making sense of HR monitoring

[OakLeaf]

"Resting" to me is under 168bpm. I can hold 175-185 for a long time.

Ha, that sounds like me running, but when I ride it's considerably lower. I love it when my HRM says I'm 28 years old

But since you sound knowledgeable about this... is there any point to zone training when the zones are so narrow? Especially when I'm running. I'm not working at all below 150, and I've never seen higher than 195 - all out, unsustainable, ready to pass out 195. There are supposed to be five zones in there. Does a "zone" 9 bpm wide have any relation to reality whatsoever?

[aicabsolut]

Hah, I'm not really that knowledgeable about it. I have the same thoughts about zones as you. I know that the authorities out there advocating zone training say that you need to do your 60% recovery rides at 120bpm or whatever even if you are barely staying upright on the bike, but I don't think so.

Even so, your zones will start below 150. Zone 1 is your "slow walk" zone basically. In fact, at least your first 2 zones will be below that.

It's not totally useless. Seeing how my body likes to work explains why I am not an ultra-endurance cyclist. I'm not even much of a regular endurance cyclist. When I ran, my events were 100 meters long usually. That means I'm efficient at working at high heart rates, but I cannot really do much at the low ranges. So maybe that's why my legs want to explode after doing even a metric century.

Anyway, here's a good article:
http://www.cptips.com/hrmntr.htm