Originally Posted by
Wildwood
as I recall sustained riding (20 minutes minimum) at 60% of your max begins to improve cardiovascular performance.
Yes, but the problem is determining your max, since all other numbers flow from there. That's the question fthomas is asking.
I've had the usual cardiologist tests, but I haven't had any sport-specific tests done. If I had a few hundred kicking around that I didn't know what to do with, I might pursue it.
The assumption that AT is around 90-92% of max seems about right for me. I started with some of the formulae out there, did some hard, hard, riding and came up with a number for my max that seems close enough. From there how I feel in different parts of each zone seems to match up with how one is supposed to feel in them, so that's what I'm using.