I am not an athlete. I was be doing bike workouts for 2 years and started running just 2 months ago. According to my polar cs200 during the ownzone test my aerobic zone is between 129 and 159. So that would make anything above 159 anaerobic right???
Last Sunday I did a 5k and was probably over 159 for a good 20 minutes. I did feel quite a lot of stomach pain in the last 10 minutes. Is my 159 limit correct or is it probably higher since I was able to stay for so long above it?
Stick this thread out for a while. You’ll likely learn a lot. Unfortunately, I am not the expert on physiology, but I think I can get you in the right directions and bridge the gap between science and laymen terms.
(My apologies if I present anything you already know. It just easier to start at the bottom and work up).
Your “aerobic” zone is typically what a lot of us will refer to as zone 1 and/or zone 2. This takes you from 65% of you max hr all the way up to ~80% of your max hr. Ideally if you are well trained, you should be able to stay in these zones for a really long time (several hours). This could be power walking, jogging, and coversational paced running.
Zone 3 has been called the marathon pace zone, the blue zone, the moderately hard zone, or the fast running zone. This is where the breathing gets somewhat labored. This typically is from 80-88% of your max hr. A well trained runner should be able to race 15-30 miles in this zone (2 - 3 hours).
Zone 4 is erroneously called LT. Its actually the zone where you maximize the training of you lactate threshold, but is significantly faster than lactate threshold. The proper term is maximum lactate steady state (MLSS). This is at around 88-92% of your max hr. You should be able to race at this pace for an hour (if trained). That is typically somewhere between a 10K and a 20K race.
Zone 5 is your Vo2max. This is getting very close to your maximum heart rate. (98+%) This is where your body takes in as much oxygen as possible to use for exercise. At this point you should be able to race for 10-11 minutes (Andrew Coggan disputes this, but this is the info that Jack Daniles has provided. AC seems to think it should be for less time). This will be for about a 1.5-2 mile race for most triathletes.
Zone 6 is faster than V02max. Typically this will be races that last only a couple of minutes.
Sprinting - THIS is anaerobic. You can go completely anaerobic for ~10 seconds (maybe up to 20…not sure).
So, the main point here is that there is a lot that happens between zone 2 and sprinting that is not considered “anaerobic.”
Regarding your 5K race, I’d expect you to be able to maintain ~95% of your max heart rate for a 20 minute race. I’m guessing that would be in the high 180s for you if they are actually using 80%max hr for the top end of your “aerobic” zone.
Anyway, I hope that helps. I often screw up a detail here and there, so look for people to offer corrections.
Regarding your 5K race, I’d expect you to be able to maintain ~95% of your max heart rate for a 20 minute race. I’m guessing that would be in the high 180s for you if they are actually using 80%max hr for the top end of your “aerobic” zone.
The highest I ever got on the cs200 was 200 bpm and that was only for a few seconds. I guess this is my max. I can go for 20-25 minutes running at 170, maybe 45-60 minutes cycling at 170 but I cannot imagine going for more than 1-2 minutes at 190+ bpm.
I have a lot of training ahead of me so maybe this will seem easier in a few months/years.
It will all come with training. For example, if right now you are able to hold 4:00/km pace for that 25 minutes of running at 170 HR, then the following is what you should expect to happen with more training:
Dan
Keep in mind that the times and paces I gave are for running. Th ebike may be a little different.
I qualified everything above with “well trained.” Out of shape people won’t be able to sustain as much.
And you really need to do a field test to more accurately determine your training zones. The ones programed into HRM’s are usually based on age only and have no real correlation to what your zones should be.
A typical run (or bike) field test would be about a 15 minute warm up easy and then start your TT. It will be a 30 minute effort as hard as you can maintain without a lot of fluctuation in effort. After the first 10 minutes of sustaining the effort, hit your lap funsction and record the next 20 minutes effort. Then when your done with that give yourself a nice warm down. Your approximate LT will be the average HR of that 20 minute recorded period.
Another way to get a rough estimate of your LT would be a 10 - 15k race and see what sort of average you can maintain throughout the race. This is not always as accurate though. My last stand alone 10k I averaged in the upper 180’s (and was about 190 for a 5k the week before) but I know based on other distances and tempo runs as well as the above field test that my LT is right around 180 and NOT in the upper 180’s!
Once you get that number you can come up with a better range for your zones and apply what Barry mentioned above with regards to the amount you can maintain.
HTH.
The highest I ever got on the cs200 was 200 bpm and that was only for a few seconds.
do you mean “RS200” (or are you carrying your cycling computer)?
The highest I ever got on the cs200 was 200 bpm and that was only for a few seconds.
do you mean “RS200” (or are you carrying your cycling computer)?
I’m carrying the cycle computer. I may get a polar watch later on but for now with a garmin gps, nike ipod and polar bike computer I can get all the info I want and even maybe too much for my current level of understanding.