Four weeks ago we switched from Runners’ World’s 16-week sub 4h30 marathon training program to one Polar’s (my sportswatch) web application created for us. While neither program focuses on actual speed or pace, Runners’ World’s program is based on subjective effort, whereas Polar’s  program uses heart rate zones. The default zones are 1: 50 – 59%, 2: 60 – 69%, 3: 70-79%, 4: 80-89%, and 5: 90-100% of the maximum heart rate, which gives me zones 1: 85 – 101 (beats per minute, BPM), 2: 102 – 118, 3: 119 – 135 (aerobic threshold), 4: 136 – 152, and 5: 153 – 170 (anaerobic threshold), respectively.

The program includes four weekly runs (all including also warmup and cooldown), plus strength training and mobility exercises rest of the days: two medium runs in zone 3, one interval run with speed intervals of 5 or 6 minutes in zones 4 or 5 and recovery intervals of 2 minutes in zone 3, and one long run in zone 2. Except for the long run, these runs are a lot longer than those in the Runners’ World program were. Very soon we noticed, especially on the long runs, that it is impossible to run so slowly or with little enough effort that the heart rate stays within zone 2. One factor contributing to this is that it is impossible to find running routes not including any hills.  So, instead of using the default zones, I have been tweaking my zones pretty much after each run. Currently, they are 1: 85 – 101 (BPM), 2: 102 – 129, 3: 130 – 141, 4: 142 – 152, and 5: 153 – 170. One downside of lifting the upper limit of zone 2 is that it makes it harder  to reach zones 4 and 5 fast enough in short interval runs. Let’s see it how it goes!

We have 216 days of training left until our prospective marathon race in late April in Madrid. Vamos!