once a week. It will also be nice to have COVID winding down and behind us!
In terms of running, recall that my month two post was down in tone and expressed a lot of frustration and my month three post saw a glimpse of some gains, but not big ones. Overall, I was running a lot - most times 45 miles a week - but not seeing any real performance improvements that were worth mentioning.
When you’re busy, and you have to become super-disciplined to work in that many miles around the rest of your life, not seeing gains in the data - even small gains - can be a real motivation killer. It’s the time in the training plan when you have to just look down, take a breath, and plow forward. You have to combine having faith that the plan will work with acceptance that “it’s all good” even if it does not.
Well, I’m here to say that in month four, the sun finally broke through those clouds - once I hit week 13, I started to see some real progress. Not just noticeable, but clearly obvious - truly big substantial gains. It was really a great feeling to see the paces suddenly drop while in Zone 2, and to start to literally feel more efficient as a runner.
So, I’m here to tell you: this method works. But you have to be willing to stick it out. It’s a long haul. I’ve put in 16 weeks and around 700 miles so far on this plan, and that’s a lot of miles. So be patient. I would guess the miles are more important than the time, so if you are doing less that 40 - 45 a week, readjust your expectations about weeks. Instead of 16 it could be 20 weeks for you, or 24. But gains will come, and it’s worth it.
Zone 2 Overview
Most people do not understand what the Zone 2 method is, or why it would work. So, when I make posts about it, I always get a good number of people who are just baffled by the point of running slower on purpose. Who does that? Let me take a minute and try to explain it again, though I have a longer post on it elsewhere. If you’re already sold on the method, just jump down to the next part of this post.
There are lots of biological explanations about why Zone 2 training matters, pointing to the significant benefits of developing networks of capillaries and improved mitochondrial density. That’s not my area. Instead, I draw an analogy with driving. Take the tachometer in your car, which gauges revolutions per minute (RPM), or how many times the pistons in your engine go up and down each minute at a given MPH, measuring the “work” the engine is doing at that MPH. Note also there’s a red zone (it starts at 6,000 RPM below). Once at that RPM you risk overheating, damaging, and blowing your engine. You’re working the engine way too hard.
Now consider the fact that in a Honda Civic, you’d hit redline RPMs at around 100 MPH, possibly damaging the engine if you maintain that speed. But in a Porsche, driving at 100 MPH is probably a smooth 3,000 RPM ride. The Porsche engine isn’t working that hard at that speed. The difference between them is obvious - a Porsche has a high-performance engine, a Honda Civic does not. One also costs $80,000 more.
Zone 2 training turns your current Honda Civic Aerobic Engine in a Porsche engine. Your Honda aerobic engine is in Zone 4, where your average heart bpm (RPMs here) might be 170, when running at a 9:00 average pace (here, MPH). A Porsche Aerobic Engine that can run that fast in Zone 2, where bpm might be just 135. The only way to turn the Honda in the Porsche is to develop those physical aerobic changes that only happen while running in Zone 2. So, by running slowly you build an aerobic system (engine) that can handle higher paces at a lower heart rate.
Lots of reasons for why this matters, but for one it puts me in a good position to run a very fast half-marathon. My goal is a 1:36 half-marathon in Nov 2021 - a 7:20 pace. I could run a plan that gradually builds the stamina to run at that pace for the whole 13 miles. This means getting used to the pain a sustained Zone 5 effort would require - like driving a Honda in redline RPMs at 100 MPH. Or, I could work to develop a Porsche engine that easily runs a half-marathon in Zone 2 at 8:30 - 9:00 pace. If possible, dialing up to a 7:20 race pace would be hard, but very doable - a sustained Zone 3/4/5 effort that doesn’t put me at serious risk of damage or injury.
The problem, as I noted, is that this “engine rebuild” effort takes a long time. So you need to have a lot of patience to do it. But, as I point to below, patience pays off.
The Data For Month Four
I’ve posted below the raw table data and chart data that goes along with it. Remember, starting Week 9, I switched from 80/20 training to all MAF training, meaning all runs were now in Zone 2. I did this because of an injury scare in week 9, and I had no good reason to really run 80/20 so far out from the race date. So, I switched to all MAF (all 10k’s and a half-marathon long run) in Zone 2. I’ll switch back to 80/20 4 months from the race, which will be Week 24 (8 weeks out from now).
There are a few things worth noticing.
13.1 Mile Long Run is now down to the low 10s, consistently.
If you notice, from week 1 to 13, the long run (usually a half-marathon) didn’t change much, and floated around 10:30 - 10:45 pace. This 13.1 mile long run in Z2 is not easy to pull off, because in the last 5 miles cardiac drift starts to really affect heart rate and it is hard to control it without wildly high pace times. In month three, I had successful half-marathons in Z2 up to 10 minutes (around 10 min pace), only to watch pace time collapse as my heart rate shot up and I had to run 12 min pace to stay in Z2.
In week 13 to 16, things started to change noticeably. I ran week 13 and 14 the whole way without suffering from the cardiac drift problem, and was suddenly able to run the whole 13.1 at a fairly consistent 10:20 - 10:30 pace. Finally, in week 15 and 16, my pace quickened - and I was suddenly within striking distance of a sub-10 half-marathon in Zone 2. That was quite an accomplishment.
Zone 2 10K Runs are now Sub-10
In Week 13, I finally saw the breakthrough - a Z2 sub-10 pace 10k run for the first time ever. By Week 14, these sub-10 mile runs were coming more often than not, and then suddenly constantly. I had my first sub-1hr 10k, and it was clear at that point that I had hit a milestone. You can see the progress below in the chart, where you can see a noticeable drop in the “range” of pace times while in Zone 2. My range very clearly goes from 10 - 11min pace averages (runs 6 - 32) to 9:30 - 10:15 averages (runs 33 - 58). That’s a sizable jump in pace at low heart rate.
Cross Training Really Helps
I am still maintaining the twice-a-week cross training schedule using weights for arms, chest, core, and legs. The last two are the only ones that matter for running, and I can’t say enough how important it is to develop solid leg muscles to power these runs, and also a solid core midsection, without which you simply cannot sustain proper form for more than six or so miles. I don’t have great form, but it’s not because of my core, thankfully. I just have some bad form-related habits to work on.
All in all, this is all great news, and it’s very encouraging looking forward. Speaking of which, what am I going to have to see for this plan to work?
Looking Forward to November and then (maybe) NYC
Remember that my plan is to time qualify for the 2022 NYC Marathon, which requires 1:35 finish for a half-marathon. This is a really fast half-marathon time, even time adjusted for me when I’ll be 54 at the time of the race. I don’t know if I’ll make it. That said, I’ve done some calculations and here’s my best guess at this point where I’ll need to be when the race comes around to be able to meet that goal:
Z2 Half-Marathon
By my calculations, I need to be able to get to a Z2 Half pace average of 8:40 - 9:20. I assume that running at race speed is a Z3/Z4/Z5 effort, so a 7:20 pace goal means a Z2 time that is about 1:30 to 2 minutes slower, so 8:50 to 9:20. I’m currently 20 or so seconds from the outside of that band of pace times.
Z2 10K Runs
I suspect that this would require a Z2 time about 30 seconds pace average from the race time, so here this means running 10Ks in Z2 at about 8:20. I’m currently at about 9:40, so I’m about 1:20 out from that.
So the question is: will 6 months be enough time to bring the Z2 times for each of these to those paces? I think so, but it’s hard to say - how many more plateaus will there be going forward? I’m sure there will be some.
As I noted, starting in about two months, I’ll ramp back up the 80/20 method, which means changing one Z2 run to a 5 mile Z3 tempo run, and another Z2 run into a Z4 interval session. What effect (if any) that will have on my Z2 progress is unknown, since Z3 and Z4 training taps into completely different things. So it could be that this merely preps you for running those faster race times, and that’s it. We’ll see.
Some Observational Odds and Ends
Changing shoe brands can be painful. For the first time in a long time, I decided to switch out from my usual Mizuno shoes into a new brand. I chose Brooks. I love my new Brooks Glycerine 19 shoes. But changing brands can be uncomfortable, particularly if there’s a change in toe drop.
Temperatures absolutely have an effect on heart rate training. This is obvious, but you come face to face with it when you are in a session. If it’s 80F and humid, suddenly your heart is doing other work other than the running work you are focused on. This means trying to run in the early morning, instead of later in the day - or trying to figure out how to control in your data for temperature.
You’re an N=1 experiment. The more I keep data, the more I realize that although these posts might be useful for someone else, probably the best use they have for others is motivational. My body, and the history of my body, is mine. Your body and your history is different. So you can’t generalize based on the results I am seeing. Who knows how it will work for you! But the motivational message does generalize - Zone 2 training does work.
No matter what is going on with your plan, just keep smiling. Plow forward. You’ll get there.
Up next: Month Five. Hopefully it contains more gains, and less plateaus. We’ll see.
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