Zone 2 Base Program
A ten-week running program of easy aerobic runs held to your Zone 2 heart rate, for building a base. It is one of the training programs in the mobile app, so progress, skipping, the calendar, how-hard ratings and the Diary card all work the way they do for the others. The thinking behind it, and what other apps do, is in the research notes.
Who it is for
You can run 30 minutes and want to build easy aerobic volume rather than speed: a base before a race plan, a steady habit, or a way to run more without running harder. It is not a beginner program (use Beginner 5K to start running) and has no hard workouts.
The plan
Choose 3 runs a week or 4 runs a week before you start.
| 3 runs a week | 4 runs a week | |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | 30, 30 and a 40 minute run | 30, 30, 30 and a 40 minute run |
| Time in Zone 2 | grows from 100 to 155 minutes a week | grows from 130 to 190 minutes a week |
| Long run | the last run of the week, 40 growing to 70 minutes | the same |
| Lighter weeks | weeks 4 and 8 | weeks 4 and 8 |
| Strides | four 20 second strides at the end of the first run in weeks 6, 7 and 9 | the same |
| Zone check | the middle run of weeks 4, 8 and 10 | the same |
Every workout is a five minute warm-up, the Zone 2 run, and a five minute cool-down. Nothing in the plan is a pace.
Your target
A Zone 2 workout asks for a heart rate range, not a pace. The range is the second of your five heart rate zones: 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate by default, or whatever your zone method gives if you chose heart rate reserve or custom zones. The maximum comes from your own entry in Settings > Heart Rate Zones, or from your date of birth, so set one of them to see a range. For example, at 40 years old your estimated maximum is 185 bpm and Zone 2 is 111 to 129 bpm.
It is an estimate
An age-based maximum can be ten beats or more off in either direction. If the range feels too easy or too hard, trust the talk test: you should be able to speak in full sentences. If you can only say a few words, slow down, and walk if you need to.
During the run
On the Record screen the live card for a Zone 2 stretch shows:
- the target range, for example "Zone 2: 111–129 bpm";
- with an Apple Watch supplying heart rate, a cue: "In Zone 2. Keep this effort.", "Above Zone 2. Ease off, or walk until your heart rate settles." or "Below Zone 2. You can pick it up a little.";
- the usual buzz, and a spoken cue with voice cues on, when your heart rate stays outside the range for a while (the same alert other heart rate targets use).
No strap or watch? The card still shows the range (read it off any other device) and tells you to run by the talk test. Nothing is blocked: the workout is ticked off the same way.
Drift and warming up. Heart rate climbs slowly at the start of a run and drifts up a few beats on a long steady one, with no change in effort. So for the first three minutes of a stretch a low reading does not count, and between 20 and 60 minutes the top of the range loosens by up to 5 bpm. The range shown does not change. If the run feels harder than it did, slow down whatever the number says.
On an Apple Watch run started from the program, the watch holds the same range. It judges against the plain range without the drift allowance.
Zone checks
In weeks 4, 8 and 10 the middle run is a zone check, marked on the Diary card and the program card. Run it like any other Zone 2 run on a flat, familiar route, then compare your pace at the same heart rate or effort with the previous check. Faster at the same effort means your base is growing; slower is not a failure, because sleep, heat and stress all show up here. The check is a note, not a test the app scores.
Adjusting it
Everything that works on other programs works here: Skip, Choose a different workout, Start over, the program calendar, and the how-hard rating after a run. Two hard ratings in a row suggest repeating a workout or easing, and the break and training load nudges ease the running in the next workouts by up to 30 percent. Easing a Zone 2 workout shortens the run; the heart rate range stays the same. Sparky (the AI assistant) can start either version with id zone2Base or zone2Base4.
Limits
- The range follows your heart rate zone settings. Without a maximum of your own it comes from an age-based estimate, which can be off by ten beats or more, so set a measured maximum, a resting rate or custom zones for a closer range.
- Live cues need a paired Apple Watch. Without one the app falls back to the talk test.
- The mobile app only: the web app does not offer training programs.