Find your threshold and training zones
Training zones make sure each session does the job it's meant to. Easy days build your aerobic engine and let you recover, and hard days lift your top-end speed. Without zones, most athletes drift into the same medium effort every day, which is too hard to recover from and too easy to make you faster.
Your threshold is the hardest effort you can hold for about an hour. It's the most reliable way to set zones because it's measured from you, on the day, in each sport. Age-based heart rate formulas can be out by 10 to 20 beats. As you get fitter your threshold rises, so retest every 8 to 10 weeks to keep your zones accurate.
Run threshold pace
Run one 20-minute hard effort on your own. Your threshold pace is 95% of your average speed for those 20 minutes, and your threshold heart rate is 95% of your average heart rate.
How to do the 20-minute run test
Warm up: 20 minutes
- 10 minutes easy jogging, building to a steady pace.
- 4 × 20-second strides with 40 seconds easy jog or walking after each.
- 3 minutes at a comfortably hard pace, then 3 minutes easy.
The test: 20 minutes
- Run 20 minutes as hard as you can hold evenly.
- Keep the first 5 minutes a little controlled. Most people go out too fast.
- After 5 minutes, either maintain your hard effort or push a little harder. Repeat for the rest of the test. It is better to start slightly slower than go out too hard.
- Finish feeling like you couldn't have held it much longer.
- Press lap at the end and note your average pace and average heart rate.
Where to do it
- A running track, or a flat, traffic-free path with no road crossings.
- Avoid hills, strong wind and heat.
Test when rested, and retest every 8 to 10 weeks at the same place.
Already know your run threshold pace, from a recent test or your coach? Enter it here to see your zones and race-day targets.
Bike threshold power (FTP)
Ride one 20-minute hard effort on your own with a power meter or smart trainer. Your FTP is 95% of your average power for those 20 minutes, and your threshold heart rate is 95% of your average heart rate.
How to do the 20-minute bike test
Warm up: 20 minutes
- 10 minutes easy spinning, building to a steady effort.
- 3 × 1 minute at a fast cadence (100+ rpm) with 1 minute easy after each.
- 5 minutes easy before you start.
The test: 20 minutes
- Ride 20 minutes at the highest power you can hold evenly.
- Keep the first 3 to 5 minutes slightly controlled, then build if you can.
- Stay seated, keep a steady cadence and don't freewheel.
- Press lap at the end and note your average power and average heart rate.
Where to do it
- Best indoors on a smart trainer with a fan: safe, repeatable and no stops.
- Outdoors, pick a safe, flat road or steady gentle climb with no junctions.
Test when rested, and retest every 8 to 10 weeks the same way.
Already know your FTP, from a recent test, your trainer app or your coach? Enter it here to see your zones and race-day targets.
Swim threshold (CSS)
Critical Swim Speed (CSS) comes from a hard 400 and a hard 200 in the same session. CSS per 100 = (400 time − 200 time) ÷ 2. It's roughly the pace you could hold for 1500.
How to do the CSS swim test
Warm up: 15 to 20 minutes
- 400 easy, mixing in some drills.
- 4 × 50 building from easy to fast, with 15 seconds rest after each.
- 100 very easy, then rest for 1 to 2 minutes.
The test
- Swim 400 as fast as you can hold evenly, from a push (no dive). Note your time.
- Swim 5 to 10 minutes very easy until your breathing settles.
- Swim 200 as fast as you can hold evenly, from a push. Note your time.
Where to do it
- A 25 m or 50 m pool, in a quiet lane. Use the same pool each time.
- If your pool is in yards, switch units above.
Test when rested, and retest every 8 to 10 weeks.
Already know your CSS pace, from a recent test or your coach? Enter it here to see your zones and race-day targets.
Why no heart rate for swimming? Swim heart rate is hard to read accurately in the water, and it runs lower than on the bike or run because you're horizontal and the water cools you. It also lags behind your effort over short repeats. Pace against your CSS is the more reliable guide.
Race-day targets
Your triathlon race-day targets
Pick a race, or All to see every distance. Targets for every leg are a percentage of your threshold power, pace and heart rate. Fill in the run, bike and swim tests above, or enter your thresholds if you know them, and they turn into your own watts, paces and heart rates.
Keep your numbers
Email me my zones and targets
Get your thresholds, training zones and race-day targets sent to your inbox from Hive Endurance, so you have them for every session.
Hive Endurance coaching
Get to race day strong and confident
Now you know your training zones and race-day targets. Want some help getting to race day strong and confident? Our coaching gives you a plan built around your zones, your race and your week, with a coach in your corner the whole way.
Check out our coachingMethods: thresholds from 20-minute tests at 95% of average speed, power and heart rate, after Joe Friel's Quick Guide to Setting Zones (TrainingPeaks); swim threshold uses Critical Swim Speed (400 and 200 time trials). The five zones follow Friel's zones, with his upper zones (5a to 5c) grouped as zone 5. Bike race power targets are Hive Endurance ranges by athlete level, informed by Friel's pacing guidance; swim, run and heart-rate race targets are Hive Endurance guidance built on Friel's zones. Estimates only: heat, hills, wind and open water will change them. General guidance, not medical advice.