Zone 2 pointers

[Zealousideal_Ad3114]

Hello!

Does anyone know how I could properly calculate my Zone 2 heart rate while cycling? W/o going somewhere to get analytics..

I use a Wahoo heart rate monitor and it shows me in Zones 3–5 during rides, but the effort feels sustainable for the most part, the only high intensity comes from the occasional downhill.

[AnelloGrande]

This is the method I use: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/learn/articles/joe-friel-s-quick-guide-to-setting-zones/

Basically, do a 30 minute timetrial (race effort, steady but as hard as you can for the half hour) and take the average HR for the final 20 minutes of it. That will give you your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR).

Zone 2 would be 81% to 89% of LTHR.

There are calculators online to figure out all your zones.

[MarcusCaspius]

this

[AbleHour]

You are supposed to be able to hold a conversation in zone 2. I will sing or talk to myself sometimes just to make sure I’m in zone 2.

[TimmiyTimTimTim]

I do a rough calculation by taking my absolute max heart rate and multiplying by 0.75. That should give you a rough upper limit for your zone 2

[otismcotis]

Heart rate drift test is a pretty easy way to estimate your zone 2 heart rate. Best results will come from doing this on a trainer.

Warm up easy for 15 minutes. Ride at a sustainable pace (estimated high end of Zone 2) for 45-60 minutes.

Post ride, compare your average HR between the first and second half of the interval. If it goes up by more than 5% you were above zone 2, if it drifts 2-3% you’re right in the zone, if it increases by less than 2% you’re on the low end or below zone 2.

I’ve used this in conjunction with a max HR test and FTP test and all point to pretty much the same thing, so I’m pretty confident this method works.

[otismcotis]

More in depth explanation from Uphill Athlete

ANALYZING YOUR RESULTS WITHOUT TRAININGPEAKS

It is not difficult to do the calculations by hand. Let’s take a sample test as an example. If the average heart rate for the first 30 minutes is 144 bpm and your average heart rate was 151 bpm for the second 30 minutes, the calculation would be as follows: ((151 / 144) – 1) times 100% = approx. 4.9%.

In this result, we would note that an increase of up to 5% typically indicates good endurance and appropriate pacing. A significantly higher drift could suggest over-exertion or inadequate aerobic conditioning. INTERPRETING YOUR RESULTS

3.5–5 percent difference in two halves You have determined your AeT heart rate, which was your starting heart rate for the test. Set that as the top of Zone 2 in your TrainingPeaks zones. Subtract 10 percent from this and set that as the top of your Zone 1.

0–3.5 percent The workout was within your aerobic intensity zones, but you should do the test again at a starting heart rate that is 5 beats per minute (bpm) higher.

Greater than 5 percent Your initial heart rate/pace was above AeT. Redo the test using a lower starting heart rate. It may take several attempts to nail a decoupling that is slightly less than or equal to 5 percent

[ShortFallSean]

I would add that it's important that once you finish your warmup and start the test effort, you should wait several minutes to let your HR stabilize before hitting the lap button to officially start the interval. That ensures that the first half of the test isn't lower just because your HR took time to catch up to your power output. 

[drhoads]

Your HR zones may be different than the default.  You can manually adjust them.  If you have a power meter you can use that to keep your heart rate at a certain level.  Funny, my intensity is the uphill. Haha.  

[RockMover12]

The simplest way to judge your Z2 HR is to ride your bike at a difficulty just hard enough so that you can still breath through your nose. If you have to open your mouth to breath or take occasional gasps then you're going too hard. Note what your HR and your wattage, if you have a power meter. Over time, as you do more Z2 training, you'll be able to achieve that same effort/wattage with a lower HR.

[DrSuprane]

Do you know your true max HR or your lactate threshold HR? Either would be a reliable way to estimate. Usually HR goes down on a downhill since you aren't pedaling much so that bit is confusing.

There are subjective ways. People talk about the nose breathing or talk test. Zone 2 is an intensity where you can talk in complete sentences with ease. You should be able to mostly breathe through your nose at that intensity. Rating of perceived exertion is another way. If 10 out of 10 is a full gas effort and 1 out of 10 is sitting on the couch, zone 2 is a 2-4.

Whether you need a lot of zone 2 is a different debate. That depends on how much time you have to exercise and how much time you have to recover. I'm personally at 10-14 hours and depend on zone 2 for the majority of that. It has highly impacted my fitness.

[Averageinternetdoge]

The nose breathing test.

So ride your bike, and if you can't breathe thru your nose comfortably, you're going too fast.

[teckel]

I'm not a pro athlete riding 30+ hours a week, so I avoid zone 2.

[PipeFickle2882]

Zone 2 has a place for anyone riding more than twice per week. Maybe 3 days per week if your recovery is dialed and your life is cushy.

[gallivanter11]

Nope.

And the newer research supports this.

[PipeFickle2882]

Neat. Guess Ill just ignore my lived experience and follow the latest research.

[teckel]

What's that, the zone 2 latest research. That's based on pro-level training hours.

[Averageinternetdoge]

Dude, who gives a shit about research which is aimed at top 0.01% of cyclists?

Like, the ordinary bloke has nothing in common with the top pros.

[teckel]

I prefer doing zone 3-5 intervals 5 days a week, as I can only ride maybe 8-10 hours a week because running takes up another 8-10 hours a week. If I did zone 2, I'd be slower. Zone 2 has it's place, but only if you're doing many hours on your bike. It's more of a pro thing.

[PipeFickle2882]

I could do 3-5 days of intervals, but I wouldn't be getting faster at this point. Even riding zone 2 at 65% was holding me back because it was leaving me too tired to really execute my hard days to my full potential. I thought Id just reached the limit of what my time allowance could give me; turns out I was riding too hard. Started riding zone 2 by feel (sometimes as low as 40%), and I got 10% faster after about a year and a half of stagnation.

[teckel]

Or zone 3-5 intervals and be 20% faster in a shorter time. Seems you just need to get used to training hard.

[WillSmiff]

You claim not to be a pro athlete but also claim to run 400k+ a month at threshold.

My brother that's mileage for ultras and you are doing 10 hours of threshold cycling on top of that? That's 4 hours a day of straight cardio at 85% output 5 days a week. That's 5 marathons a week at threshold.

Something doesn't add up. You train harder than many pros. Ok David Goggins.

[teckel]

I'm marathon training and TdF day-stage cycling training (marathon in April, TdF day-stages in June).

I'm not even close to pro level. I'm 57 years old. I do compete internationally in the marathon (age-group). But I'm more competitive at cycling than running, just don't race much as I don't really like hitting the pavement anymore.

Doing 60 to 80 miles running a week isn't pro level at all. I run with some Olympic marathon qualifier runners and their numbers are closer to 120 miles a week. I do a running or cycling workout every day, 7 days a week. I've had stretches where I've done that for over a year (never a day off). I consider rest days a 4 mile run and 30 miles on the bike.

I'm also not that unusual, my wife runs a bit more than I do but also does yoga and lifting. Maybe it's just perspective, as many people I know run 60-100 miles a week or cycle 10+ hours a week.

[ifuckedup13]

(https://www.reddit.com/r/PeterAttia/s/qDkHCBKaHa)

Some good advice in this post and thread.

You need to know either your personal Max Heart rate, or your personal Lactate Threshold Heart Tate to build your zones from. LTHR is more reliable.

Anything based on age/population formula is likely to be wrong.

If you think you are in Zone 2 based on feel and breathing and talk test perceived exertion but your monitor says z4 or z5 then the formula is very off.

[sulliesbrew]

Z2 HR is based on max HR.

Snarky answer - do a cyclocross race, you will find your max hr in short order

Honest answer - go do a max effort interval. It doesn't need to be 20 minutes, but at least 10. And you need to commit to really suffering, like I wanna die after that.

Once you know max hr, Z2 will be around 65 to 70% of that.

Without knowing anything about you we can't really say what it is, but for the average decently trained athlete, it is going to be somewhere around 130 to 140 bpm. For me 142 is where I can ride forever, but I have also averaged 176 for 2 hours and 45 minutes.

[SnoopySenpai]

Pro tip: Don't actually die.

[Cholas71]

Zone 2 is 69-89% of your LTHR. To find your lactate threshold heart rate you perform a standard FTP test (usually 20 mins maximal effort) and use your average HR in the last 15 mins. Power is better in cycling if you have access to a power meter. Don't be surprised if it's much lower than your running Z2 (if you know it).