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Heart Rate Zone Training

Heart rate zones you can trust, from sensor choice and threshold test to one model on every device, with weekly intensity checks, monthly aerobic benchmarks and base blocks for running, cycling, swimming and rowing.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Heart Rate Zone Training, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

Before you start: this plan is general information, not medical advice. Check with a doctor before starting a new training programme, especially if you have a health condition, are pregnant or are coming back from an injury, and stop if you feel pain, dizziness or chest discomfort.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

199

Starter tasks

🏋️ Fitness & Sport

Heart Rate Zone Training

Using heart rate zones and easy aerobic base building to improve endurance across running, cycling, swimming and rowing.

  1. Choosing between a chest strap and a wrist sensor
  2. Heart rate data quality check
  3. Two-week resting heart rate baseline
  4. Medical check before maximal heart rate efforts
  5. Finding a realistic maximum heart rate
  6. Threshold heart rate field test
  7. Choosing one zone model
  8. One set of zones across watch and apps
  9. Calibrating zones against the talk test
  10. Separate zones for each sport you train
  11. Weekly intensity distribution review
  12. Keeping easy sessions under the zone 2 ceiling
  13. Resting heart rate trend as a training signal
  14. Monthly aerobic decoupling check
  15. Fixed heart rate benchmark session
  16. Quarterly zone review and re-test
  17. Planning the week by zone
  18. Heart rate strap care routine
  19. Monthly zone 2 volume target
  20. What each heart rate zone trains
  21. Pacing hills by heart rate
  22. Heart rate lag in interval sessions
  23. Reading cardiac drift on long sessions
  24. Heart rate in the swimming pool
  25. Steady-state erg pieces by heart rate
  26. Cross-training on the bike at the right heart rate
  27. Matching effort ratings to each zone
  28. Accepting the slow zone 2 pace
  29. Polarised or pyramidal intensity split
  30. Fixing an easy heart rate that runs too high
  31. Building a weekly long aerobic session
  32. Indoor versus outdoor heart rate
  33. Heart rate alerts that help rather than nag
  34. Cutting grey zone minutes
  35. Racing an event under a heart rate ceiling
  36. Twelve-week aerobic base block
  37. Heart rate plan for a hot or high training trip
  38. Booking a lab test to set your zones
  39. First 90-minute continuous zone 2 session
  40. Run-walk heart rate start for beginners
  41. Zones when medication changes your heart rate
  42. Zone training on three hours a week
  43. Off-season aerobic base for team sport players
  44. Brisk walking by heart rate
  45. Heart rate zones around shift work
  46. Aerobic threshold from heart rate variability
  47. Heart rate based training load
  48. Comparing heart rate with power or pace zones
  49. Setting zones for a training group
  50. Year-on-year aerobic efficiency review

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Choosing between a chest strap and a wrist sensor

Wrist optical sensors are convenient but often lag at the start of intervals, read poorly in the cold and can lock onto running cadence, producing a smooth line at 165 that has nothing to do with your heart. A chest strap measures the electrical signal directly and is still the reference most coaches trust for zone work.

First tasks

  • List the sports you train and the watch or computer you use for each
  • Compare three sensors on accuracy, connection type and water use
  • Read two independent accuracy reviews of your shortlisted sensor
  • Buy or borrow the sensor and pair it with your main device

Heart rate data quality check

Before trusting any zone, it is worth knowing your sensor tells the truth. Dry strap contacts, a loose watch band, synthetic tops on a dry day and weak batteries all produce spikes to 200 in the first ten minutes or flat lines mid-session. Two side-by-side sessions and a short routine catch these faults while they are still easy to fix.

First tasks

  • Wear both sensors on one easy session and save both files
  • Overlay the two traces and mark any spikes or dropouts
  • Write a three-step strap routine to follow before each session
  • Decide how you will flag sessions with faulty heart rate data

Two-week resting heart rate baseline

Resting heart rate is one half of the heart rate reserve calculation and a useful marker of aerobic change over months. A single morning reading is noisy, so fourteen mornings measured the same way, lying still before getting up, give a number you can build zones on. Doing it during a normal training fortnight, not after a race or an illness, keeps the baseline honest.

First tasks

  • Choose whether you will count on waking or use the watch's overnight lowest
  • Create a resting heart rate log from the metrics log template
  • Record resting heart rate each morning for fourteen days
  • Work out the average and range and note any excluded days

Make it yours.

Install Heart Rate Zone Training, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.