Hi all
I’m trying to work out how I should be training with my Garmin 965, but I’m getting bogged down by the sheer amount of conflicting information online.
I’ve only been running for around 8–9 months, but I’m really enjoying it now and have booked a few races later this year. I currently run about 4 times a week and want to start training a bit more seriously and intentionally.
From what I understand:
- Zone 2 builds the aerobic foundation
- Most running should be easy (80/20?)
- Tempo/Threshold/VO2 work all serve different purposes
My issue is understanding how this actually translates into real sessions and Garmin zones.
I’ve got Zone 2 figured out fairly well on the watch using HR alerts. It started painfully slow, but now feels like a comfortable jog pace and I can happily sit there for a long time.
Where I get confused is everything above that.
Tempo, Threshold and VO2 Max all seem to have different definitions depending on who you ask. Garmin’s terminology also seems to overlap:
- Garmin says Tempo is basically Zone 3
- But lots of people say Tempo can drift into Zone 4
- Garmin’s “Tempo” HR range for me is only around 5–6 bpm wide
- If I go slightly above it, suddenly it becomes Threshold?
- If I go slightly below it, it becomes Base?
That seems way too precise in real-world running, especially on hills.
So my questions are:
- How tightly should I actually stick to HR zones during Tempo runs?
- Is Tempo more about effort than exact HR?
- What’s the practical difference between Tempo and Threshold?
- Should Threshold mainly be intervals?
- If a Tempo run drifts into Threshold on hills, does that matter?
- Does Garmin’s Primary Benefit get skewed by warm ups/cool downs?
I’m basically trying to build 4 reliable “types” of runs I can rotate depending on how I feel during the week:
- Zone 2
- Long Base (Zone 2 and Zone 3)
- Tempo (Zone ?)
- Threshold (Zone ?)
- VO2 Max (Zone ?)
- Intervals (best for Threshold?)
I naturally default to doing lots of Zone 2 and plan to continue that, but I’d really like to understand the purpose and execution of the harder sessions properly rather than just randomly running harder sometimes