How to match your heart rate monitor data with Sportlyzer zones?
We have received quite a lot of questions about how to read the data in heart rate monitors and how to match this data with Sportlyzer’s workout entries. As every heart rate monitor is slightly different and manuals may not always answer to those questions,we decided to cover this topic with a blog post.
To know your time spent in each zone, you have to enter your aerobic and anaerobic threshold data into your heart rate monitor. In most cases you can enter them as heart rate limits, whereas Limit 1 is your aerobic threshold and Limit 2 your anaerobic threshold. If you don’t know or remember your heart rate limits, you can find them in Sportlyzer. You can find them in ‘Settings’ – ‘Profile’. Limit 1 equals to max value of Zone 1 (aerobic threshold) and Limit 2 equals to max value of Zone 2 (anaerobic threshold). Please keep in mind that in order to get accurate results, you have to enter your registration data correctly!
After setting your aerobic and anaerobic limits, your training intensity will be divided into three parts:
Zone 1 – below Limit 1;
Zone 2 – between Limit 1 and Limit 2 and;
Zone 3 – higher than Limit 2.
If your heart rate monitor supports .gpx, .tcx or .hrm file type, you can upload the files manually to Sportlyzer. In case your heart rate monitor doesn’t support uploading file types or you are unable to connect your heart rate monitor with your computer, you have to edit the limits manually. Simply check your training time in each zone, usually referred as below zone (Z1), within zone (Z2) and above zone (Z3), and write your workout data accordingly to Sportlyzer. If your workout consisted of some low activity time period (e.g. between ballgames, between running sessions etc.), subtract this time from Zone 1 and add it as Zone 0. Some heart rate monitors do it automatically, so if there is a difference between your recorded total training time and time spent in zones add the missing time to Zone 0.
The explanations above should cover most of the heart rate monitors. However, if some of you still face difficulties while matching the data with Sportlyzer system, please let us know and we will try to find a solution.
