How to approach zone practice if heart rate zones are completely inaccurate I recently started training with a heart rate belt. However, my heart rate zones seem completely different from the information I could gather online.
First, I'm in my mid-thirties but have a maximum heart rate of 197, which is much higher than it should be. However, it seems for many people this can be the case.
Second, more importantly, my heart rate zones differ a lot from standard percentages. Cyclingweekly stated that 82-89% should be for efforts lasting a few minutes but it is ok for me to hold the mid-80s for several hours. 89% and above only works for a few minutes. I don't seem to have any heart rate zone to target for a 20 minute effort.
Third, the indicator about speaking seems completely inaccurate. At 87%, speaking one sentence at a time (usually zone 2) is possible.
My question is how should I approach cycling practice based on zones if I fall out of the regular categories? I would also like to know possible reasons why the zones can be off, especially in case this relates to health issues or lack of training in some respect.
Max HR isn't a particularly useful metric.
Not only is it particularly difficult to measure/estimate, but it can't be used to accurately define training zones, as there are large variations between individuals with regards to % of MHR they can sustain for various durations. It can even change for an individual based on their current state of training.
Basing zones on Lactate Threshold Heart Rate (LTHR) is a much more useful metric for determining appropriate training zones. The most common way to determine LTHR is by performing a 30 minute solo time trial as if it were a race, and taking the average HR for the last 20 minutes of the effort. https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/joe-friel-s-quick-guide-to-setting-zones/