# Difference between running pace and power zones **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [May 13, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://forum.athletica.ai/t/difference-between-running-pace-and-power-zones/4923 "2026-05-13T18:39:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Matthias](https://forum.athletica.ai/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@Matthias](https://forum.athletica.ai/u/Matthias)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 6:39pm UTC](https://forum.athletica.ai/t/difference-between-running-pace-and-power-zones/4923/1 "2026-05-13T18:39:51Z")
Looking at my running power zones, my threshold power (CP) is set at 352 W and VO2max power at 430 W. Running power Zone 5 spans from 390–441 W, which roughly corresponds to ~110% of CP up to ~100% of VO2max power. However, when looking at the Running Pace Profile and the corresponding speed zones, threshold pace is 4:10/km and VO2max pace is 3:21/km. Yet pace Zone 5 is only defined as 4:05–4:25/km and does not extend anywhere close to VO2max pace. So this confuses me a bit: - For **power** , the upper limit of Zone 5 seems to align with VO2max power. - For **pace** , the upper limit of Zone 5 is actually close to threshold pace and far below VO2max pace. Why is there this difference between the way power zones and pace zones are defined? Shouldn’t the upper limit of pace Zone 5 also correspond more closely to VO2max pace, just like the upper limit of power Zone 5 corresponds to VO2max power? The Athletica help article also describes Zone 5 as extending up to vVO2max, which seems inconsistent with the actual pace zones shown in my profile. ![IMG_1151](https://forum.athletica.ai/uploads/default/original/2X/d/de0c6b91bf0f68e6e1f84bbab82ba4b322ca9e14.png) [https://support.athletica.ai/hc/en-us/articles/21647845411227-Zones](https://support.athletica.ai/hc/en-us/articles/21647845411227-Zones) ![IMG_1153](https://forum.athletica.ai/uploads/default/original/2X/2/2ec2a59cc2f13a9edead163002face38f052ea2e.jpeg) ![IMG_1152](https://forum.athletica.ai/uploads/default/original/2X/f/f5fcefef145ac3d3b923ab0dfeca5ac87879f52f.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Matthias](https://forum.athletica.ai/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@Matthias](https://forum.athletica.ai/u/Matthias)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 6:45pm UTC](https://forum.athletica.ai/t/difference-between-running-pace-and-power-zones/4923/2 "2026-05-13T18:45:23Z")
What is very annoying is that the AI coach is giving me wrong answers and then changes it‘s mind when confronted with the evidence. I thought I can trust the AI coach because it is using the HIIT Science framework as a foundation but it seems to hallucinate some times. ![IMG_1154](https://forum.athletica.ai/uploads/default/original/2X/f/fb36ddd9f6fdcc0c4adf2aed1e7edd7b96ab23e2.jpeg) ![IMG_1156](https://forum.athletica.ai/uploads/default/original/2X/9/9a5284dad27e3461f459ae125c938f01b834c677.jpeg) ![IMG_1155](https://forum.athletica.ai/uploads/default/original/2X/8/87d3bbd81196bbe344bf179740e58eefa9e877cc.jpeg) ![IMG_1157](https://forum.athletica.ai/uploads/default/original/2X/b/bb94dbcc230a17b9705a30386e39657066d84d45.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Marjaana](https://forum.athletica.ai/user_avatar/forum.athletica.ai/marjaana/32/4122_2.png) [@Marjaana](https://forum.athletica.ai/u/Marjaana)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 2:54pm UTC](https://forum.athletica.ai/t/difference-between-running-pace-and-power-zones/4923/3 "2026-05-15T14:54:32Z")
Dear @Matthias Please note that Training Zones - Threshold is a moving 6month window. When you are looking at the Power-Duration curve, you can see last 6 weeks, 3 months, this year, etc. Therefore, there may be differences between the threshold you see under Training zones → which actually ties your training zones. if you think there is a bug in your training zones, please send this to support@athletica.ai so we can have a look and follow up with you. Marjaana ---
**Author:** ![Matthias](https://forum.athletica.ai/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@Matthias](https://forum.athletica.ai/u/Matthias)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 6:20pm UTC](https://forum.athletica.ai/t/difference-between-running-pace-and-power-zones/4923/4 "2026-05-15T18:20:50Z")
Even if the threshold that is used for calculation can not bee seen as it is a moving window over 6 months, there still has to be a bug as even the vVO2max shown in the graphic I attached is higher than the top end pace of my Zone 5. And also pace and power should show kind of the same zones as they are based on the same running data. I will send a message to the support. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Marjaana](https://forum.athletica.ai/user_avatar/forum.athletica.ai/marjaana/32/4122_2.png) [@Marjaana](https://forum.athletica.ai/u/Marjaana)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 11:14pm UTC](https://forum.athletica.ai/t/difference-between-running-pace-and-power-zones/4923/5 "2026-05-19T23:14:28Z")
This has been resolved.