Training Zones

Content

Training zones allow you to categorize the intensity of your efforts.

Zone Types

Slek offers you to configure

Heart rate (HR) zones
Speed zones
Power zones

Each type has its own section in the Settings > Zones page. A type you have not configured yet stays a single line, with a "Set it…" button and a word about the data it needs.

Your First Zones

If you have no zones yet, Slek asks you for one value only: your max HR.

If you don't know it, give your year of birth: Slek estimates it from your age, and says so. Correct it as soon as you have measured it.

The "Create my zones" button then creates 5 heart rate zones valid for every sport, which you adjust afterwards as you wish. "Advanced mode…" takes you straight to the full page.

A Zone Configuration

A section holds one or several configurations: the one for all sports, and those you have differentiated for a sport or a sport category.

Each of them fits in three lines:

the calculation method, the data it uses and the display unit
the zone rail, where you read the real values of each zone
under the rail, the bounds, set zone by zone

There is no button to save: your settings are written as you make them. The cloud icon at the top of the page tells you where it stands, and the buttons (or Ctrl+Z) undo and redo.

The Calculation Method

It is what decides what your bounds mean: a percentage of your max HR, of your heart rate reserve, of your threshold speed... or fixed values, which you type as they are.

The methods on offer depend on the zone type.

The Data

The data the method needs is shown and edited right next to it: no need to go looking for it elsewhere in Slek.

The round tag beside the name tells you whose value it is: "All sports" if it is your general value, or the sport concerned. The button inside that tag creates a value of its own for the sport of the configuration, for example a threshold speed for swimming, different from your running one.

The button shows the history of the data.

The same data can feed several configurations. You edit it where you see it, and the zones reading it follow.

Since When?

Daily data is historised: changing it means deciding since when the new value holds.

So when you change a value, Slek asks under the line concerned, before writing anything:

"Since the start": the value has always been that one
"Since today"
"Pick a date…": the day of your test, your race, your measurement

For example, if you measure a max HR of 200 bpm today, it was probably already 200 bpm yesterday. It is up to you to decide since when.

"Since the start" replaces every earlier value of the data: its history is lost, and that one cannot be undone. Slek asks for confirmation when there is a history to lose.

The Display

The Display toggle chooses which unit you read and set your bounds in:

% of the reference data
or the values themselves: bpm, watts, a pace or a speed

For speed zones, the unit is the one of the discipline: running lets you choose between pace (/km) and speed (km/h), swimming shows the pace per 100 m (/100m), and the other sports, cycling first of all, are in km/h.

This only changes the display. The calculation, and what is stored, do not move.

The Bounds

Each zone shows its number, its name, its values and the expected sensation.

on a computer, grab the handle between two zones and drag it
on a phone, tap a zone or its bound to select it
either way, the − and + buttons set the bound step by step, and holding one repeats

When zone 1 starts very low, the bottom of the rail is compressed to leave room for the zones you actually train in. A slanted mark signals that break of scale.

The Zone Split

The "Split…" button, in the title bar of the zone type, sets what is shared by every sport of that type:

starting from a template (Slek classic, Coggan, Friel, polarised Seiler, Norwegian scale) or from a custom split
the number of zones, from 2 to 10
their names and the sensations your athletes are supposed to have in each of them

The number of zones is shared by every configuration of one type, so that time spent in zones stays comparable from one season and one sport to the next.

Choosing a template also writes the bounds of every configuration of the type: the adjustments you had made sport by sport are therefore replaced. Slek warns you first.

Zones by Sport

You can define different zones for each sport. For example, different HR zones for running and cycling.

The "Differentiate a sport" button, at the bottom of a section, adds a configuration for the sport of your choice. The button removes the one you no longer want.

Unless there's a specific need, configure zones by sport category when it makes sense (for example: bike for MTB and road bike).

When multiple zones are configured, there is an order of precedence (from most specific to most general).

For example for an MTB activity, Slek will look, in order

if a zone is defined for MTB
then if a zone is defined for bike (category)
finally if a zone is defined for all sports.

As a result, it is recommended to configure a zone for all sports: if your triathlete exceptionally does a cross-country ski outing or a rowing initiation... Slek will still find zones.

Copying a Configuration

The "Copy this config" and "Paste a config…" buttons, at the top of the page, are mostly for coaches: they carry all your zone configurations, the three types and every sport, from one athlete to another.

The data (max HR, threshold speed...) is not copied: it stays each athlete's own. That is the whole point of bounds in percentage, which give sound zones on everyone.

Pasting replaces what is there. A single brings it back.

Recalculate Time Spent in Zones

Zone time stats are calculated and stored when the activity ends and Slek receives it.

So when you modify your zones, the new zones will only apply to future activities.

To apply them to the past, ask Slek to recalculate time spent in zones:

right after you change a data value, a banner offers it directly, from the date you chose
otherwise, at any time, from the menu at the top of the page