You’re Training in the WRONG ZONE (And It’s Slowing You Down)

[00:00:00] Okay, do this quick test. Go run for two minutes right now at a pace where you’re breathing hard but could speak a few words at a time. Can you do it that weird in between feeling not easy, not hard. That’s the grey zone. And every running article tells you to avoid it like it’s poison. I actually said that too in a previous episode.

[00:00:19] But here’s what they don’t tell you and what I’ve been finding out. ’cause we grow, we learn. Okay, so look, most running advice about the grey zone is either. Disgustingly complex or uselessly vague. Uh, this episode, I want to cut through all that BS. I’m giving you three brutally simple ideas that will end the confusion forever and show you exactly how to use grey zone training without accidentally sabotaging every run you do.

[00:00:46] I’m gonna simplify it. This is called simplified. This is it. The last thing you’ll need to read. Listen to or watch on this topic, hopefully so that you can run as far or as fast as you can. I’m Daren D Lake, run, coach, and runner of the last 30 years trying to make everyone 1% better every day in their running and lives and work and family, et cetera.

[00:01:08] Let’s get into the first idea, all right? Idea number one, what is it and how to spot the grey zone. So think of the grey zone, like a light switch that’s stuck halfway when you flip a switch all the way on the light works. All the way off. It rests, but stuck in the middle. The bulb flickers. It’s working but not working.

[00:01:25] That’s your body in the grey zone. Here’s what’s happening inside of you and your body. Physiologically, your heart rate sits between about 78, 80% and 87% of your max. That’s the grey zone. Your max heart rate, your breathing. Too hard to chat normally, but you can still keep going. Your body can’t clear waste products fast enough, so that’s lactate or lactic acid, as you heard, that’s in your blood and that can cause over time, that like painful burning sensation.

[00:01:52] And you’re burning sugar, more sugar instead of fat. So we’ve got the carbohydrate stores or glycogen, not glycogen. You guys have been ripping me apart in the comments, me saying glycogen. I’ve heard glycine. Glycogen. You have that store and you’re using more of that, and you’re too tired to recover fast because you slowly start wearing yourself down and you’re not working hard enough to get faster.

[00:02:15] So you’re, again, you’re in that grey zone, a simple test so that you can know that you’re in the grey zone. Can you talk? You’re probably in the easy zone. You can say full sentences, blah, blah, blah, and then you need to take a breath, and then you say full sentences, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you take a breath that, that’s good.

[00:02:28] That’s where you wanna be. Can you only grunt single words out? You’re in the hard zone. That’s good. We want to do 80% easy and in 20% hard. Can you speak a short sentence? But it’s uncomfortable and you know, in the next 20 minutes you’re gonna just like tap out. That’s the grey zone. That’s like 10 K racing.

[00:02:47] Or if you do a 25 or 30 minute 5K, that’s usually the grey zone. Here’s the trap. Most runners will fall into grey zone. It’s not one pace. It’s different for everyone. An 11 minute mile. That would be about a eight minutes per kilometer Pace. Might be grey zone for beginner, 25, 30 minute, 5K runner, but a seven minute mile for you metric people.

[00:03:07] That’s about four minutes per kilometer ish, four 10 per kilometer. That can still be easy for someone who’s been running for years and runs a 2 53 hour marathon. This is why those run at nine 30 Pace, where it’s pace only trending plans and distance only fail. They don’t know your body and your needs and your experience and what your goals are, et cetera.

[00:03:29] So this is what you need to do. The actionable step track three easy runs this week. If you can’t hold a conversation the whole time, you accidentally in the grey zone, slow down. This is good. This is awareness. Remember knowing is half the battle GI Joe. Alright, here we go. Point number two. So why people call it junk and why that’s actually wrong.

[00:03:50] So think of your body like a battery. I love this metaphor. Easy running charges your battery slowly and fully. Think of it like just boop. Just gonna get a quick top up. You recover. Build your base, get more efficient, hard running. Drain your battery fast. That’s when you build speed and power. The drain forces your battery to upgrade its capacity.

[00:04:08] The grey zone, it drains your battery, but it doesn’t trigger that upgrade, so you don’t get that, that little turbo boost. You’re working hard enough to stay tired, but not hard enough to force your body to adapt. This is where most runners live. Every run feels medium. They’re never fresh, never truly fast, just grinding.

[00:04:24] But here’s the thing, grey zone work. Isn’t junk when you use it on purpose. It’s a tool, a very specific tool. It’s like that special knife in your kitchen that you have for that one thing or that random pot or that thing that you bust out when you have this super fancy meal. You don’t use it that much, but it’s a tool.

[00:04:41] So marathon paste ironically is grey zone for most people, or at least it will turn into it. Even half marathon can be grey zone for people. Temple runs grey zone long runs where you speed up at the end, progressive long run grey zone. It’s a tool. It’s actually great. Threshold running, they, that’s actually Temple runs, that’s Grey zone.

[00:04:58] The problem isn’t the zone itself. It’s when Grey Zone becomes your default instead of your tool. So you’re always running in grey zone. Not good. No bueno if 80% of your runs are still easy and conversational. Grey Zone work has a place, you’re using it as a tool to prepare for race pace or build that threshold, which you need for 5K, 10 k, and half marathon work.

[00:05:18] If you’re a fast half marathoner. But if all your ends are actually in the grey zone, you’re constantly. Half drained, never recovering, never improving. I know this is a tough like concept to understand. This is why I really wanted to simplify this with these drawings and these kind of schematics sort of thing.

[00:05:33] These visuals, because. Less is more, and you need to use it in a structured plan. So the framework of the plan, 80%, again, 80 20 rule, 80% of your weekly mileage is easy. You can talk freely, easy, you can say many sentences. And then zone one, zone two, heart rate effort should be a three or four out of 10. 20% should be.

[00:05:52] Hard. That’s not killing yourself hard. It’s not racing. It’s just more of the VO two max work you could do. Even tempo runs as part of the 20% over and over kind of sprints. If you want to do sprints, obviously long runs at the end. Racing is grey zone, that’s absolutely fine. VO two max work. Again, zone four, high zone three.

[00:06:11] So this is what you need to do. Look at your last. 10 runs count how many were truly easy conversational the whole time. If less than seven, you’re living in grey zone backs action. Step to fix all of this. Download my Use Grey Zone in a smart way and improve your Zone three threshold free, yes, free $0 Trending Plan.

[00:06:29] I help you program the right way to use your threshold. Again, AKA Grey Zone runs without burning yourself out in a smart way. You build that up so you can actually run fast and races. Get it at the QR code here or link below in the episode description. Onto the third tip to simplify Grey Zone. Alright, so when to use it and when to avoid it.

[00:06:48] Grey Zone, it’s a tool. Tools work when you know what job needs doing. Use grey Zone when training for a half or full marathon Race. Pace work is the grey zone. Building your threshold tempo runs cruise intervals, doing progression runs, starting easy, finishing moderate. You need aerobic work. But can’t handle the high mileage yet.

[00:07:07] That’s when you want to use the grey zone. The grey zone can be a tool, uh, especially for people that run three days a week. We can use a bit of the grey zone in there. That’s okay. You wanna avoid the grey zone when you’re building your base. Just run easy, build capacity. It’s a fine, you’re recovering from injury or burnout.

[00:07:21] We don’t want to do any grey zone work or very, very little, maybe five to 10 minutes a week. Avoid the grey zone when it’s supposed to be an easy day. Don’t let your ego ruin recovery. I’m okay with easy runs, ending with the last two, three minutes of a shorter run, 30 minute run in the grey zone. Every now and then, or a long run, you can have the last five to 10 minutes touch the grey zone, low zone three.

[00:07:41] I’m beginning to be more fine with that over the last, I’d say probably year or two. I think it’s actually fine. Just again, we’re in and we’re out really quick. Strategically, we’re not sitting in there for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour. You also wanna avoid grey zone when you’re running with faster friends.

[00:07:56] That whole. Cool club that you’re with, that you just joined, and those runners are slightly faster, but you want to talk and you’re drifting outta easy pace. That’s when you, you’ll burn yourself out. It might take a couple weeks, a couple months, but you will burn yourself out. Think of it lifting weights.

[00:08:08] You don’t curl 20 pound or 20 kilo dumbbells for an hour every day. It seems easy at first, but then you just. Burn yourself out. You get hurt. You either lift heavy for short burst or move light for volume. Training is about contrast. Easy, hard, easy, hard time off, not medium all the time. Medium a little bit, but not all the time.

[00:08:27] Here’s how to check yourself. Again, just a recap. Track your easy runs. Use the talk test. I love the talk test. If you can’t chat many, many words. Seven, 10 word, blah, blah, blah. And then take a breath. Then you’re not in the easy zone. Easy is easy. I don’t care if you have to walk. Easy is easy. Another way to check yourself.

[00:08:44] Track your hard days. Are you actually going hard? As in, are you doing a seven outta 10, a eight out of 10 intervals, and you can keep sustaining them over and over and over. Not nine outta 10. Not 10 outta 10. We want seven outta 10. That’s hard. We don’t want medium hard. We don’t want five. Six outta 10, 6.5 outta 10 for a whole run for three runs all over the week.

[00:09:04] We don’t want that. And be honest about your goals. Marathon training needs more grey zone, so half marathon also, 10 K does need some, but a 5K probably needs less depending on your speed. Depends on your training plan. A lot of different things. But yeah, I think, I’d say most people with marathon can use the grey zone more and a half marathon will be using the grey zone.

[00:09:23] So base building. When you’re only building base, you want to use very little grey zone, and that is something that I actually talk about a lot. The base period. If you wanna check that video out, you’ll have that at the end. ’cause base, you need that before Grey zone. Alright again, so if you didn’t get that free training plan, you want to use Grey Zone in a smart way and you will improve your threshold and you can run Temple runs any smart way.

[00:09:46] Get that at the QR code right here again, or link below in the episode description or show notes if you’re listening. And your podcast player, the grey zone is you have to actually have a base first. That’s huge. So if you are on YouTube or whatever you’re at, you wanna learn more about base training and base building and how to run farther longer because you can’t do the grey zone unless you actually have a base.

[00:10:07] Go check out that episode below, or in the episode description or your show notes. Peace.