Is there a formula to determine how long it should take the HR to drop below 120 from any starting HR?
In the NYT article it was 20 beats per minute which seems about right. I have seen as high as 25 beats per minute. The point is that if you are at threshold, which in general, is around 160 bpm, the heart rate will drop to 120 bpm in 2 minutes.
Originally Posted by
Road Fan
I see the point of this criterion, but is "recover to 120" a standard value? Seems to me it should be based on your training zone values.
Yes, I defined 120 bpm as active recovery (zone 1) for many people. However, if your zone 1 is 115 then use 115 bpm. This is more of an indicator than a lab measurement. If you hr drops quickly, that is very good. If it stays up at 160 and then drops very slowly, that was a very hard effort for you and may be too hard for your current fitness. I think it is nice to have a gauge to try to get a handle on how hard you are working your cardio system. You do not need a HR monitor just a watch and take your pulse. This is very good technique, IMO, if you are doing intervals to know if you are working too hard or not hard enough
