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What is the easiest to work out your "zones"? i was advised to go full tilt for half hour on a flat road but i am surrounded by hills so thats a non starter. Anybody have another way to work it out thats fairly simple and quick?
220 minus ur age
Some sport centre's do for you to get accurate one they put you on a watt bike
Either A) use a turbo trainer, or B) stick the bike in the car and take it somewhere flat, its the only way you are going to get an accurate result without paying for a lab test.
There is huge variance in max heart rate and while it tends to reduce as people age there isn't an accurate formula. You need to test it yourself, also need an accurate resting heart rate too.
So how do you calculate the zones if you have your resting and max heart rate?
Q1: go for a few runs and nite the point at which you can no longer talk easily. That who'll approximate with 50% and gap between Z2/3
Q2 google Karvonen
It certainly isn't 220-age.
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/heart-rate-monitor-training-for-cyclists-28838/
How to work out your HR zones.
You need two figures: your resting HR (RHR) and your maximum (MHR). The difference between the two is your working heart range (WHR).
To get your resting heart rate, measure it first thing in the morning before you even get out of bed. Do this for several days to allow for any variation due to colds, hangovers, etc.
Maximum HR: good luck! Quite a few ways to determine this, none pleasant. Best do a web search and find one that you can use.
Let's say your RHR is 60 and your MHR is 180. That gives a WHR of 120. All the percentages that you see about HR zones relate to WHR so if you want 50% you take 50% of your WHR and add that to your RHR. So:
(50% * 120) + 60 = 110
Do similarly for other percentages. Now look on the BC site or similar to get information about the zones remembering that 50/60/70% is of your WHR.
@dave the article explains how to calculate your resting heartbeat then ignores it only using maximum as the basis for zone calculation ?
Oh, the 220 - age formula *might* be OK if you are sedentary but I've found it to be way out for anyone who's reasonably fit. I can ride for several hours above the value thus calculated. I can maintain 110% of that value for at least a minute so I suspect it's in the order of 20% out.
The various formulae are like a bike fit: just a starting point. The only way to truly know your own MHR is to do a test and you then need to retest at regular intervals to track changes in fitness.
Doesn't matter which formula you use, unless you actually test LTHR your zones are just as likely to be junk as they are sensible.
LTHR is variable between individuals, and levels of fitness.
Some people will find their LTHR as low as 70%MHR, whereas a very highly trained athlete may find it at 95%MHR.
Karvonen will give a better estimate of where 85% is, but it can't tell you if 85% is anaerobic or not.