I’ve done lab testing twice—spirometry while running on a treadmill—and my VT1 heart rate was measured at 135 bpm in the lab. Athletica, however, suggests my VT1 is at 152 bpm (using the 180-minus-age formula), which is definitely too high for me.
Is there a way to manually adjust the heart rate zones for running so they reflect my actual lab-tested performance? I base my Zone 2 runs on heart rate and try to stay within the correct range from my lab results. But then the AI coach gives me negative feedback, saying I’ve spent significant time in the wrong zone.
Would love to hear if anyone’s figured out a workaround or fix for this!
I would try playing with your critical heart rate in running that you’ll find in your ‘Overview’ tab. Zones should adjust in alignment with this setting.
So, would you recommend manually lowering the critical heart rate so that my Zone 2 heart rate aligns with what was detected during the lab test?
Also, does adjusting the critical heart rate impact any other workouts or aspects of my training plan?
I’ve manually lowered my critical heart rate from 186 to 162 bpm, which now brings my Zone 2 heart rate in line with what the lab test showed. However, this adjustment has significantly lowered the upper end of Zone 5—well below my actual max heart rate, which is around 196 bpm.
Also, I’m not convinced that a critical heart rate of 162 bpm is realistic, since my heart rate at critical power is definitely higher than that. Any advice on how to balance lab results with realistic training zones?
Dear @Matthias
Are you using CP HR in training when doing high intensity, or what is the reason you wish your upper zones to match your lab results?
MJ
I’m using power for my interval sessions, so heart rate zones aren’t critical for those. But I still want the zones to accurately reflect my physiological capabilities—after all, isn’t that the whole point of the software?
In general, I just want my heart rate zones to accurately reflect what’s actually happening in my body.
As shown in the image, the upper limit of Zone 2 is defined by VT1—so I’d like the upper end of my heart rate Zone 2 to align with what was determined in my lab test.
Zone 3b caps at CP, which Athletica has detected at 321W and a heart rate of 186 bpm. Meanwhile, the upper limit of heart rate Zone 5 should be my maximum heart rate, as per the Athletica training zones.
Manually lower the critical heart rate to match my lab data for Zone 2, which then skews Zone 5 and results in unrealistic session charts—especially during HIIT sessions where my heart rate exceeds the range.
Is there any way to calibrate the zones so they reflect both lab-derived thresholds and my actual max heart rate, as well as critical heart rate detected by the AI?
At the moment, it seems that Athletica uses only the critical heart rate as the basis for calculating all other heart rate zones.
I think a more accurate and flexible approach for the future would be to allow for separate values to be calculated, manually set, or detected during workouts:
1. VT1 heart rate / power / pace
2. Critical heart rate / power / pace
3. Maximum heart rate
Using these distinct data points would result in a more precise and personalized performance profile, especially for athletes combining lab testing with data calculated by the AI.
Thanks! I understand that the zones don’t need to be 100% perfect for effective workout pacing. The real issue is the feedback from the AI coach—it gets frustrating when the zones aren’t properly dialed in, and the coach ends up criticizing you based on inaccurate data.
Having accurate zones would make the coaching feedback far more useful and better aligned with my actual performance.
Dear @Matthias thank you for your thoughtful analysis and questions. Thanks @Marjaana for the mention.
“Is there any way to calibrate the zones so they reflect both lab-derived thresholds”. Well, in brief, not at the moment. To simplify things, an d to make them as much robust as possible, we are anchoring everything at the estimated VT2 HR.
We fully understand what you would like to achieve, and we know this is a pain point for all those athletes that know HR VT1 from a lab test. An option to allow athletes to input their values of HR-VT1/VT2-and MAX will hopefully available soon, although not in the very short term.
Again, we fully understand the frustration of having the time on zones not computed with the actual thresholds.
Thanks for the reply and for acknowledging the issue—much appreciated!
It’s great to hear that an option to input HR at VT1, VT2, and Max is being considered for the future. That would definitely help improve the accuracy of the feedback. The AI coach can be a bit harsh at times when you’re not following the protocol perfectly.
Thanks again for all the ongoing improvements and support!
@Prof
As I noticed many days ago, those zones can be sometimes off for some users:
For me, when I enter my real threshold HR, Z2 gets so lower, I have to modify each of my training to be in 3a zone- in this way I get something around Z2 on my garmin.
I would love to see possibilities of manually overriding the zones, since not only AI coach is always off, but also now that I have set Z2 by increasing my threshold value by 20, my speed workouts like thresholds runs are junk in HR mode, everything is off!
And I also know my normal zones by doing garmin threshold test, later confirmed with small correction on lab tests.
Hope you will add this possibilities soon, since right now it really makes athletica difficult to enjoy in running by HR.
I 100% agree with you, Matthias. Like you, I have had lab testing done that shows major discrepancy from where Athletica pitches it. My “feel” matches the lab test and the discrepancy is over 10bpm. I ignore the predicted L2 and train by feel and HR accordingly. In the medium to long term I would like Athletica to allow manual adjustment without altering the upper zones - I would like to keep my hard days hard, but the majority of my training easy. But in the short term I would lik Athletica to be able to adjust the DURATION I need to run to get the same aerobic benefits. When I have discussed this conundrum with @Marjaana before she has wisely advised me to keep my focus on the tota time prescribed in he week vs the HR range in L2 - but I assume if my load is lower than predicted, the time prescribed will be wrong. In fact, even now, through guesswork, I try to get roughly the same load by going longer, but it’s a stab in the dark - if I get close it’s a fluke. And then I get a message I’m doing too many hours for low volume training - but when I’ve experimented with mid volume, it just gives me way too much load AND distance! Unfortunately I really can’t get it to align with my preferred approach of doing the majority easy, and building my aerobic fitness principally by increasing easy mileage - and this starts with it simply having my easy zone wrong. Thanks for articulately raising the issue - it’s my #1 gripe with what could otherwise be a really good system!
Hey @Matthias and @Alyssa
Thanks for voicing the issue. I agree it would be best if you could manually align with your lab results.
There is one thing you can do if you haven’t already, and that’s manually adjust the Critical HR on your Overview - athlete zones. It will not be perfect but you can get the ballpark right. When you are doing your high intensity efforts, HR compliance doesn’t really matter as much because HR will have a lag in response anyway.
In you case @Alyssa (I saw your question on Maffetone thread), I would lowering critical HR so the zone 2 upper range is somewhere around 135 (down from 142. That will give you a range of 125-135 on your runs, and matches with both your vt1 lab result and MAF zone. A working beat range of 10 is much more “comfortable” zone than trying to keep your heart rate tight within a certain number. Remember heart rate can vary based on many factors day to day, and trying to keep it within a few beats is frustrating and frankly a bit counterproductive. Some days our tickers just beats faster and it’s ok.
Thank you, I will adjust my bike and run heart rate zones to match my correct Zone 2 heart rate and will ignore heart rate during highter intensity workouts.
Thanks @Marjaana but I’m confused - do you mean change the critca HR from 170 to 135? That seems drastic. I thought you meant to change the upper border of Zone 2, but that isnot clickable.
No, if you change your critical HR lower all your zones will adjust lower. Not to 135 but perhaps start at 165. Let me know if you want me to do it for you.
MJ
