I’ve noticed when I’m doing conditioning in a fresh state that it takes a few minutes for my heart rate to reach the zone that I’m targeting. Should I start the clock on the conditioning when I reach the target heart rate, increase intensity at the outset to reach the target quicker or just count everything from the time I start despite it not being in target range? If I start at rpe 6 it takes 3-5 minutes to reach zone 2. I also find it annoying to constantly check my watch to ensure im in the correct zone. Any suggestions for maintaining the appropriate zone without having to constantly look at my watch? Thanks.
Yea, most people will need to expend some effort to get their HR up to zone 2 levels and beyond. I am not a stickler on zone 2 conditioning being the only thing counting as “cardio”, so I’d start the timer from the jump.
I think it’s a reasonable ask to look at your watch every 10-15 minutes or so to check on HR, but rating RPE and/or using some breathless proxy for what zone 2 should feel like are viable strategies. Really, it’s all just a guess about what z2 is anyway. With continued exposure, you should be able to feel that the effort is easy enough to not be zone 3 or 4 and hard enough to count as exercise.
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Thank you. That is all very helpful.