Determining HR zones and training with them.

thanks -  never thought to look there.  already found some useful information in 2 or 3 articles.  Would still love to hear anyone's input though. 

Yes, they are sport-specific.  I mostly train by HR on the run and bike, and by pace on the swim (insofar as I have a coherent swim 'plan').  This is mainly because I don't like to swim with the HRM.

The BT articles referenced above describe pretty standard protocols for determining your LTHR.  There are others, but they all amount to pretty much the same thing, IMO.   (Indeed, there is research to back up what I just said, though I'm too lazy to look it up right now.  Try Google Scholar and it will show up, if you care.)  All of them hurt.  A lot.  Be fresh for them, and don't alter the protocol.  If you can't yet do what they prescribe, just train until you can.

That is, alas, just the beginning of the story.  The issue is that HR depends on a LOT of things -- hydration, nutrition, temperature, and length of workout (relative to your average workout) being some of the more significant.  It is NOT enough to do the tests, determine your zones, and then slavishly follow the HRM.  You must continually be thinking about what the HRM is telling you, in the context of the moment.  I've been doing that for many months, and while I've learned a lot, I still feel that I have a lot more to learn.  It is fun and instructive, though, and I can say that working at learning how to train (and race) by HR was the difference between run/walking my first HIM run and running most (but, alas, not all) of my first IM run (the latter of which was actually at a faster overall pace than my HIM 'run', partly because of better fitness, but mostly because of better pacing, and I chalk that up largely to studying and thinking hard about how to pace by HR).

This is somewhat antecdotal (but I am presuming that is what you are looking for since you have found some of the articles).

I am a light-weight trianer, I go in spurts and just race in sprints at this time.

One of the problems I constantly have are with the run. I start out too fast (because I am feeling great) and then overdo it on hills and by the end of the second mile, I am dead. Every run ended with my huffing and puffing, red-faced, and not happy. I started just recently trying to "cap" my heart rate by keeping it under a target number (70-80%) on my aerobic training runs and it has been an incredible difference.

The runs are more controlled, I am starting already to get tuned in to my body and adjust without even looking at the monitor, my runs are hard but not exhausting, and I know that by staying in the aerobic zone instead of hopping too frequently into the anaeorbic zone, I am optimizing the aerobic benefit of my runs.

As my body aerobically adjusts, my pace will naturally increase as I can handle quicker paces at the same heart rate/exersion.
Controlling pace based on heart rate will hopefully naturally push me faster as my body adapts.

I just use the resting heart rate and then did a little Max heart rate test (I just sprinted up a hill at the end of my normal run) and used that to calculate my range.

I'd recommend giving it a try, especially if you are like me and have trouble controlling pace and over-exersion.

I personally am trying to train and stay in Z3 to build base, for reference. Check back in a few months and we'll see how it went.

BT LT article which was also a huge thread.  learning your HR zones can help you learn your RPE.  A lot of times with heat, humidity, hydration levels, etc., you'll need to go by RPE as the HR will be affected.  The problem with using just RPE is that a lot of people are off on the scale as to what they think they are doing if they had nothing to correlate it with.