HR zones

obizzle

Hi all

Just had a session at the gym, and although I was running (triathlete in training), my reported HR is showing the same issues as on the bike, so I thought I'd throw this out there.

My HR monitor for running is a suunto t3c and it once picked up a MHR of 202, so that's what I've been using as my max. So first question is do I take a simple % of that for HR zones? eg, 160 = ~80%. I've seen some calcs where it's done taking into account the RHR (you take it away from the MHR, then do %s based on the difference), but I'm not sure what common practice is.

During my 40 minute run today, the first 10mins were gradually increasing pace. At 10 minutes in I was at 85% MHR, and over the next 20 minutes it increased to 90%. The final 10 minutes were at 90%, and I reckon I could have done about 10mins more before collapsing.

From what I've read it seems that maybe I shouldn't be able to spend so long at 90%. Is this right? This mean's that either a) I'm a freak, b) my MHR is too low or c) my HRM is on the fritz.

I don't think it's option c, because my Garmin 705 reported that on my last 55min ride, I had an average hr of 183 (90%), and a max of 193(95%), which does kind of match up.

Any thoughts would be most welcome!

Cheers

jibberjim

There's a good chance your max is wrong, simply taking it from a number you saw is not a great way of finding it. Obviously in the absense of any malfunctioning HR monitor (or simply a flappy vest) it's a lower bound.

However 90% of MHR for 40minutes is not at all unusual, lots and lots of people have threshold around there.

Anonymous

Try this for a test to get your zones -

Do 8 minutes flat out on the bike starting from standstill (as in balls out max effort). Record the average HR.
Have 10 mins recovery then do it again.

Use the highest HR from the two to make your zones from.

(%of test HR)

50-91 - Endurance (Basic aerobic development)
88-90 - Tempo (improved aerobic endurance)
92-100 - SST (Sweet spot training - Increased power at lactate threshold)
100+ - VO2 max

This is lifted from the carmichael book. It is quite simplistic but the field test was scarily accurate - it was only 1 bpm away from my lab tested lactate threshold!

obizzle

Thanks guys. When I'm feeling brave enough, I'll have a go at trying to find my MHR properly

inseine

Do 8 minutes flat out on the bike starting from standstill (as in balls out max effort).

Balls out max effort and 8 mins don't go togtether. Anything over about 10secs and you're pacing yourself.

softlad

my HRM once recorded a maximum HR of 275, but I have a feeling that's not entirely accurate...and probably not even possible.

Your HRM may not actually be on the blink as such, but the way they connect makes them prone to errors IMO. I would suggest corroborating your max HR either on two different machines, or at least with two or more separate tests...

Anonymous

inseine wrote:

Do 8 minutes flat out on the bike starting from standstill (as in balls out max effort).

Balls out max effort and 8 mins don't go togtether. Anything over about 10secs and you're pacing yourself.

Oh FFS. It's a turn of phrase...

inseine

FFS It's not very helpful when you're trying to explain something that's quite precise.
I know you think I'm being pedantic but surely if you go hard from a standing start you'll just blow too early if you're trying to ramp up or (say) 8 mins. i say it because I do this 5x5 sec flat out efforts with 5 sec reats (not to find max HR BTW) and I'm totally done after each session and I'm 20 beats from my max. Long way of saying you need to build up a bit to the max.
Here's a free smiley for you so you don't think I'm just being picky.

LikeUStoleIt

obizzle.

you could also try the joe friel test to find your lactate threshold heart rate, and then you can use this number to set your zones.

http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2 ... zones.html

i've used this system for ages. works well for setting bike and run zones, also, by regularly testing this way you can see if you are progressing in training.

cheers.

Bronzie

LikeUStoleIt wrote:

i've used this system for ages. works well for setting bike and run zones, also, by regularly testing this way you can see if you are progressing in training.

The only thing I found a bit of a problem with Friel's zones is that L3/tempo is only 5bpm for me (138-143) so it was very hard to maintain "time in zone" - I actually made my L3 zone a bit wider to reflect feedback from training with a power meter (for those rides when I didn't have access to a PM)

LikeUStoleIt

that's a very good point, bronzie. zone 3 is very tight, and is really hard to effectively target when you're out riding on the road with undulating terrain.

i found it reasonably easy to sit in on the turbo trainer though.

also, having just started training with power, i was really surprised to see how much power goes down over a session even when you are maintaining a solid zone 3 HR. i guess that's the cardiac drift effect?

Bronzie

LikeUStoleIt wrote:

also, having just started training with power, i was really surprised to see how much power goes down over a session even when you are maintaining a solid zone 3 HR. i guess that's the cardiac drift effect?

Yes - maintaining constant power on the turbo and letting HR do what it will is a better approach if you have a PM.