HR zones as proxy for power?

Got it. Thanks! Appreciate your help.

Hi, can I enter the HR values manually for my field test? I have a very basic heart rate monitor, so I won’t have any files to upload. Thanks!

Enter your heart rate values where manually? You can enter it whether it be in Trainingpeaks or the spreadsheet manually and it will calculate the zones for you.

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First quick comment before my HR zone question- not all of the plans that I’ve purchased appear to have that worksheet attachment. Thankfully the first plan I used, the hill climbing intervals, had the hr zone attachment so I didn’t have the troubles that some other customers had. But as the first guy pointed out, the Crusher plan just didn’t have a hr zone worksheet attached.

So this still seemed like the right thread for my q - I hope to get a little more direction on how much would be ok to change the hr zones from what the worksheet calcs would recommend. I’m a loooong distance athlete so the 20min FTP test was like a sprint for me :wink: and my hr got pretty surprisingly high in the last 5 minutes. When I do the 15/20min sweet spot efforts on my road bike (w/power + hr), my hr is 5-10 bpm lower than the sweet spot zone even at the end of the interval. I would like to do more of these workouts on my cross or mtn bikes (which don’t have power) as I prepare for cross season but it seems like I would have to work really really hard to get my hr up to my current SS hr zone. And for just general group rides, my hrTSS on recent gravel rides indicate I’d need to ride 6hrs to get your suggested TSS on 4 hr wknd rides. Do I just need to suck it up and ride my road bike more so that I know I’m not slacking off too much? Thanks so much!!!

Look back on other workouts, group rides or races that were really hard for an hour. See what your peak 1 hour heart rate is and compare that to your set heart rate threshold. Hard group ride or races should give you a better indication.

Heart rate also lags where power is instant. So if you do multiple burst that are under 60 seconds heart rate won’t hit zone 6 even though the power is. set over multiple times and your TSS will come out much lower.

Also with that with shorter intervals your heart rate takes time to build. Use perceived exertion as well. Remember what your heart rate looked like on intervals when you had power. You don’t want to start an interval out with a sprint just to get heart rate up. You’ll end up fading in power towards the end even if heart rate is up.

It’s more than possible to just train with heart rate. You just need to track these things and know how your body responds.

With these weekend rides and going for TSS target again know what your average heart rate looked like when you had power. Look at times spent in zones and compare. Even if hrtTSS comes out lower you can adjust based on previous workouts with power.

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