Why your heart rate in zone 2 sometimes tells you almost nothing
In the easy range your heart rate responds flatly and slowly, and it creeps up on its own through cardiac drift. Why a zone boundary says little there — and what to steer by instead.
Guide
Each article answers one question about heart rate, thresholds and recovery: what the number means and what you can do with it.
What is LT1, and how do you measure it without a lab?
LT1 is your aerobic threshold: the top of your genuinely easy endurance work, below your threshold heart rate (LT2). How to approach it with the talk test, the drift method and your own sessions.
Does walking count as training?
Yes — but not every walk, and not the way a step counter would have it. When a walk is a real stimulus, why a zone number says little about it, and what Trimetra does with a walk.
Which data does Trimetra read from your watch?
Brand by brand, you can read here which workouts, steps, sleep, resting heart rates, HRV and weights come through. And when something does not, you see what it depends on.
How fast do you need to walk to get fitter?
An ordinary walking pace is 4 to 4.5 km/h; above 5.5 km/h the effort climbs quickly. Which pace makes you fitter and why pace steers better than a zone.
What is a good heart rate while walking?
While walking your heart rate is lower than when running, usually below zone 1. What is normal, why running zones say nothing and what your walking band says.
How do you train for the Vierdaagse or a multi-day hike?
Four consecutive days of 30, 40 or 50 km are something other than one long hike. Your fitness is not the limit; your feet and tendons are, and they have to carry the days that follow one another. Eating on the way and the July heat come on top of that, and you need to practise all three beforehand.
What is a good resting heart rate for my age?
Healthy adults mostly sit between 50 and 90, endurance-trained athletes often between 40 and 55. A table by age does not really exist: your own baseline says more.
How often a week should you train as a beginner?
Three times a week with a rest day in between is enough for a beginner to progress and to keep it up. Why consistency does more than volume.
How fast should I run as a beginner?
Slower than you think: at conversational pace. How to find that pace, why run-walk blocks work and why 220 minus age does not hold up.
How do you prepare for a half marathon in 12 weeks?
In twelve weeks your long run grows from your own history to 21.1 km. You build the base easy, test once at goal pace, taper, and practise eating on the way.
Can you lose weight by running or walking without wrecking your training?
Losing weight and training go together as long as your deficit stays small. You aim for half a kilo a week, eat enough protein, leave hard weeks alone and read your weight as a trend.
Training after fifty: what changes, and what does not?
After fifty your maximum heart rate drops, recovery takes longer and muscle needs more protein. Threshold and strength stay trainable: what to adjust, what not.
Why is my heart rate higher in the week before my period?
In the luteal phase your resting heart rate and temperature sit a little higher and your HRV lower. What happens, and why your own cycle is the measure.
How many steps a day do you really need?
Ten thousand comes from a 1965 advert; the benefit levels off around seven to nine thousand. Why steps are not training and your goal comes from your own weeks.
How often a week should I train?
Your training days say when you can; your target number says how often. Why the range runs from two to six, and what happens when you miss a session.
What does a VO2max mean for walking, and how do you measure it without a lab?
VO2max exists for every sport, walking included. How your watch estimates it from an outdoor walk, what the Rockport walk test does and why you read a range.
Measuring your blood pressure at home: how to get a number that means something
One reading says little. Find out how to measure reliably at home, why a seven-day measuring week tells you more, and what your average means.
Looking for the short explanation of a single term? That lives in the glossary.