Cycling Zones: Heart Rate Zones and Power Zones
1. Heart Rate Zones
2. Power Zones
3. Cycling Zones Description
4. How to set FTP?
1. Heart Rate Zones
Cycling Heart rate zones are not based on 220 – age rule anymore. Thanks to people like Joe Friel we have much more precise methods for setting up training zones. The best way is to set up zones base on your Functional Threshold Heart Rate or Functional Threshold Power. Those methods describing your “form” in the best way. Below you can find a table with the zone’s ranges and time of typical intervals or continues training in each of them.
I got great pleasure to meet Joe Friel in person and learn more about cycling training zones.
| Zone | Lower Range* | Higher Range* | Intervals Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 – Recovery | 65 % | 81 % | 30 – 90 min. |
| Zone 2 – Endurance | 82 % | 88 % | 60 – 300 min. |
| Zone 3 – Tempo | 89 % | 93 % | 60 – 120 min. |
| Zone 4 – SubThreshold | 94 % | 100 % | 20 – 60 min. |
| Zone 5a – SuperThreshold | 103 % | 102 % | 8 – 20 min. |
| Zone 5b – VO2 max | 103 % | 105 % | 3 – 8 min. |
| Zone 5c – Anaerobic | 106 % | 110% | 30 sec. – 3 min. |
| Zone 6 – Neuromuscular Power | N/A | N/A | 8 – 12 sec. |
*percentage of FTHR (Functional Threshold Heart Rate)
Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan. (2010) Training and racing with the power meter. Boulder, CO, pp. 48.
Cycling Heart Rate Zones Calculator
Calculate your Cycling Heart Rate Zones
2. Power Zones
The best investment for every cyclist is Power Meter. Swimmers or runners don’t have the possibility to be as precise as a cyclist can be with the power meter and power zones. It was total “game changer” in cycling training, I strongly recommended the article about Functional Threshold Power (FTP) how to rest it and increase it for those of you who want to dig deeper into setting their own FTP. Below you can find ranges of power zones.
| Zone | Lower Range* | Higher Range* | Intervals Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 – Recovery | N/A | < 55 % | 30 – 90 min. |
| Zone 2 – Endurance | 56 % | 75 % | 60 – 300 min. |
| Zone 3 – Tempo | 76 % | 90 % | 60 – 120 min. |
| Zone 4 – SubThreshold | 91 % | 100 % | 20 – 60 min. |
| Zone 5a – SuperThreshold | 101 % | 105 % | 8 – 20 min. |
| Zone 5b – VO2 max | 106 % | 120 % | 3 – 8 min. |
| Zone 5c – Anaerobic | 121 % | 150 % | 30 sec. – 3 min. |
| Zone 6 – Neuromuscular Power | Max | Max | 8 – 12 sec. |
*percentage of FTP (Functional Threshold Power)
Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan. (2010) Training and racing with the power meter. Boulder, CO, pp. 48.
Cycling Power Zones Calculator
Calculate your Cycling Power Rate Zones
3. Cycling Zones Description
• Zone 1 – Recovery
“Easiest” zone, workout at this zone, we could colloquially call “coffee ride”. The main goal is to recover your body after hard efforts like intervals, increase blood flow in your legs to let oxygen “clean” your muscle from fatigue. Workout in this zone should be done at least once a week.
• Zone 2 – Endurance
The relatively easy zone where you increase your aerobic capacity and learn your body to use fats like a source of energy. You should be spending time in this zone but remember to move to zone 1 if you need recovery or to zone 3 if you need to get ready for racing and group rides. Workouts time in this zone can get up to 6 hours.
• Zone 3 – Tempo
The very active zone between 76% – 90% of your Functional Threshold Power, very good preparation for racing and more intensive intervals like sweet spots and threshold workouts.
• Zone 4 – SubThreshold
More know like a “Sweet Spot” zone. A very good place to be to increase your FTP, get ready for time trials and long climbs.
• Zone 5a – SuperThreshold
Most important zone with zone 4 where we “push” our Functional Threshold Power and we are going over it to prepare our body to really high-intensity workouts.
• Zone 5b – VO2 max
The very hard zone where you can’t stay longer than a few minutes in the row. Very good for shorter uphills or long finishes. Zones range from 106 to 120 % of FTP or > 106 % of FTHR. Intervals up to 8 minutes.
• Zone 5c – Anaerobic
Your ability for long finishes, short uphills. Intervals from 30 sec – 3 min. Hard to breathe.
• Zone 6 – Neuromuscular Power
Using ATP (Phosphocreatine) you can source your maximum effort just for about 8-12 sec. It takes about 2-3 min. to restore it. The most important part of intervals in this zone is to go as hard as possible for about 8-12 sec. and then go as easy as possible for about 2-3 min. Zone 6 improve our maximum power very useful at finishes and short fast accelerations.
Article by Damian Chlanda, Cyklopedia
