Hello,

I’m confused about low heart rate training Zone and which zone is meant with it. My 23 heart rate zone ends at 130bpm. When running in that zone it is very relaxed. According to the MAF formula my low heart rate zone ends at 142bpm. This is in the upper part of Z3 aerobic Zone. That BPM is don’t consider low heart rate when running.

Isn’t “low heart rate zone training” done at Z2? Or am I missing something?

To make it even more confusing, my Garmin watch suggest to do base training with a 138bpm HR which is another value. Which zone makes most sense to use for my base runs and why?

  • @[email protected]OP
    1•1 year ago

    I’m wondering about that the maf max HR is in Z3 and not in Z2. I considered Z2 as low heart rate, not the value that I got from the MAF formula anymore.

    • ghoseEnglish
      1•1 year ago

      MAF (maximum aerobic fuction) HR (heart rate) is NOT in your Z3. You should NOT be over that number (if you want to maximize aerobic function), it’s not an average value for your run, it’s the top limit, so your average HR for the run should be clearly below that number (obvious). You may walk in part of the route if it is too steep or you go longer than usual.

      MAF is NOT Z3. I’ve not seen anywhere that.

      “I considered…”

      well, you (or I) could consider whatever zones :D

      usually “zones” are 1 to 5, being 2 considered easy, conversational, nose breathing, … pretty similar to MAF but not the same, being MAF more restrictive on the top limit. Do not cheat when calculating MAF, usually just 180-yourAge.

      • @[email protected]OP
        1•1 year ago

        According to my Garmin my Z3 starts at 131BPM. According to MAF my heart rate should be below 142BPM. So even 10BPM less is in my Z3.

        • ghoseEnglish
          1•1 year ago

          In my opinion, something is wrong with your Garmin Zones.

          How is your garmin calculating Zones?

          Garmin fitness devices assign heart rate zones based on your maximum and resting heart rates set in your user profile

          so check that Max. and Rest HR are correctly set and change them if needed

          My best guess is your Maximum HR is set wrong (too low). Look in your training logs what’s your max HR in some intense activities, and considering some unaccurancies you can make a good stimation of your Max HR. This applies IF you do some intense runs/exercise. You need to go hard for some minutes. At your age, unless some unlikely conditions, you should reach about 180 bpm.