Statistics & heart-rate zones
Zone 2 training: what it is and how to find your Zone 2 heart rate
Zone 2 is the easy end of endurance training: slow enough to talk in full sentences, steady enough to build the aerobic base that every faster session sits on. It is also the zone most people get wrong, usually by running it too fast. Here is what Zone 2 is, three ways to find your own Zone 2 heart rate, how much of your week belongs there and how to check you really stayed in it.
Short answer
Zone 2 is easy aerobic effort, roughly 60–70 % of your maximum heart rate, 60–70 % of your heart rate reserve added to your resting heart rate, or about 85–89 % of your lactate threshold heart rate. You should be able to breathe through your nose and talk in full sentences. Many endurance coaches put around 80 % of weekly training time at this easy intensity.
What Zone 2 is, and why it works
In a five-zone model, Zone 2 is the second-easiest zone: above a recovery jog, below the “comfortably hard” effort of tempo runs. Training there for long periods builds the things endurance rests on: more capillaries and mitochondria in the muscles, a stronger heart and a better ability to use fat as fuel. Because it costs little recovery, you can do a lot of it, and volume at low intensity is what most endurance athletes build their season on.
Zone 2 is not magic, and it is not the only zone that matters. Faster sessions are still needed for speed and VO2max. The point is the balance: most training easy, a little hard, very little in between.
Three ways to find your Zone 2 heart rate
| Method | Zone 2 | Example |
|---|---|---|
| % of maximum heart rate | 60–70 % of max | Max 186: 112–130 bpm |
| Heart rate reserve (Karvonen) | Rest + 60–70 % of (max − rest) | Max 186, rest 50: 132–145 bpm |
| Lactate threshold heart rate | 85–89 % of threshold | Threshold 168: 143–150 bpm |
The methods give different numbers because they start from different anchors. The threshold method fits best when you know your threshold, the reserve method suits fit athletes with a low resting heart rate, and % of max is the simplest. The free heart rate zone calculator works out all three. Whichever you use, base it on your real maximum or threshold, not on 220 minus age: that formula misses many people by 10 beats or more.
A cross-check that needs no numbers: in Zone 2 you can talk in full sentences and breathe through your nose. If you can only speak a few words at a time, you are above it.
How much Zone 2 per week
- Around 80 % of training time easy (Zones 1 and 2) is the split many coaches and studies of endurance athletes point to.
- One long easy session per week, a long run or long ride, is usually the backbone.
- Count time, not sessions. Three easy runs and one hard interval session can still be only 60 % easy by time if the easy runs are short.
- Beginners who train three times a week can do almost everything easy and still improve for months.
Common mistakes
- Running easy days too fast. The most common one. Zone 2 often feels slow, especially at first, and many runners have to walk uphill to stay in it.
- Zones from the wrong maximum. If your watch’s zones are built on an estimate that is too low, your “Zone 2” is really easy Zone 1; if it is too high, it is Zone 3.
- Trusting the first minutes. Heart rate lags behind effort. Judge the zone after ten minutes, not two.
- Ignoring heat and fatigue. On a hot day or after a short night your heart rate runs higher at the same pace. Slow down; the zone is the target, not the pace.
Check your Zone 2 time with Keho
Keho reads your workouts from Apple Health and shows the time in every heart rate zone per workout and per week, with your time in Zone 2 at a glance, from zones based on your real thresholds. These statistics are free. With Keho Coach, easy runs and rides go to your Apple Watch with a heart rate target, so the watch tells you when you drift above Zone 2, and the plan keeps most of your week easy by design. For the full set of zones on the watch itself, see heart rate zones on Apple Watch; for how easy and hard work add up, read training load explained.
Questions
Is Zone 2 the same as the “fat-burning zone”?
Roughly, in that easy effort uses a larger share of fat as fuel. But the reason to train in Zone 2 is endurance, not weight loss; total energy use matters more for that.
Can I do Zone 2 on the bike or rowing machine?
Yes. Any steady endurance activity works. Heart rate on the bike usually runs a few beats lower than running at the same effort, so cyclists may want zones from a cycling threshold.
How long until Zone 2 training shows results?
Typically weeks to months. Signs are a faster pace at the same heart rate and a lower heart rate at the same pace. Your VO2max trend and race times follow later.