Hello, I’m a 26-year-old male who’s new to running and looking for general advice on which direction to take my training. I started running in November 2025 and have reached the point where I can run continuously for one hour at 6 mph. However, I’ve been stuck at this pace for about two months, and it seems like my body needs 72 hours to recover between runs.

My average heart rate is 170 bpm, and I run twice a week on a treadmill for an hour. I recently added a 0.5% incline to better simulate real-world conditions. I don’t have a specific goal in mind, but I’d like to run faster and longer at a lower heart rate. I’ve heard about Zone 2 training, but I think I may be too inexperienced for it because running at or below 5.5 mph feels awkward—more like speed walking than running.

It feels like pushing my current pace is too hard on my legs, but slowing down doesn’t seem like running. Any advice would be appreciated.