Old 04-25-23, 06:01 AM
  #5  
Kai Winters
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Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Northern NY...Brownville
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Bikes: Specialized Aethos, Specialized Diverge Comp E5

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Most are reasonably accurate for the average person.
More important is tracking your max heart rate. Zone tracking is determined by the max heart rate a person inputs when using a zone method.
Your max heart rate will change as you become more or less "heart fit"...the fitter you become aerobically/anaerobically the higher your max heart rate will be and as you achieve new heights you have to adjust your zone tracking system to indicate the new max heart rate.
As an example my current max heart rate is 182bpm measured last year during a hill climb race with a friend during a training session. I use TrainingPeaks 5 zone system...they offer a wide variety of zone systems and I prefer the 5 zone for no particular reason. My zone 1 is 123-132bpm, zone 2 is 133-142bpm, etc. I can be just tooling along doing a zone 2 pace while someone less heart fit may be in zone 3 at that target heart rate...fitness rules.
I use the 5 zone system because I feel a 10bpm range between zones is very manageable and easy to use. More zones mean a more narrow range and imo becomes clumsy, less zones is too wide a range...again just my opinion.
I also view the tracking data on my Garmin edge device and Strava and find them similar enough to TP.
The old method of subtracting your age from 220bpm is an inaccurate method and imo is used for the average person who is barely fit. I'm 67 so subtracting my age from 220 means my max bpm is 153 lol. That is zone 3 for me lol. My time trial cruising pace is 165bpm for an hour or more thus blowing up that silly method.
How do you monitor your heart rate during a workout? Have you determined what your max heart rate is at this time? Have you tried?
Most important is to be aware of your system medically before pushing too hard. Are you heart healthy? Are you fit or just starting out? Do you use a journal to record, track and monitor your condition, changes, how you feel, etc?
Good luck and "Ride On"...
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