Canaday says most sub-3 hopefuls race a marathon in zone 2

Sage Canaday thinks a lot of runners have their zone 2 set wrong, and set too low.

In a post on X, the ultrarunner and Higher Running coach argues that if you are not a sub 3-hour marathoner yet, or you run ultras, you are racing most of your marathon or ultra in zone 2. Zone 2 is the easy, aerobic training effort most people treat as a slow conversational jog. Canaday's point is that it can sit at a higher end aerobic intensity than most people realize, and that it covers a wider range on easy days and in base building than runners assume.

Sage Canaday

@SageCanaday

X

if you’re not a sub 3-hour marathoner (yet) and/or you’re an #ultrarunner …then you’re probably racing most of your marathon or ultra in your zone 2.

Sage Canaday

@SageCanaday

X

most runners can only hold true zone 3 for up to 3-hours in an all-out race

The reasoning he gives is about how long each effort lasts. He says most runners can only hold true zone 3, what he calls sub threshold or LT1 or aerobic threshold, for up to three hours in an all-out race. So if your marathon takes longer than three hours, by that logic most of it cannot be zone 3. It has to be sitting in the top end of zone 2. Same for anyone racing an ultra, where the clock runs far past three hours.

He uses that to explain how his Higher Running plans are built. Lots of zone 2 mileage days, with higher intensity like zone 3 mixed in strategically rather than constantly. The video attached to the post, filmed by @stephengnoza, shows him racing the Black Canyon 100km ultra, which he says he ran in zone 2.

What it actually means

This is one coach's take, and it doubles as a plug for his own training plans. Nobody in our sources pushed back on it, and nobody backed it with data either, so take the framing for what it is.

The pacing logic is still the useful part. A marathon that takes more than three hours is not run at threshold, it is run near the top of easy aerobic effort. If your watch or a generic heart rate chart has capped your zone 2 well below the effort you actually hold on race day, the chart and the race are telling you different things. Canaday's argument is that the race is the better guide.

He is not saying every easy day should be run hard. He is saying zone 2 is a range, not a single number, and that the top of that range is closer to your marathon effort than most runners believe.