Exercise Zones

There appears to be a divide as to how best to determine your "effort level". In my post on lactate threshold, I described the "percent max heart rate" formula. However, after reading this article, it appears that power can also be used. From what I gather, the people in the power camp feel that the heart rate varies too much from person to person. Power can be measured independently of wind speed, rolling resistance (for cycling), etc. I don't know which is actually "better". I guess power can really only be practically applied to cycling, and it seems to me that heart rate is more sensitive to other factors that influence "effort level" (ambient temperature, current health, etc.)... but hey, I'm not an exercise scientist. What I really thought was cool, however, was that the authors describe an easy, relatively inexpensive method of determining your zones. They used a bike, bike trainer, and a power meter (equipment which a lot of cyclists already own). There testing protocol made use of a simple, all-out 3-min test. They found that the pace held in the last 30sec of the test matched the pace that the cyclists could maintain for 20-30min. #20

After reading the "bio" at the end of the article, I had to laugh-- turning your research into something you love anyways... hmmmm...