Subject: RE: HR-Zone Questions Disclaimer: This is my opinion.
Whatever you do, do not use your max HR in any calculation when figuring out your training zones unless the calculation incorporates your resting heart rate.
Why?
Because as you become more fit your max HR won't change much, but your training zones will. That's why it's important that if you end up simply using a formula (god forbid ), at least you theoretically will be compensating for your improved fitness.
How then do you know what your changed/changing training zones are throughout the season?
By identifying your bike, swim and run LT heart rates and calculating your zones from that number throughout the season.
The reason that identifying your LT and using that as a basis for figuring out your trng HR zones is because as you become more and more fit your resting HR gets lower while you LT HR gets higher until a point where your resting HR changes much less compared to your increase in LTHR.
Why is there not 1 agreed upon answer?
Let me give you an example of what I disagree with. If you use the formula found here:
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=...
It would tell you that if you have a max hr of 186 and a resting hr of 44 your trng heart rate @ 75% would be 151. Now let's use the same formula for that person but when they become extremely fit. While their max HR would not have changed their resting HR would be, say 30bpm for example. So using that formula it would say the the trng heart rate @ 75% would now be 147.
This would be an incorrect estimation of their correct trng HR because since they have become more fit and their RHR has dropped to 30 (assuming they have been doing correct trng to get fit of course ) their LT would now be HIGHER not LOWER as the formula would lead you to believe.
Consequently, all of their trng HR zones would have shifted UP and not DOWN.
IMHO.
Edited by Steve- 2005-01-12 5:57 PM
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