I’ve been training on fairly flat surface for a few weeks, about to start running longer close to home and I will be encountering some significant hills .. should I practically “walk” to stay in zone 2, or ignore the occasional sustained spike ?
It depends a little bit on context. If you’re following a race-focused training plan and actively building toward peak fitness, it’s best that you practice restraint and slow down as much as necessary to respect your zones. But if you’re more in maintenance/base mode and aren’t doing a lot of structured workouts, it’s okay to drift into Zone X/3 on hills in easy runs.