Do Speed Zones Equal Heart Rate Zones

Hello everyone,

On Tuesday I completed Day 2, Week 3, Phase 2 where for the main session I completed 5 X 2' in speed zone 7 with a 2' rest interval. All five were run within the zone, though as fatigue set in the distance covered reduced slightly over the 5 reps. During the reps my heart rate was smack bang in and steady in heart rate zone 6. This got me to thinking, the main session of Day 4, Week 3, Phase 2 is 2-4 X 7' in heart rate zone 6 with a 3' rest interval. Therefore all things being equal I will run with the same heart rate effort for 7' instead of 2 during this session.

So my question is; would say 5' at heart rate 7 the same as 5' in speed zone 7 and is there a relationship between any given heart and speed zone.

At first thought I said no because as your fitness and form improve your heart rate for any given speed will decrease. However, as you improve and your heart rate and speed improve you re-test so that your new speed and heart rate zones reflect the new fitness level that you are at.

What do you think?, is there a relationship between zones or is this just coincidence?

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Permalink Reply by Rich Warne on June 19, 2014 at 6:19am

In the book there is a guide to what each of the speed zones and HRZ mean in terms of race targets

HRZ is to a certain extent related to your age, maximum heart rate is usually 220 minus your age - as with everything this is only a general rule and of course your fitness does play apart in this. I tend to use heart rate to judge 'effort' - ie is it a pushing run or is it a recovery run

As for speed zones, as I've said elsewhere I've recently changed my approach to this, previously I'd used the mile test to set my speed zones, now I've changed it to fit the target for my CI - speed zone 3 is the half marathon target zone - so I've set my zone 3 at 6:30 (which is what I need for my CI)

There is probably a relationship between the two - but I don't think there is a simple formula to equate one with the other - because of other factors (like age)

Not sure if this helps you or if I've complicated it further

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Permalink Reply by Robert Burpee on June 19, 2014 at 6:56am

Thank you for the reply Rich, no you havn't complicated it at all, your answer has given some clarity but I'm still curious about any relationship between the two.

It's amazing, 6 months ago I wouldn't have even known to ask this question, you don't know what you don't know!