Posting a question here as it’s related to Running Zones, in particular Pace Zones. I’m looking for best practice how to calculate/setup zones for an athlete who’s using treadmill for his winter workouts. I have only his best time for 10k run from 2023. So from this I’m interested to define 3 zones and configure some workouts and plan in Intervals.icu so that I can share with him for testing purposes. Could I assume his 10k PR to represent Threshold Pace? Would that be fair assumption for beginner or should I ask him to do a proper Ramp Test?
The zones are based on physiology. Thus, do a ramp test and set zones by HR then look at the paces within the three zones.
What are the distances the athlete wants to do, relative to the 10km effort?
There are easy enough ways to estimate, based on the distance covered.
So at the moment he can do 7k or even 8k but finishing high intensity so in a 3 Zone model he’d be in Z3. The idea would be to first lower the pace to try to be in Z2 and then perhaps in Z1 borderline Z2, and then introducing intervals Z3 to have a 80%/20% distribution. The final goal would be 10k at maximum effort.
Regarding ramp test as he has a treadmill this could be easy to do, however I have a first workout of 8k and I can see the HR climbing in linear way so I think I can extrapolate the HR Zones from that as I think I have HRMax value, and HRRest value is from his smartwatch daily stat.
I’m not a running coach, let alone a good runner, so my advice is not related to running itself, but more about ways to set zones.
It’s a pity he hasn’t done longer efforts, as the Riegel calculator can use two race efforts to determine pace for each major distance. 1 mile vs 5km, 5km vs 10km, etc., to then “predict” the time for the other major distances. This then can be used to determine upper and lower threshold (the zone) levels, for Z3 efforts.
- Walk/run, on a treadmill, at a gradual increase in pace (treadmill speed) until breathing and conversation starts becoming out of control. Note the HR at this point. This should be done a few times to find an average with a +/- 2bpm variation.
On another day, walk/jog on the treadmill, and keep the HR as close to the average HR from those “tests”. Speed (treadmill) up slowly if HR starts dropping, or slow down if HR starts increasing. The changes in HR should be less than 2bpm from the average, otherwise it’s too erratic (pace). After an hour, note the average pace, as: duration (60 mins) divided by distance to get minutes per km. This is a good proxy for Z1.
It will change each time the workout is done, but if done weekly, you’ll generate an average HR range over time that will help to calibrate the effort. As speed increases for the same effort, there’s the measurement of improvement.
- Upper threshold
You can do the VO2max protocol to get the peak values (HR and pace). This is where I’m less experienced on the running side, so would be guessing on the value to use after the test. A 5-min max effort at 90% of the max pace during this test would indicate what to pace it at, and then see how the HR and feel compares. But I’m reluctant to comment on this and would leave it to the more knowledgeable.
However, feel is an excellent tool we were all born with, and doesn’t require money to acquire, and develop. Do some repeat efforts, 3-5 minutes long (4-5 times) with and equal anmount of rest in between. See what the maximum pace he can complete these at. It might be too easy or too hard each time, but as you get feedback from him on how it felt, you can adjust accordingly. Eventually you’ll have a database of near max efforts, which can be used to guide future efforts.
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Hey, Would it be possible to get the spread sheet to play around with? Thanks!