Diastra Diastra Learn
Heart rate training, explained
Every runner with a watch gets a heart rate and a chart of zones. Few get told where the chart came from or whether it fits them.
These guides answer the questions runners actually type, in plain words, with the study behind every number. The calculators draw your own bands from your age, your sex and the max heart rate you have seen.
Calculators
Max heart rate · CalculatorMax heart rate calculatorEstimate your maximum heart rate from your age with the Tanaka formula. See how far one person can be from it, and how runners find their real max.Zone 2 and Easy · CalculatorZone 2 heart rate calculatorType your age and sex to see your Zone 2 heart rate in beats a minute. The top edge comes from blood lactate tests on 165 runners.
Zone 2 and Easy
Zone 2 and Easy · CalculatorZone 2 heart rate calculatorType your age and sex to see your Zone 2 heart rate in beats a minute. The top edge comes from blood lactate tests on 165 runners.Zone 2 and EasyWhat is Zone 2 heart rate?Zone 2 is easy, steady effort right below your first lactate threshold. See where blood tests put it and why the 60 to 70% chart stops early.Zone 2 and EasyWhy is Zone 2 running so slow that I have to walk?If Zone 2 makes you walk, the chart may be the problem. See why heat, hills and drift push you over, and what the research says to do.Zone 2 and EasyHow do heart rate zones work on Apple Watch?How Apple Watch sets its five heart rate zones, what the default is based on, and how to type in zones drawn from your own max heart rate.Zone 2 and EasyWhat is 80/20 running, and does polarized training work?Where the 80/20 rule came from, what the polarized training trials found, why sessions and minutes give different weeks, and how to run it.
Max heart rate
Max heart rate · CalculatorMax heart rate calculatorEstimate your maximum heart rate from your age with the Tanaka formula. See how far one person can be from it, and how runners find their real max.Max heart rateMax heart rate by ageA max heart rate chart for ages 18 to 75 with 220 minus age and the Tanaka formula, why max drops with age, and how far one person can differ.Max heart rateMax heart rate formulas compared, from 220 minus age to Tanaka220 minus age was drawn by eye in 1971. See the max heart rate formulas built on real studies and what each one gives at ages 30, 45 and 60.Max heart rateHow do you find your max heart rate on Apple Watch?Find your real max heart rate in the workouts your Apple Watch already saved. See where to look and how to tell a real peak from a sensor spike.
The method
VO₂max
VO₂maxVO₂max by age for men and womenVO₂max by age and sex from 16,278 lab treadmill tests in the FRIEND registry, how a watch estimates it, and how fast it falls with age.VO₂maxHow to improve your VO₂maxWhat raises VO₂max, how hard and how long the intervals should be, how fast it changes, and what to do when your number will not move.VO₂maxHow accurate is the Apple Watch VO₂max estimate?Three lab studies found Apple Watch read VO₂max 4.5 to 6.3 mL/kg/min below a lab test. What moves the estimate, and how to read it as a trend.VO₂maxWhat is Cardio Fitness on Apple Watch?Where to find Cardio Fitness on iPhone, how Apple Watch estimates it, what Apple's four levels mean, and why the number may not show yet.VO₂maxThe Norwegian 4x4 workout, step by stepFour 4-minute intervals at 90 to 95% of max heart rate with 3 easy minutes between. How the Norwegian studies ran it and how to run it yourself.VO₂maxThe Cooper test, a 12-minute run for VO₂maxHow to run the Cooper 12-minute test, turn your distance into VO₂max, see how close it gets to a lab test, and read what the finish says about your max.
Threshold
ThresholdWhat is your lactate threshold heart rate?What lactate threshold heart rate means, the two thresholds and their many names, where they fall as a share of max, and how to test yours.ThresholdWhat is a threshold run, and what heart rate is a tempo run?What a threshold or tempo run is, the heart rate it reaches, how hard it should feel and where it goes in a mostly easy week.
Comparisons
ComparisonsDiastra vs Runna, which running app suits you?Runna builds race plans with pace targets. Diastra trains you in heart rate bands from your own max on Apple Watch. Here is who each one suits.ComparisonsDiastra vs WHOOP, which suits a runner with an Apple Watch?WHOOP is a screen-free strap that scores recovery, strain and sleep. Diastra trains you in heart rate bands on the Apple Watch you own.