HR zones and HR reserve

Triathlon Forum
1

Training plans that are based on HR typically express the level of effort in % of HR reserve (HRR = MHR - RHR). Recently, I’ve been trying to reconcile my training plan and my repeatable test values for HRR, with complete frustration. From discussions that I have with fellow athletes, I can only conclude that my reserve is atypically broad and the quantitative values don’t match well with the qualitative metrics (namely LT). My RHR is in the ballpark of 50 bpm and my MHR is 203 on the bike and 213 on the run.

First of all, I fully acknowledge that HR training is always approximate and varies by individual. Any generalized statements that I make are based on typical, reported results. According to most literature and training plans, the typical LT lands somewhere in the 81-83% range. That said, a good sustainable aerobic rate should be around 75% (as my particular plan emphasizes). For me, on the bike, 75% is worth about 1:15 of sustainable effort, whereas 72-73% will get me through at least 3:00 - the extent to which I’ve gone this season. In other words, my body behaves as though its LT is around 73-74%. Running is not much of a problem since I run year round and I’m only at 2 hrs on my weekly long. Obviously, I can modify the percentages to match my experimental capacity, but it’s totally frustrating from a planning and execution standpoint.

Two questions:

  1. Is a reserve of 153-163 bpm abnormally high?
  2. From experience, what is your reserve and how well does it match the “standard zones”?
2

I have found over the years, that resting HR and Max HR, have no real association with each other. So to use some arbitary formula that uses these two numbers as a starting point, is just not a good start. When I was racing in my early 20’s, my max was about 203, and my resting was 29…Other athletes of my caliber with the same max rates, would be in the 40 to 55 range of resting. So as you can see, even if one of the #'s is constant between tow athletes, the formula still does’nt work. Just imagine if both #'s are screwy, which would happen a lot in comparing those two #'s…

Best to figure out what your own max is, and base your zones off that, or do a good threshold test or something similar. Resting HR is pretty useless as an indicator of anything, unless it is waaay off one day. Day to day it can vary for different reasons, and many are not harmful to that days training. A much better indicator is your actual training rate, if that baby is off by much, then there could be a problem…