Cycling training zones
Power zones from your FTP. Heart rate zones from the best 20-minute average of the last 90 days, minus 6 beats.
Use the FTP you train from. For heart rate, use the highest 20-minute average from a hard ride or test in the last 90 days. You can fill in one figure, or both.
How to get your FTP
Use the critical power calculator. That page sets out the test: three maximal efforts of 3, 5 and 12 minutes, ridden fresh and within about a week. Enter the three powers there, then use the FTP it returns on this page.
How the zones are set
Power
Seven Coggan zones, as a percentage of FTP. Zone 2 is the endurance band. Zone 4 sits around threshold. The top zone has no ceiling.
Threshold heart rate
Take the best 20-minute average from the last 90 days and subtract 6 bpm. The heart rate zones are seven Coggan bands on that threshold, not on the raw 20-minute figure.
Using them
Match the zone to the session. A long ride is zone 2. Threshold work is zone 4. If FTP moves, the power table moves with it. Retake the 20-minute heart rate when fitness has clearly changed.
The calculators are a starting point. Coaching is where the zones turn into the week.
More from the library: Running zones · Critical power · Training articles