So, let’s start with defining training zone. In this article it is a given level of intensity that is measured by your heart rate monitor. It is your ability for training on the run or on the bike. These training zones are important to you for a multitude of reasons as they help you keep easy days, easy, and hard days, hard.

“I never know what kind of training to do in January and February.” I heard this statement from one of the athletes I coach and I blew it off as an inconsequential statement with no relative meaning. And then as I commuted through my day, I thought, ‘By God, he needs to know.’

Q: "I have a training friend who has seen a max HR in the range of 205, she is about 35. The good old rule of thumb would put her at about 220-35 = 185. I understand that is really only a laymans guideline, but I have never seen a reference to anybody in their mid 30's with a max hr in the 200's.

It seems that there are many ways to determine your training zones from a wide variety of methods. I’m going to explain some of the more popular ways of determining your optimal training zones and give an example for each.

Coach Mark writes: Recently I read an article titled: `Building Blocks' by Mark Allen ('Triathlete' magazine, March 2004) that dealt with the importance of building a good base by training below your maximum aerobic heart rate. The article covered how to find this heart rate and the reasons why training at this intensity is crucial.

Coach Brendon writes: (Note: this article is a bit technical if you are not a technically minded person contact me for heart rate training information: brendon@endurancecoach.com) Got yourself a heart rate monitor? Got any idea about what heart rate zones to use? Ok now what do you do about spending the right amount of time in your zones, read on!

Bike and run training efforts are based on heart rate zones and perceived exertion. For swimming we will use pacing, as it is difficult to determine heart rate zones in a pool. Determining Swimming Pace

Going from Base Training to Intensity Training By now you've built your base and you want to move into some interval training. These workouts are hard but not so hard that you can't walk the next day. Only hard enough that you work close to your LT (lactate threshold) zone.

A Refresher on Base Training This subject has been written about 1,435 times since I started doing triathlons in 1988. As often as it has been written about, the basics haven't changed.