Training guide
Heart rate zones: training in the right zone
Heart rate zones divide effort from very easy to maximal, so an easy session stays easy and a hard one is hard. What matters is what the zones are counted from.
Updated
What is a heart rate zone?
A heart rate zone is a range of beats per minute that matches an effort. The lowest zones are easy endurance, which you can hold for a long time and talk in. The highest are what you can only hold briefly. Zones make it easy to train at the right effort, even when your pace varies with hills, wind or heat.
Max heart rate or threshold heart rate?
Zones can be counted from your max heart rate or from your threshold heart rate, the heart rate you can hold for about an hour when you push. Formulas like 220 minus your age give a rough estimate of max heart rate that is often wrong for the individual. Threshold heart rate also reflects how fit you are today and moves as your fitness changes.
- Threshold heart rate: measured with a test and follows your fitness.
- Max heart rate: a simple alternative if you know your own max well.
- Zones differ between running and cycling, so they are counted per sport.
How to test your threshold heart rate
A common running test is 30 minutes as fast as you can evenly, after a good warm-up. The average heart rate over the last 20 minutes is your threshold heart rate, and the average pace gives your threshold pace. On the bike, threshold heart rate is 95 percent of the average heart rate over a 20-minute test.
What TriQuest does
- Zones are counted from your threshold heart rate, or your max heart rate if you choose it, for each sport.
- Plan a threshold test puts the test in your calendar, and the result updates your zones when you approve it.
- You can change the boundaries yourself or use your watch's zones, and workouts sent to your Garmin have targets in your zones.
Common questions
Common questions about heart rate zones
How often should I test my threshold heart rate?
When your fitness has changed noticeably, or when your watch shows your fitness has moved. TriQuest can suggest a new test when your VO2max from the watch changes.
Why is my heart rate high on easy runs?
Heat, fatigue, sleep and caffeine raise your heart rate. Keep the effort easy and let the pace be slower on those days.
More about TriQuest
Training guides
Heart rate zones, tests, long runs, tapering and race fuelling.
Tapering before a race
Less volume, the same sharpness: arrive at the start rested.
The long run
How long, how fast and how the long run should grow.
Brick workouts
Running straight off the bike, so the race's transition feels familiar.
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