How to calculate your heart rate zones properly
Heart rate zones based on threshold rather than age: how to calculate them, how many to use and what each one is for.
Training by heart rate only works if your zones are right. And the most reliable way to set them isn't age, but your threshold heart rate.
Why not age
The 220 minus age formula has a huge error: two people of the same age can have maximum heart rates 20 beats apart. Zones built on it can be way off.
Threshold-based zones
Once you know your threshold heart rate (for example, from a 30-minute test), zones are defined as percentages of it. A common five-zone scheme for running:
- Z1, recovery: below 85%.
- Z2, aerobic: 85-89%.
- Z3, tempo: 90-94%.
- Z4, threshold: 95-99%.
- Z5, above threshold: 100% or more.
Limits of heart rate
Heart rate is slow to rise in short intervals and creeps up on its own with heat, dehydration or fatigue. For efforts of a few minutes, pace or power are better guides.
Traincontrol calculates your zones from your thresholds and recalculates them when they change.