HR Zones: 220-Age - the TRUTH! (Page 23)

x2  Best thread on HR training ever.

Mark

Wow, can't believe I just read this entire thread from front to back.  A friend at work has a HR monitor and said I can use it for as long as I want.  Going to do my LT test next week and start this low zone training.  I had my first tri (sprint) ever 2 weeks ago and my run didn't go as well as planned.  I had a great swim and bike, but it caught up to me on the run.  I am determined to improve my run.  Can't wait.  Thanks to Mike on starting this thread.  Great info provided.

Also, once I get my max heart rate should I ............................ j/k

Spider that is funny but after all this info on HRs, I JUST got an email from a guy about his HR for his upcoming IM and he said here's my LT, based on my MAX - I almost lost it. Well, I did lose it, but now we'll get him squared away and he'll have a great race.

Mike another question for you.  I had tested my HR zones recently probably about a month ago per your protocol.  Bike 147/run 159.  done on a trainer/treadmill respectively.

This weekend I raced a sprint.  The swim was tough, cold/choppy and mentally draining.

I did really well on the bike/run (PR for both) but my avg hr was 167/177 respectively.

Was this a factor of me not pushing as hard as I should have for the testing? Outdoor vs Indoor? If so, should these be my new numbers?  I have been using virtual power mainly on bike, so concerned more about run. 

Thanks for your thought/advice as always!

bg

Ok, did my lactate test today and now have a few questions.  First of all, what a great workout that test was.  I definitely gave it all I had.  I finished my test with the last half mile of my run at a high 7 min pace which I have only hit a 7 min pace probably once ever before.  I felt completely drained at the end of the test and was able to negative split the test by breaking my run down into essentially 3 different 7 min periods for the 20 min test portion.  Ok, now that I have my numbers, here is my question.  My avg heart rate was 180.  I went to the page http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/create-hrzones.as... and there were 4 fields to enter my numbers.  I entered 180 in the "Lactate Test" area and hit calculate.  I assume this is the one I wanted to use.  I got the below info:

1 - Recovery                       119-152

2 - Extensive Endurance    154 - 163

3 - Intensive Endurance     164 - 172

4 - Sub-Threshold               173 - 179

5a - SuperThreshold           180 - 184

5b - Anaerobic Endurance   185 - 190

5c - Power                           191 - 199

Ok, so using 180 as my average I came up with the above numbers.  So it looks like my optimum training zone is 154 - 163 in zone 2.   Now I know that Mike has said to not pay attention to your max heart rate, which is fine, I am not going to do any type of work related to my heart rate max, but my only question is that during my test my average was 180 and my max was 185.  Why does this chart above go all the way to 199?    Does it assume that under different conditions my max could increase, maybe due to heat, anxiety, etc.....    Just wondering.  Anybody know?

yes it is assumed that you did not push your heart to its absolute maximum rate during your test.  your maximum is the most your heart can do. period. under any circumstances. i'm not sure how it is calculated but i'm sure it uses some extrapolation based on the data from your test.  i did a test last week and my max came back at 196 even though i never got above 185.

That's your theoretical max. If We put you on a steep hill and had you run all out until you collapsed, you'd probably hit it. It's just a 'number'.

Tom

My answer is  'it depends'. I like to see athletes find a comfort zone that they can run in, all day - not really all day, but day after day for sure. I call this the "Law of Repeatability" - meaning if you can't repeat an easy workout the next day, you did it too hard the day before.

So, if you look around 20-30 beats below LT, you'll find your sweet spot. I am typically about 30 beats below LT for my nice easy runs. If I want to run faster, I'll run closer to 20 beats below. This is all trial and error and if you keep pushing towards the top of Z2 - one of two things will happen:

1. You will get tired, burned out or worse, injured.

2. You need to retest b/c you didn't achieve a true LT number.

Good luck!

i believe you, but i'm not going to test that out

It's pretty painful. I did bunch of 30 sec hill repeats on a steep hill a few years back and I'm sure I hit my max. I was toast for a few days too. Not recommended.

BUMP for all the new people on the site

Great! Try this link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AikxNxkWLAlvdE1ia2Y3d0NMYW9VZUZfRHBSQUhBdlE&usp=drive_web#gid=2

Let me know if it works. Good luck!

It depends on a lot of factors really. What are your strengths and weaknesses? What distance are you training for? How long have you been training? What previous sports have you played? Injuries, current and past and so on.....

Here's an article I wrote on planning a week. It may help?

http://d3multisport.com/season-planning/planning-a-week-of-triathlon-training/

Basically 20-25% of your run time is faster / higher quality. That leaves 75-80% for Z2 training. Same on the bike - although you can probably bump it up 5-10% depending on experience. For swimming almost 50-60% of the time can be higher quality.

Let me know if this helps!

Graham,

I would test once per month - this can fit in place of your normal interval day during the week. You can sub a 5k, 10k or even a Bike TT in place of these 'tests. Testing is training and training is testing.

This winter, starting in Jan I did the bike test every 10 days. It was great to see the improvement so quickly.

If your HR in Zone 2 = 137 - 143 and your average was in between, then yes, you are running Z2. You don't want to see 150 and 160 HR though. Walk the hills if you have to. Once you get more efficient you'll the HR come down on the hills and you'll be able to run them.

Yes, completely normal. What have you built up over the last few months? Training too hard? ;-) I haven't made anyone slower in my over 25 years of coaching.

As long as you follow the testing protocol you'll have the right HR numbers and you'll be improving over the next several weeks and months. Good luck!

Those HRs are correct for Z2.

Now, if you did the test inside and are going to train inside those numbers are valuable. But if you train outside you'll need to do an outside test. No two ways about it. I like to see accurate numbers for indoors and outdoors.

For your IM ride, Z2 is where you would ride. Maybe some Z3 on some hills, but I would try to minimize that. An IM ride should be relatively easy, not hard. That way you can run to your potential. Good luck!