Another variation of the oft-asked question …

This past Monday I revisited the AeT test. Because of my treadmill max of 60 minutes, I did a 15-minute warm up, stopped that one, and immediately started a 60-minute workout. I used non-varying 3.5 mph; incline of 15%. My HR dropped from about 142 into the 120s during the short transition on the treadmill, and it took a bit to level out at the test-starting 142 HR on the real test. If I set aside the first 5 minutes or so of HR oscillations and use the remaining 55 minutes, I am within spec. But my real question is this: if you look at drift within the 2nd 30 minutes, it’s just over 1% and if you look at the last 20 minutes, there’s no drift at all. Is this indicating anything of significance? Or should I be content with the results and use 142 as my new Z2 max? BTW my max HR is around 175.

I did a number of searches on the UA site and found all kinds of discussion on variations of this question, but it seemed like they mostly had to do with outdoor running and the other variables (e.g. pace) that come into play.

Thx