Hello TheEd,

From January of this year, I decided to start running more seriously.

I started with your sub 50 10k training plan.

In the past, I had a couple of runs here and there but not too often and without a training plan. Generally speaking, I'm a couch guy how wants to change a lifestyle finally. I'm male/31y old (173cm / 71kg).

My current PBs:

1K - 3:59 (probably could do 3:55)

5k - 23:59 (avg HR - 194)

10k - 49:50 (avg HR 183)

HM - 1:59:06 (avg HR 179, effort 8/10, I just wanted to test myself)

Volume since the beginning of the year:

January - Distance: 122.18 km / Time: 14:00:30

February - Distance: 171.87 km / Time: 19:46:10

March - Distance: 134.14 km / Time: 15:12:04

April - Distance: 206.83 km / Time: 23:21:20

May - Distance: 70.31 km / Time: 8:27:03

June - Distance: 102.62 km / Time: 11:28:07

Of course, after I increased weekly volume in April too quickly to 60km per week for 2 weeks in a row I got injury

After HM I did not rest adequately but took just 1 day off and that cost me of knee bursitis (inner knee pain)

I'm trying to return to 5-6 days of the training regime and actually this is my first "official" week back after the injury so my focus is to build a base.

While I was off, I did Vo2max lab test so I could figure out my real HR zones.

I have 207bpm max HR (but I think this could be even 210) and as you can see I can hold 180 bpm during 2h run (HM).

Lab results:

Vo2max: 50.9

L1: 166 bpm (34,2 ml/kg/min)

L2: 180 bpm

The doctor said that I should keep my easy runs between 145 and 165bpm.

So my question is should I take my L2 as a base for my HR zone training?

This is what I would have if I go with L2:

Zone 1 - 117-143
Zone 2 - 144-159

Zone 3 - 160-170

Zone 4 - 171-179

Zone 5 - > 179

My current pace is 6:50-7:00km/min for easy runs. My current HR easy pace is around 140-149 depending on the weather. It's calculated by Garmin based on my max HR.

The thing is I can keep conversational pace while holding 150-155 bpm so I'm confused should I run faster on my easy runs or not?

I want to build a strong aerobic zone and keep improving (speed and distance) in running so any advice will be appreciated.

Thank you for your help!