I’m trying to get a little more structured in my training but am struggling to get my head around my HR zones. Specifically I rarely get far beyond zone 3 in most workouts or rides, regardless of how hard I’m pushing myself. I rode hard at the weekend and set new FTP record yet spent less than 2% of the ride in zone 4 (or none of it, depending on which zones I used). Zones obviously vary depending on the methodology used, but it makes little difference.
I’d count myself as relatively fit, and my FTP as tested on a calibrated Wahoo Kickr is 3.5w/kg, which is pretty reasonable, but even when pushing those FTP limits, my heart just tickles zone 4. I also can’t for the life of me ever remember getting to zone 5. Not sure if resting heart rate makes much difference, but it’s around 47.

Not really sure how to interpret this, does it mean my heart is stronger than my legs so I need to work on my leg strength? Am I an outlier in using the normal methods of calculating maximum HR so can’t go with the zones calculated from using the 220-age formula? I don’t count myself serious enough to get a coach to work with, but a bit of research and reading would be useful to help put together some basic diy training.

calculated from using the 220-age formula?

That works for hardly anyone. You need to test what your max heart rate is.

Friel also has a way of setting zones based on how hard you can go steady for 20 mins.  That might be a much safer way than trying to hit max unless you know you don’t have any other problems.

Will take a look at the Friel test, thanks.

Sounds like you might be too fit. Maybe have a pie.

Either do the 20min test as per Friel but depending on where you live it might be hard to find a steadily graded road that you can ride for 20mins without interruption, obviously easier on the turbo. The other test you can try is a ramp test – really push it and record your max HR then add 5bpm. Or do both (with a suitable few days’ rest in between).

As above the various HR formulae are next to useless, particularly the 220-age one. I’m 61 so should have an MHR of 159 according to that, I can sit at 177bpm for several seconds and have seen 180bpm.

The main thing I use HR for when on the trainer is to look at aerobic decoupling, which you can only really do on the long boring steady state endurance workouts. Unless you are specifically looking for a particular HR response then it’s power only when on the trainer.

Find some VO2max workouts and see what your HR is at the end of a set of those sorts of intervals. Warm up, a couple of minutes’ rest then five sets of two mins at 120% FTP with one minute recovery at 50% FTP.

As above, 220 – age is no good as it’s all too personal. I used Chris Carmichael’s 2 x 8 minute test last year for some training zones and it was all pretty useful. He argues that few non-professionals give high quality results on longer (hour, or 20 minute ) tests. His stuff is in a book called The Time Crunched Cyclist, and he has a bunch of things around, on Training Peaks or his CTS website. I think he calls his testing protocol the CTS field test.

interesting stuff. Me and my wife use Zwift, both using a heart rate monitor. At my peak I see around 178bpm, whereas my wife only ever peaks at 158bpm. I would say I am fitter than her and stronger in the legs. Yet after a decent workout we both look like we have been put through the ringer, yet a big difference in heart rates.

I can only assume that everyone is different with regards to how their hearts work?!

I will also look at the mentioned test to get a grasp on why our heart rates differ so much.

As above. You need to find out what your max heart rate actually is before you start talking about what zone you are in.

@v7fmp there’s a nice page in Pete Magill’s ‘Build Your Running Body’ that talks about this. He mentions America’s last world record holder in the mile: Jim Ryun… he had a resting pulse of 60 which is pretty high for an athlete…but at max he was over 220. So he was a bit freaky, but then other athletes have mega-low resting pulses and huge heart volumes, and lower max heart rates, so you can go fast that way too.

I can only assume that everyone is different with regards to how their hearts work?!

Heart rate is just one half of the equation, you also need to consider stroke volume, i.e. how many CCs of blood are pumped with each beat.

So long as your heart is pumping enough blood that you can do what you want then I wouldn’t worry about it. My mate and I are similar builds and fitness and have similar resting HR. My HR maxes out at about 180bpm, his at 160bpm. It is what it is.

Some places like Strava simply by default produce zones based on your max heart rate, which IMO is wildly inaccurate.

Zone 4, just like with power, is supposed to be a heart rate you can hold for 20mins+.

I’m 46, max heart rate from 2018 was 194bpm, https://cricklesorg.wordpress.com/ tells me my Lactate Threshold Heart Rate is currently ~167bpm and my zones are…
Z1 <137
Z2 138-149
Z3 150-157
Z4 158-167
Z5 168+

Last night I did the Zwift TFA stage 2 short race in just over 22mins, I averaged 167bpm and maxed out at 186bpm.
https://www.strava.com/activities/3431737201/analysis

What are you using to measure your heart rate? Some of the fitness trackers and watch-based sensors don’t seem to be overly accurate when pushed.. maybe due to poor skin contact?

Just do a proper 20 min FTP/LTHR test. Anything else is probably a combination of guesswork, computer approximations and bad science 😉

I’ll swap you. Having the opposite problem at the moment.

On a 2hr ride the other day I just rode at a steady pace and it only dropped below 170 for about 2mins of the whole ride. I seem to have a very small window between steady and flat out.

@MrPottatoHead if you’re wearing wired headphones to listen to music and the cable passes close to the sensor on the HRM belt it can screw with the numbers. I no longer ride with music but did one ride at 220 bpm heart rate in the past. In my early 50’s this would probably have killed me if an accurate reading!

Get yourself a trial of the Sufferfest and do their 4DP test.  This will give you your lactate threshold heart rate, and then zones calculated from that.