What heart rate is Zone 2?
Roughly 60–70% of your maximum heart rate, the pace at which you can still hold a full conversation.
Zone boundaries differ between models: five-zone, three-zone and lactate-based systems all draw the line in slightly different places. The talk test is more reliable than any percentage: if you cannot speak in full sentences, you are above Zone 2.
Estimate your max heart rate as 208 − 0.7 × age, not 220 − age.
Run the numbers
Sources
2
- Seiler, S. (2010). What is best practice for training intensity and duration distribution in endurance athletes? Int J Sports Physiol Perform 5(3). The polarised model: ~80% of sessions below the first ventilatory threshold.
- Tanaka, H. et al. (2001). Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited. J Am Coll Cardiol 37(1). HRmax ≈ 208 − 0.7 × age, more accurate than 220 − age.