5 Ways To Find Your True Zone 2

Train slower, get faster—if you’re in the right zone.

I used to hate running.

Now I love it.

Zone training is the reason why.

When I was in college, I would get a random burst of enthusiasm and decide I “Need to take up running”.

I would put on my trainers and head out the door.

Within 20 minutes, I would be a sweaty, panting mess. My legs and lungs burning.

I just couldn't understand how people could run longer distances.

All I wanted to do was vomit.

Not sign up for the Boston marathon.

Sound familiar?

The problem was that I was training with a heart rate that was WAAAY too high, and, by extension, was fueling my run with my small store of carbohydrates rather than my huge reservoir of fat.

I was also extremely unfit and overweight.

What I hadn’t realised was that to run a long distance without feeling you are going to die, you needed to become extremely efficient at using fat as a fuel to power your activity.

To become efficient at burning fat for fuel, you need to train in that energy zone.

This is where zone training comes in.