How do you calculate your heart rate zones out of interest? Do you do it off of max heart rate or lactate threshold HR? Thanks.
I set up my Zones like this:
Recovery <50%
Zone 1 <60%
Zone 2 <70%
Zone 3 <80%
Zone 4 <85%
Zone 5 85%<
This is in an app called HeartWatch. It works great on an Apple Watch S4 paired with a Polar H10 chest strap. I really love their map function as well where you can watch your run back and see what your distance, speed, HR, elevation were at a given time. It’s a one of cost as well (£2.99 I think) so no monthly payment or anything like that. But you do need an Apple Watch for it. There are many alternative options as well of course.
So within the app you can set up alerts between two figures and I am trto run within those boundaries which is hard for me actually on overground. I find it much easier on a treadmill. I have been running with my friend lately and having a conversation helps slowing you down. Also if you are having a Zone 2 run and you see that your HR is getting really elevated just stop and start walking and focus on breathing to bring it back down. There is absolutely no “shame” in stopping or walking to control your HR, even professional runners do that. On the picture of the map you can see a little red part (we approached a very hilly bit) and my HR started to really go up so we just stopped and walked up.
I find that for overground Zone 2 runs work the best on nice even flat surfaces which today’s course was definitely not.
Regarding lactate threshold, I had multiple tests done in our exercise physiology class at uni so I know my LT is right around 156 BPM. But that was almost 2 years ago, I actually think it would be much different now as my running mechanics slowly but certainly have been improving.
Most elite runners say the 80/20% rule works so that’s what I am trying to do for the next couple of months. 80% of your runs in Zone 2. The other 20% is your tempo runs, intervals and hill sprints.