Quick Guide to Training With Heart Rate, Power and Pace

I offer training plans to cyclists, triathletes and runners through TrainingPeaks.com. While I describe in most of my books how to set one's training zones, I still get lots of questions about how to do it from those who are new to my plans. So rather than answering all of those emails I will just point athletes to this post from now on. Even if you don't have any intentions to use a plan of mine, this may help you get your trining zone set up effectively.

 

This Quick Guide will help you get the intensity of your training plan workouts right whether you use only a heart rate monitor or also train with a power meter and/or a runner’s speed and distance device such as a GPS or accelerometer. Swimming pace is also described here for Triathletes. For a more complete guide to training with heart rate, power and pace please see my book Total Heart Rate Training. You will also find more detailed information on the subject of measuring intensity in my Triathlete’s Training Bible, Cyclist’s Training Bible and Mountain Biker’s Training Bible books.

 

How to Train With Heart Rate (Running and Cycling)

Step 1. Determine your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR) with a short test. (Do not use 220 minus your age as this is as likely to be wrong as right.) This LTHR test is best done before starting the training plan. To find your LTHR do a 30-minute time trial all by yourself (no training partners and not in a race). Again, it should be done as if it was a race for the entire 30 minutes. (If you really are using a race then it needs to be about 60 minutes duration. The reason for ths is that you go harder when in a real race - about as hard as you would go for 30 minutes alone.)  At 10 minutes into the 30-minute test click the lap button on your heart rate monitor (in a 60-minute race don't worry about this). When done look to see what your average heart rate was for the last 20 minutes. That number is an approximation of your LTHR. Note: I am frequently asked if you should go hard for the first 10 minutes. The answer is yes. Go hard for the entire 30 minutes. But be aware that most people doing this test go too hard the first few minutes and then gradually slow down for the remainder. That will give you inaccurate results. The more times you do this test the more accurate your LTHR will become as you will learn to pace yourself better at the start.

 

Step 2. Establish your training zones. Use the following guide to establish each zone by sport.

 

Run Zones       Your Zones

Zone 1 Less than 85% of LTHR     <_____

Zone 2 85% to 89% of LTHR   _____ - _____

Zone 3 90% to 94% of LTHR   _____ - _____

Zone 4 95% to 99% of LTHR   _____ - _____

Zone 5a 100% to 102% of LTHR     _____ - _____

Zone 5b 103% to 106% of LTHR     _____ - _____

Zone 5c More than 106% of LTHR    >_____

 

Bike Zones

Zone 1 Less than 81% of LTHR     <_____

Zone 2 81% to 89% of LTHR   _____ - _____

Zone 3 90% to 93% of LTHR   _____ - _____

Zone 4 94% to 99% of LTHR   _____ - _____

Zone 5a 100% to 102% of LTHR     _____ - _____

Zone 5b 103% to 106% of LTHR     _____ - _____

Zone 5c More than 106% of LTHR    >_____

 

Step 3. When following the heart rate-zone directions in your training plan use your zones as established above.

 

How to Train With Power (Cycling)

Step 1. Establish your Functional Threshold Power (FTPw). Use the same 30-minute time trial test above for LTHR to determine your FTPw (or 60 minutes if a race). The only difference is that the average power for the entire 30 minutes is an approximation of your FTPw. This may be done on the road or on an indoor trainer. As with LTHR testing, the more times you do this test the more accurate the results will become since there is a learning curve associated with such an effort. This is best done before starting the training plan. The more times you do this test the more accurate your FTPw will become.

 

Step 2. Set up your personal power training zones using the following guide (from Allen and Coggan, Training and Racing With a Power Meter).

 

Zone 1 Less than 55% of FTPw     <_____

Zone 2 55% to 74% of FTPw   _____ - _____

Zone 3 75% to 89% of FTPw       _____ - _____

Zone 4 90% to 104% of FTPw      _____ - _____

Zone 5 105% to 120% of FTPw   _____ - _____

Zone 6 More than 120% of FTPw >_____

 

Step 3. When following the power-zone directions in your training plan use your zones as established above.

 

How to Train With Pace (Running)

Step 1. Determine your Functional Threshold Pace (FTPa) using either a runner’s GPS device or an accelerometer. To do this, warm-up and then run for 30 minutes just as described under “Training With Heart Rate, Step 1” above (or a 60-minute race). Your FTPa is your average pace for the entire 30 minutes. This is best done before starting the training plan. The more times you do this test the more accurate your FTPa will become.

 

Step 2. Compute your pace zones with the following guidelines using your pace as minutes and seconds per mile or kilometer. It is easiest to do this if you convert to tenths of a minute. For example, 7 minutes 30 seconds would be 7.5 minutes. In this example, to determine the upper (slower) end of zone 4 multiply 7.5 by 1.05 producing a pace of 7.875 (7 minutes, 52 seconds).

 

Zone 1 Slower than 129% of FTPa   >_____

Zone 2 114% to 129% of FTPa   _____ - _____

Zone 3 106% to 113% of FTPa   _____ - _____

Zone 4 101% to 105% of FTPa   _____ - _____

Zone 5a 97% to 100% of FTPa   _____ - _____

Zone 5b 90% to 96% of FTPa       _____ - _____

Zone 5c Faster than 90% of FTPa     <_____

 

Step 3. When following the run pace-zone directions in your training plan use your zones as established above.

 

How to Train With Pace (Swimming)

Step 1. Determine your T-time. There are many ways of doing this. One of the most common is to swim a 1000-meter/yard time trial at your pool. It may help to have someone on deck counting laps as it’s easy to lose track in such a test. What you are trying to determine is your average 100 pace for the test. Simply swim 1000 and then divide your finish time by 10. This is your T-time. This should be done before starting the training plan. The more times you do this test the more accurate your T-time will become as there is a learning curve that has to do with pacing in the first few minutes when doing this test.

 

Step 2. In your training plan the swim workouts will often refer to pace as T-time plus (+) or minus (-) a few seconds. For example, T-time + 5 seconds would mean swimming at a pace that would be the equivalent of your T-time plus 5 seconds. So if your T-time is 91 seconds this workout would be calling for you to swim at 96 seconds per 100. If it is a 50 meter/yard set you are doing the time you are shooting for is 48 seconds. In the same way, if the set calls for you to swim 150 meters/yards at T-time + 5 you would swim the distance in 2 minutes and 24 seconds (96 sec + 48 sec).

Comments

[Joe Friel]

Casey--I don't know. Never heard of their metric. Seems every company has something unique.

[AJ Thompson]

Hey Joe

Got fantastic results with your half Ironman plans - more progress in 3 months than in 3 years of Ironman training/racing.
I'm now using Olympic Build/peak power based plan and need to know what CP power levels (which I've not used before) are in relation to Coogan (which I am very used to). I found some reference above to CP5, CP 30 and CP 60 vs Coogan. Could you tell me CP 1, CP 90 and any others vs Coogan.
Cheers
AJ

[Joe Friel]

AJ--Does this help...

Coggan’s power zones as a % of FTP/CP60 (Friel HR and CP zones)

PZ1 (HRZ1, CPallday) <55%
PZ2 (HRZ2, CP360)56-75%
PZ3 (HRZ3, CP90) 76-90%
PZ4 (HRZ4-5a, CP60) 91-105%
PZ5 (HRZ5b, CP6) 106-120%
PZ6 (HRZ5c, CP1) 121-150%

[AJ Thompson]

Thanks Joe - thats exactly what I needed

[Tamsin]

Hi There,

Thanks for the guide on training with HR. I just had both my running and cycling HR zones tested and they turned out to be exactly the same. I thought the running ones would be higher. Do you have any insight on why this is or experience with athletes who have the same zones for each discipline? I am told it is not usual...

Thanks,
--T

[Joe Friel]

Tamsin--It _is_ unusual. I've never seen that in 30 years of working with and testing athletes. Some have been close (<5bpm diff) but never the same.

[Ary Vilhena]

Joe,

I am about to race Ironman Brazil after a 16 week plan bought from you.

I never did my CP Test for the bike, but I can ride at 180W at my ATHR and keep it for many hours.

What if I start my test and I am pushing too hard and have to reduce my power by the end? Should I consider the average for the test? Should I start with less power and push it little by little?

[Joe Friel]

Ary - This is really a question that can't be answered without knowing a lot more about you, and, esp, your long rides done at IM power. I'd just be guessing. Sorry I can't be of help here.

[Aravind Immaneni]

Joe:
In your book, Your Best Triathlon, you give a second option for doing a FTPw test... where you start 80 watts lower than your approx FTPw and ride 4 min intervals with 1 min rest and steadily increase it by 10 watts until you reach your LTHR. My LTHR is 178. I did this test and the approx power at that HR was 215 watts. I did the test on a CompuTrainer.

My question, does this test usually give a FTPw that is a bit higher than the standard 30 min TT test?

Thanks,

Aravind.

[Joe Friel]

Aravind Immaneni - Those who have done the test and reported their results on my blog indicated it was quite accurate compared with other more common markers.

[rafael]

HI.

How i can find accurate Maximum HR and Aerobic Threshold?

[Joe Friel]

Rafael--You don't need max heart rate. Use lactate threshold heart rate as explained above.

[Chip]

Do you have any training plans that incorporate the power based zones and workouts from your new book, "The Power Meter Handbook"?
Thanks for your help.

[Joe Friel]

Chip, yes, go to www.trainingpeaks.com and click on "plans" in top menu.

[baris yetkil]

A little confused after reading Cyclist Training Bible. Should i divide 30min all out workout by 1.05 to find LTHR. Or take it just as LTHR approximation since it is not a race,it is only a workout?

[Joe Friel]

Baris--The last 20 minutes of that 30 min time trial effort is a good approximation of your LTHR.

[L Springett]

Hi joe, thanks for the detailed breakdown.

I'm still a little lost I. That many sites a visit reference your zones but on state 5 zones?is this simply a case that zone five is 5a,b,c combined or that zone four is 4/5a and zone 5 is 5b/5c

For example,strava calls zone four (threshold) and zone 5 (anaerobic), so my thinking is leaning more to the later when trying to set my zones on their.

Thanks in advanced and merry Xmas :-)

[Joe Friel]

L Springett--In my zone system z5 is anaerobic. So 5a, 5b, and 5c are often clumped together.

[Karsten]

Hi Joe,

I am not sure I understand it correctly. If one is not supposed to use the 220 - age, how do you select which zones are right to begin with? In other words: Which heart rate zones are appropriate to use, when you are determining your lactate threshold?
I mean, most heart rate monitors are using 220 - age, but that you cannot use, according to you.

regards Karsten

[Joe Friel]

Karsten--Yes, that's correct: Forget about 220-age. The research shows it could be +/-12 bpm off. That's a 24 bpm swing. Not too accurate, huh? Find your lactate threshold HR (LTHR) as described above. Then use the table for your sport (bike or run) multiplying by the percentages to set up your zones. Note that they vary by sport. Good luck!