I spent months wondering why I couldn’t match up Z2 power and Z2 Heart Rate. You have been given plenty of advice and pointers, probably for you to decide whether you wish to train by power or Heart Rate.
A few observations which may or may not help. (Possibly answers and comments from those who have been on Zwift longer than us)
Zwift has 5 heart rate zones but 6 power zones - why would you expect them to match up exactly.
Zwift shows your power zones in cycling (do free riding and workout power zones match up ?) but heart rate zone and speed (converted to power zone ?) in running.
Heart rate zones can only be as good as the max heart rate put in.
I learnt two new HR calculations today:
Zone 2: (Max hr - resting HR) *0.7 + resting HR [ from video]
And
Max HR: 211 - 0.64xage ( this one actually came from Zwift in link below and may interest those regular exercisers over 30 )
[edit - but of course is Max HR a formula or what your heart will actually do - when called upon to do so? ]
Why doesn’t Zwift have similar option of HR zones for cycling?
Do what you enjoy the most and keeps you on the bike the longest.
Zone 2 would be around 65,70,75 % of your FTP your heart rate model (5 zones) should be close to that zone as well.
its hard to tell if its always the case for everyone, but every zone model is also just statistics and research and might not work for everyone, but as a rough ETA yes its probably true.
well one of the videos shows the italian medicus talking about zone 2 and precisely this. there is a turning point for everything and the generated byproducts will suppress one or the other thing. in this case, the more glucose burned the less fat burned, and with more glucose burned the more lactacte is not metabolised and will hinder blood flow and thus glucose transport and fat transport as well. its also interesting to know that with more aerobic training in your legs your anaerobic capacity will be higher and you can compensate anaerobic stress much more better over time. i think technically speaking there is neither an aerobic nor an anaerobic state it just depends on the equilibrium your aiming for per state to define its shape.
from what i know 65 to 75% is the zone with the highest fat metabolised, but of course also glucoses is metabolised. and its no secret that heart rate will become even better in such zones over time with more kilometers in your legs. technically speaking heart rate is a very good parameter for showing you a good and a bad training state but it requires alot of research or expertise and of course time to know that.
its also important to know that eventhough those higher aerobic zone, zone 2 (no joke for newcomers btw), can cause serious stress to muscles if people do it over and over again and this may lead to inflammatory processes caused by the cell water triggered by destoryed muscle fibers. causing people to gain weight. so called overtraining.
if you aim for a constant training day in day out 50 to 60% is probably king maybe even 50% and a bit lower since you regenerate by doing it and your body can compensate the stress much better over time.
I’ve had the same sort of questions about my own zone 2 workouts. Here’s what I would do (I’m not a coach or physiologist, just an interested punter).
For max HR 163, set these custom HR zones:
Z1 90-117
Z2 117-130
Z3 130-142
Z4 142-152
Z5 152-163
Then do your Z2 workout according to power. If your HR is between 120 and 130, and you’re no more than very slightly puffed, you’re good to go.
If your HR is a bit higher but you’re still not puffed, I’d probably just carry on the way you are.
If you’d prefer to ease off a bit, try a free ride. Warm up well, then ride to keep your HR around 125-130 for 10 or 15 minutes. See what average power you get for that time, and adjust your workout power to match. You’re still likely to be in Z2 for power.
Try not to get too concerned about precise figures. Bodies aren’t like machines, and everyone’s physiology is a bit different.
If you do 30 or 1 min next ramp tests, forget about a ramp test as a good measure for a correct FTP test!
in order to get a proper FTP go wild for 5 minutes (all out) and for 20 minutes (all out) these are considered the best parameters to tell your FTP. Ramp tests are to short to give you proper estimates for 20 min or 60 minutes, 60 minutes is your FTP.
Most if not all tools and workouts are very short and calculate your FTP, better measure it (5, 20 to 60 minutes constant pressure).
If you like to go wild in a ramp test, create your own.
Use 3 or 4 min ramps and start at 150 w.
ever 3/4 min add 30/40 watt and see how far you can go
You can take the last 20 min of such a ramp test as well. Since it is scaling up slowly and forcing your body to adpat to the constant stress, if you jump every 30 to 60 s you can throw such a ramp test directly into the trash bin.
Hi i have found a zone 2 workout. It’s in the ACTIVE OFFSEASON workout go into most of the weeks on that and it has a workout called ACTIVE RECOVERY that should do you👍
I’m in the same boat as it were, same heart rate max based on cardiac drift test and same zone 2 hr range. The rides are long and kind of excruciating due to having to keep that heart rate low. I was told by a coach to play with cadence if I get bored, such as 10 minutes at 60, 10 minutes at 90 or 95. But I can’t do 90 or 95 or 100 or 120 without raising my heart rate but I can do 60 and I can do up to 85 and stay at zone two heart rate, the coach said, when I can stay in zone to heart rate when I’m upping my cadence, then I’m ready to progress. But I do have some intervals I can do for The first six weeks, and the next six weeks. Maybe I’ll try that tonight. Meanwhile, I was going to mention the road cycling Academy, RCA Which is Where I got assessed, but it sounds like you already know what you’re doing, so maybe you’ve already done that step.
A lot of good advice here .
I use most of it but not all the time and in the same amount.
Depends on my goals
My riding goals are power based and I train specific power zones but I monitor my HR.
I don’t understand how HR zones can be configured based upon a percentage of max HR without taking into account the resting HR.
I feel you need two pieces of info, max HR and resting HR otherwise the calculated HR becomes too low to be useful.