FTHR represents the maximum effort that can be sustained at a steady rate for one hour. FTHR can be estimated from a 20-30 minutes assessment rather than a full hour.

The benefit of having this information is that heart rate ranges for training zones can then be established, which will help with your training plan.

Please follow these steps:

1. Perform a 10-minute warm up. Do easy running for 10 minutes with several short (10-20 second) hard efforts about two-thirds to three-quarters of the way through the warm-up.
2. Start your workout session on your watch once the warm-up is complete. Your watch will need to be capable of  providing an average heart rate reading.
3. Perform a 20-minute run at the fastest consistent pace you can maintain for the whole duration. Your pace needs to be uninterrupted, so find a route that doesn’t involve e.g. stopping for traffic. For example, the workout can be performed on a treadmill, on a track, round a park, on the trails. It is important to not under or overshoot this effort. It is critical not to start too hard and not be able to finish the test or drastically reduce your intensity.
4. Provide me with your average heart rate reading.

 

I will then set your FTHR to 95% of your average heart rate, and the zones will be determined from that.

 

We can repeat this test in the future to gauge your progress and adjust your threshold and zone settings if required.