Originally Posted by
fly135
I recorded an avg HR of 123 and max of 148. According to the 220 - age rule for est max HR I would be at 156-157 (about to turn 64). Guess it's going to take a bit of work to get there.
Try not to focus on max. heart rate, it's not that useful. And forget the 220 minus age rule, it is inaccurate.
It's far better to determine your
lactate threshold heart rate, which is where your breathing starts to become heavy enough that you can only talk in short phrases.
Heart rate training zones are typically defined as a percentage lactate threshold (LT) heart rate.
Here are the "Coggan" zones:
- 1- Active recovery, <68% of LT, easy spinning
- 2- Endurance, 69-83% of LT, "all day" (multi-hour) pace
- 3- Tempo, 84-94% of LT, "spirited" riding
- 4- LT, 91-105% of LT, time-trial pace, heavy breathing
- 5- VO2max, >106% of LT, very hard effort, "ragged" breathing
I'm turning 65, my LT heart rate is about 150, and most of my rides have average heart rate in the 120s (zone 2).
I try to do a harder ride a couple of times per week, but not more than that. It takes longer to recover from those efforts, and recovery is key (especially for us olds--we recover more slowly).