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HRM-Pro Plus doesn't use customized heart rate zones?

Roberta
6 months ago

I've recently purchased a HRM-PRO Plus to use with my Forerunner 265 because:

1) I wanted to perform the Lactate Threshold test

2) I found the wrist monitor on the watch very inaccurate, some days going way too high for nothing and others not going high when clearly I had pushed too hard. 

So I'm super happy with the responsiveness and accuracy of the HRM-Pro Plus! 

However, once I performed the test (and on the subsequent runs), it has updated my Max HR and my Lactate Threshold, which are in fact much higher than the standard numbers, so my zones have been updated on my watch and they seem much more realistic. The thing is, when I'm taking a walk and I'm only using my watch, the new zones appear and it's great!  But when I go running I put on my chest strap, and then the zones are not the good ones, it goes back to the standard.  I've tried to see if I should update manually the heart sensor via Garmin Connect, but it only allows me to do it on the watch, no options to update the HRM Pro Plus. 

It's very frustrating because the point was to have the best indicators for my run and using the chest strap definitely seems the way to go, but having a clear view on the right zones is of utmost importance to me, as it changes completely the analysis of performance (with the standard zones, zone 2 for instance is way too low and I can never fit in during a run, while with the real zones updated according to my HR and lactate threshold, I could easily do easy runs on zone 2. 

Any ideas how to fix that? 

Thanks in advance! 

  • 0 6 months ago

    check zone settings in user profile on watch, i believe there is set of 'standard' hr zones and then sport specific ones in sub menu, i e. running can have its own zones, max hr etc. you can delete the sport ones or reset and see if watch uses only standard (general) hr zones. 

  • 0 6 months ago in reply to 9820003

    Yes, I have done that and the zones are updated there.  The thing is that the watch considers these new zones when I rely on its own HR reading, so I know exactly in which zone I'm training, but if I put the chest strap it goes back to standard zones. So I might be running at, for instance, 140bpm which is an easy pace for me and it matches the new zones (zone 2) but the chest strap considers a standard and underestimated zone which places me on zone 3, or if I am at 152 bpm it will already put me in Threshold zone (when in fact my real Threshold is 170 so the zone should start at 161). So it's very disturbing... 

  • 0 6 months ago in reply to 4684381

    Thank you for this link! But it seems contradictory what they say... I mean, if it registers that my running at 152bpm for a long period to be threshold, it will automatically consider that I was in a more intensive training than it really was, because it will place me in zone 4 most of the running.  And if 140bpm is for me an easy pace in zone 2 but the strap registers it as zone 3, it will consider high aerobic instead of low aerobic, as this is identified by the heart rate, isn't it?  It seems confusing to me.  And I would really love to have the HR gauge to be visually aligned with my real effort and not an estimated effort based on standard data... The watch itself respects that, why doesn't the strap? this is my doubt...  

  • 0 6 months ago in reply to Roberta

    I am using the HRMPRo+ and 965 . I was reading your post and wondered what was happening on my side.

    Mine reports the correct zones as I have them set up in the Running HR Under Sport heart rate , I have mine linked to  %Max HR  and the % tie in to the figures shown in GC under the activity HR Zones , which is as one would expect.

    I never imagined the zones were being done by the strap , just that it records the HR and send that to the device where it is recorded then the tabulations etc reflect that in the specific zones.

    I am quite surprised yours are apparently showing something different.

    Did you try to completely clear the HR zones , delete and recreate the Sport HR Zones.

    Maybe unpair and re-pair the HRM and also try a soft reset of the device (hold in light button until shutdown and then restart after sat 20 secs)

    I am on 19.13B and 8.9 on the HRM Pro for info.

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to S.M.R.

    I finally got it! 

    I've let it go for a couple of days and then, after a run, it had a new estimation of my lactate threshold and I updated the zones directly on my watch instead of the Garmin Connect App. I was maybe not handling well in the app, it was a bit confusing for the Running heart rates as it seemed to go back to the previous tab so it probably went unchanged in the app. When I did it on the phone, I was sure to go until the end and register the new threshold. 

    Today I went running with my strap on and it showed the right zones on my watch as I ran! It was great! Now I see the right zones (it changes mostly for zones 1 / 2 / 3 so I know exactly the right effort I'm doing when I'm supposed to keep it low. Thanks for the help, everyone!