Heart Rate Training Zones

 

EVERYTHING in your life affects your training.

Do you sit at a computer or are you on your feet all day? It can be hard to get in a good run at the end of the day if you have leg fatigue.

Do you sit in rush hour traffic? The stress of dealing with gridlock can not only be mentally straining but can be physically draining as well.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night? Your body doesn’t distinguish between fatigue caused by lack of rest and fatigue from training, it only knows that fatigue is fatigue.

Do you have young children at home that require your time for their activities, whether sports or school? If you are taking a child to practice then not only are you on the road and dealing with traffic but in most instances your eating patterns are out of balance.

Do you have a stressful job? Your body also makes no distinction between the different factors of stress, it only knows that stress is stress.

So how can you monitor your fatigue and stress levels to know when to push in training and when to back off? The answer is by listening to your heart. By knowing what your normal resting heart rate is you can monitor your Morning Resting Pulse (MRP) to access your fatigue and stress level and to monitor your body’s adaptation to training.

We are given certain physical traits and abilities by genetics from our parents and we can’t change what they gave us, but we can condition what we have. I have trained athletes with big hearts (low MHR) and I have trained athletes with small hearts (high MHR) the size of the pump determines the stroke volume and therefore the max heart rate. Knowing what your max heart rate is and training using Heart Rate Training Zones is the best and most efficient way to train and get the maximum benefit from your workouts.

For several mornings in a row take your pulse before you get out of bed (when you raise up your heart rate will go up 5 or 6 beats). Average these numbers and this will be your normal MRP. Finding your max heart rate is a little more difficult. The only ACCURATE way to determine max heart rate is on a maximal treadmill stress test or a cycling ergomometer. Most of the original formulas were for people who were not active and were just starting to exercise. There was a safety factor built-in. By example the original formula was 220 – your age but that was later revised to 209 minus 70% of age if under 40 and 205 minus 50% of age if over 40 to be more accurate for fit individuals, but even these are not too accurate.

The most accurate formula in use today is the Karvonen Formula which takes into account Heart Rate Reserve. The Karvonen formula takes into account your resting heart rate in determining what your workout zones should be. You subtract your MRP (morning resting pulse) from your MHR (max heart rate) and this is your HRR (heart rate reserve). Multiply your workout percentage by your HRR then add back your MRP to determine what your Heart Rate needs to be for a particular zone, i.e. 70%, 75%, etc..

Not sure of your max heart rate? As noted above the only accurate way to determine is by a stress test but if you contact me at coachwill@coachwillsathletes.com and let me know if you are a runner or cyclist and I will send you a test to use to determine your "estimated" max heart rate.

By knowing what your heart rates should be for different workouts will give you the knowledge to always get maximum benefit from your workouts. The other advantage is by always checking your pulse each morning and if you have an elevated heart rate it will tell you what your fatigue and stress level is and whether you should do an easier workout of shorter distance or less intensity or should you just take the day off.

See you at the races…

Coach Will

How Much is Enough and How Much is Too Much?

When you began running you read articles or were advised by running friends to start out slow and gradually add more running as you progressed. But once you had achieved a certain level of fitness you were bombarded by the "Schedule of the Month" in Runner's World and similar running magazines about this elite runner's training program and how it had worked for them.

Your friend who was training for a marathon was adamant that you HAD to walk during your runs if you wanted to succeed and not get injured, but your other friend swore that if you did you would never be able to qualify for Boston or run a PR if that was your goal.

They were both right and wrong, no wonder you were confused about what to do. Hopefully I can help you to answer the question that is the title of this article.

The first question that needs to be answered is what is your "running age"? Not your chronological age, but how many years have you been running? There are a multitude of stories about runners who did not begin running until they were 50, 60 or even 70 and have had unbelievable success, but these are the rare occasion. For most of us beyond the age of 30 "chronological age" and "running age" begin to each affect our ability to train and race for extended distances and time.

So, how much is enough? That varies according to your genetics and biomechanics. I have trained athletes that only raced short distances but trained to the same total mileage as some of the elite marathoners I have coached. It is not higher mileage that necessarily causes injuries, but too much speed for too long a period of time. Everyone is an experiment of one and you have to "test the waters" to find the level of "sustained" running you can complete without excessive fatigue and without constant muscle soreness.

If your goal is to be a recreational runner that runs a few 5Ks and 10Ks and are not planning to race for awards you can get by on 20-30 miles a week and long runs of 4-5 miles for 5K and 6-8 miles for 10K. But if you want to compete for awards you will need to run higher mileage and add some speedwork to your training. Speedwork doesn't necessarily mean trackwork, speedwork can be done on the road with pick-ups, tempo runs and fartlek runs.

So how do you determine how much is too much? For my athletes this is where a heart monitor becomes a valuable tool. If you know your morning resting pulse (MRP) and your predicted max heart rate (MHR) you will be able to set zones of training and monitor your fatigue level by checking your MRP each day to determine how you body is adapting to your training. With proper distance, pace and recovery you will see your MRP decrease as your fitness level increases.

To maximize your training you have to allow for adequate recovery and this will not happen if you are  

constantly training and racing. You need to pick certain races as "A" races and certain races as "B" races and work them into your schedule. You can train through a "B" race to prepare for an "A" race but if you attempt to "race" every event you enter and not allow adequate time for recovery, you will have only mediocre success in all of the events.

We are blessed and cursed to have literally dozens of events to choose from each weekend during the racing season, but we need to monitor our gluttony if we want to have many years of happy and injury free running.

See you at the races.

Coach Will