Max heart Rate and Zones

Very good question. I myself am 31 and have had a similar situation. You are correct that for our age 189 is the max. If your HRM also states 189 then you need to look at how long have you been training for and at what intesity level.

I know that at first I had a very hard time reaching my max hr, I felt that once I reached 180 or so I couldn't give any more. But what I did is trained a little harder, now I can get my hr to about 190, but not for too long.

Honestly you really don't want to get up to your max all the time maybe once and a while its o.k. remember once you get into the zone 5 all your doing is building that lactate acid and pretty much doing yourself in. When I train in zone 5 I do it on my interval days and for very short periods not lasting more than 5 minutes at a time with a full recovery in between sessions. Which means if I do a 1000 meter sprint I will get my hr to about 180 to 185 then rest and bring the hr to endurance zone, zone 2 or no higher than 137, then start again.

So you have an idea these are my zone max.
z1=127
z2=137
z3=156
z4=166
z5=177

These are based on a mhr of 195. Why? I just didn't like the 189 so I upped it. I'm in good enough shape that I can do it and I also consulted my coach and an excersice physiologist.

If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by kauseway [/i

Quoted post said:

I was guessing my max HR would be higher since I consistently have been doing 50 to 70 mile rides and always average 155 to 160.