[Anonymous]

I’m early into some aerobic base building and I’ve got a couple questions:

How far do you let your HR drop after it leaves the desired zone before starting running again? Currently my method is to wait for my watch to buzz to let my know it’s dropped back into the desired zone and then I choose an arbitrary landmark on the trail to start running from. This sometimes means it only drops 5bpm from the zones max and other times it drops 10 to 15bpm.

I’ve also noticed that my HR rapidly climbs if I hit a particularly steep section of trail. This causes it to rise >15bpm from the desired zone’s max, at that point should I just stop or continue with walking until it’s back into the desired zone?

Topic

[Shashi]

Shashi on August 4, 2021 at 10:18 pm #56186

When my AeT was 135, my Zone 2 was in the range of 120-135. Initially, I set the alerts for the threshold values but then I changed it to say 122-132 to make sure I stayed in Z2.

On steeper sections just walk to keep your heart rate below AeT.

Hope this is helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on August 5, 2021 at 3:20 am #56190

Thanks Shashi

So my understanding was that I could jog while in Z2 unless the terrain or elevation causes me to go out the zone and therefore walk. Does this mean that I should exclusively walk the hills I’m currently getting about half way up when jogging before getting out of Z2 just to stay in Z2 the whole way round?

Even with walking and a narrower HR range for alerts on the watch, I’m still not sure what to do if I was to go out the zone. If the top of my Z2 is 150, do I wait until it drops to 135 or is somewhere in the middle okay?

[Shashi]

Shashi on August 5, 2021 at 10:52 am #56198

I should have mentioned this earlier but I am assuming you have ADS.

So my understanding was that I could jog while in Z2 unless the terrain or elevation causes me to go out the zone and therefore walk.

Yes, you are correct.

Does this mean that I should exclusively walk the hills I’m currently getting about halfway up when jogging before getting out of Z2 just to stay in Z2 the whole way round?

You will have to figure out what works best for you. If you walk the entire section, does it help to keep the heart rate in Z2? Then do that. If a jog/walk combination works better to keep heart rate in Z2, then take that approach.

If the top of my Z2 is 150, do I wait until it drops to 135 or is somewhere in the middle okay?

As you progress you will figure out what works best for you based on the terrain.

I just want to say that it’s okay if your heart rate goes above or below Z2 for a short period. These zones are not exact by any means and as far as the majority of your training is in Z2 you are good.

[LindsayTroy]

LindsayTroy on August 5, 2021 at 12:25 pm #56201

My strategy is to let my HR drop to below halfway so that I have some room to go back up. So in Shashi’s example with the zone going from 120-135, I would wait until it gets below 127 and then I’d start jogging again.