By Mark Fulford

This is a follow on article from Finding Your Maximum Aerobic Heart Rate

Below is a worksheet that can be used to predict your heart rates for the different training zones used in your programmes that are written by EnduranceCoach coaches including myself.

I have based these calculations on the information written by head coach Brendon in his article How To Set Accurate Training Zones which can also be found on the website.

I stress to you that these are predicted heart rates only. In Brendon's article he describes how you accurately find these zones. By working through the worksheet below you will get fairly `ball park' figures that you can field-test while training and hopefully they will prevent from training too hard.

Three key heart rates are needed for you to accurately find the six training intensities. They are your resting heart rate (Resting HR), your maximum heart rate (Max HR), and your Anaerobic Threshold (AT).

Finding your Resting HR is relatively easy but finding your max HR can be a little difficult, painful and/or hazardous, and finding your AT can be fairly technical and/or costly. So I suggest you use 220 minus your age for your Max HR if you don't have an accurate Max HR, or if you have seen your HR higher than this value when training or racing at any time, use that figure. As for your AT, I have used the Karvonen formula which requires you to find your Heart Rate Reserve and I have used 85% as a predicted figure for AT. Once again, this is a `ball park' figure which varies between individuals and changes for individuals depending on their fitness.

Once you have worked through the worksheet insert your 5 beat HR range for your Ironman bike Race Pace heart rate. For most individuals I have worked with it falls somewhere around the upper limit of the Moderate (Mod) training zone. For those of you who have worked out your `Mark Allen' Heart Rate (Refer to "Finding your Maximum Aerobic Heart Rate") note that down on the worksheet also. Once again in most cases it works out to be very close to the upper limit of the Mod training zone. This in itself shows how important it is to do most of your bike training at most at, or below Mod intensity.

I have included my HRs as a bit of a guide. Happy calculating!

Please note: the figures for HR you write in below are the UPPER limits for each zone, not where the zone starts. Generally speaking, the range of heart rates in each of the zones will be around 10 beats. In the example below using my Heart Rates however, you will notice that the range of Heart Rates in some of the zones is quite large - this is a common occurence in elite and/or younger athletes where the difference between the resting heart rate and maximum heart rate is so large.

How to Calculate Your Predicted EnduranceCoach.Com Training Zones

You will need to follow these steps in order to complete the table below...

1. Greater of Max HR or Predicted Max (Use: 220 - Age, if unsure of actual max) (a) = 197

2. Resting HR (g) = 42 (best to take this first thing in the morning before rising)

3. Heart Rate Reserve (HRR) = (a) - (g) = 155

4. Predicted Anaerobic Threshold (c) = HRR x 0.85 + (g) = 174

5. Very Easy Training HR (f) = (a) + (g) / 2 = 120

6. Third = (c) - (f) / 3 = 18

7. Easy Training HR (e) = (f) + Third = 138

8. Moderate Training HR (d) = (e) + Third = 156

9. Very Hard Training HR (b) = (a) + (c) / 2 = 186

Approx. IM Bike Race Pace = (c) - 15 to 20 bpm = 154 -159

`Mark Allen' Heart Rate' (Max aerobic training HR) = 156

EnduranceCoach.Com Training Zones (Predicted)

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