Heart rate zones: train smarter, not more

If you always run at the same pace, you're missing endurance sport's biggest gift: improvement without effort. Heart rate zones give you the map.

Finding your max HR (without dying)

The "220 - age" formula is inaccurate. Much better: a field test. After a good warm-up, run 3 km all-out. Average HR of the last km is a reliable estimate of your HRmax.

The 5 zones (classic method on HRmax)

• Z1 · 50-60% — warm-up and active recovery. You can sing.
• Z2 · 60-70% — easy endurance, the magic zone. Builds the aerobic engine, capillaries, mitochondrial efficiency. You should be able to speak in full sentences.
• Z3 · 70-80% — tempo, the "gray". Useful but often overused: you get tired without gaining much.
• Z4 · 80-90% — threshold. Long intervals (2×15', 3×10'). Raises anaerobic threshold.
• Z5 · 90-100% — VO2max. Short intervals (400-1000 m). Raises the ceiling.

The 80/20 method

Research by Seiler and on elite athletes is crystal clear: 80% of volume in Z1-Z2, 20% in Z4-Z5. The Z3 "gray" should be limited. It sounds too easy — which is exactly why it works.

Why Z2 hurts the ego

Running in Z2 means going slower than you'd like. The first month feels like nothing. Then, magically, the same pace starts costing less. That's when you find you have an engine you didn't have before.

How Lapko uses your HR

Lapko reads your HR in real time, recalibrates zones when your condition changes (heat, altitude, fitness) and warns you when you're pushing too hard on a workout that was supposed to be easy. The coach that doesn't let you sabotage the plan.