interval training and heart zones

I've read throught the interval posts and h.i.i.t posts and have gotten mysel a little confused. Age 60, resting heart is approx. 87. Mayo clinic site says my training heart zone is 112-136. Can get my heart up to 140-150 after one minute on treadmill (max walking plus elevation). I've been doing this for a few weeks and can really feel the benefits. During the slow interval I decrease the evlevation and speed. I feel ready to repeat the fast interval when my h.r. is 120, 125 or so. Adjusting the elevation and the speed during the "slower" interval affects the length of time to get down to 125 bpm. Is there an "optimal" or recommeded recovery time to shoot for? Zero elevation and very, very slow walk gets the HR down quickest. By manipulating the intensity (speed and elevation) during the recovery/slow interval I can get to 125 in 2, 3, 4, or 5 minutes, which is recommended?
 
I would say leave things as they are, you will get better and then you can mess with speeds.

I do interval training on the elliptical machine or the treadmill depending on how I feel.
EG for running, I run and my HRM reads I am at 175bmp by about 2 mins. I then slow right down from 10km/h gradient 5% down to 6.5km/h gradient still 5% and walk fast for 1 min. My heart rate slows to 135 by about 1 min, this time reduces faster the more intervals I do. I would not want to slow down too much as I don't want to lose my pace so I go just slow enough to reduce my heart rate but fast enough that it still feels like hard work.

I would stay as you are, watch your heart rate when your going fast, try to get it as high as you can (this is what I do anyway- if its not high enough it means to me that I could possibly do more, go faster, increase the incline) when your slow, I'd almost ignore the heart rate, its got a time lag anyway but also, it slows down faster with time and practice. I don't take my slow minutes as rest, they are just slow. Resting by going too slow would worry me- am I working hard enough, being that the more you push yourself, the harder your heart works, the more calories you burn and the fitter you will become
 
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