How to Set Your Running Zones: VO2 Max, Lactate, and Why Your Zones Might Be Wrong

🔥 Want to train smarter and avoid common mistakes? This episode covers how to actually set your running zones — without falling into data traps or overtraining.

🎙️ This week, Coach Zoë shares insights from her VO2 max and lactate threshold lab test — and what it revealed about the accuracy of smartwatches, heart rate zones, and perceived effort. She and TJ break down:

• Why most athletes are using flawed training zones

• What "zone 2" really means — and why your easy days might not be easy enough

• The science of threshold, VO2 max, and how to test them (with or without a lab)

• The biggest mistakes athletes make with heart rate and watch-generated zones

• What effort-based training actually looks like in practice

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 – Hot or Not: Backwards treadmill walking08:15 – VO2 max testing: what it actually tells you18:50 – Why your heart rate zones are probably wrong25:00 – RPE vs. heart rate: which is better?31:00 – Field tests for setting your running zones41:20 – Common mistakes and when to recalibrate52:30 – Should you do a lab test?56:00 – Why RPE still reigns supreme

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