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An Affair of the Heart – Heart Rate Training
By admin | November 12, 2009
Today was a rest day and the wife’s birthday. So no workouts to post about, but in keeping with the last article I shared, I will stick with the heart rate training theme:
An Affair of the Heart (Rate)
By Bennett Cohen
Running your workouts too fast results in tiredness, burnout and injury. Running too slow provides an inadequate stimulus to your system for improvement and will prevent you from reaping the desired training benefit. Training with a heart rate monitor is an easy way to ensure that every run is being conducted at the proper pace. Monitoring your training intensity by heart rate is easy and can be done with any type of run on any route.
The traditional age-based formula of determining your Max HR (226 minus age for women
and 220 minus age for men) is highly inaccurate, especially for runners.
At the age of 49, my measured Max HR was 197, 26 beats higher than the age-based formula predicts. Many middle-aged runners that I coach have Max HRs in the high 180s and higher. You’ll see further on in this article how using an inaccurate Max HR as a basis for training will sabotage the effectiveness of your running program.
Heart Rate Monitor
How can you find your own Max HR? There is no formula that can accurately predict it. Max HR is highly individual. After a good warmup, you can use either one of the following two methods to measure yours (use whichever one is most convenient):
1. Run 3 repeats (times) up a moderate hill that is 400-500 metres (yards) in length. Jog down the hill after each repeat. Run the first repeat at 90% effort. Run the second and third repeats at 100% effort.
2. Run a mile trial on a 400m track. Run the first 3 laps at 90% effort, the last lap at 100%.
Enduring the short-term discomfort of an all out effort will yield maximum running results in the very near future!
Next, use this chart to determine your appropriate training range for each type of run:
Type of Run % of Max HR
Easy/Recovery 65% to 73%
Training 74% to 85%
Tempo 86% to 92%
Intervals 93% +
For example, with a Max HR of 197, my training runs should be conducted within a range of 146 to 167 beats per minute (74% to 85% of 197 beats per minute). If I had used my aged based Max HR of 171, my training run range would be 127 to 145, not even reaching the lower end of my proper range! At this lower intensity, my training runs would provide a very weak stimulus to my system. I would not derive the full benefit of my training runs, which would hinder my improvement as a runner. Oh well, maybe I’d make up for it by enjoying the philosophical discussions that I’d be able to carry on while running at the too easy pace.
An important note on the effect of weather on your Max HR: When running in warm weather, your heart will beat faster than on a cool day when running the same intensity. This phenomenon is called cardiac drift and occurs as your heart sends more blood to your skin in warmer weather to aid in sweat evaporation and cooling. The difference in heart rate can be as much as 7% (my cold weather Max HR is 188). Two takeaway points:
1. During warmer weather, it makes sense to begin your workouts at the lower end of your range and let your heart rate drift upwards to the high end as your workout progresses.
2. You cannot calculate your HR max in cold weather and use it as a basis for hot weather training and vice versa. For your training zones to be accurate for training in each season, you’ll need to recalculate your Max HR at the beginning of summer and winter.
Bennett Cohen “The Savvy Runner” is a veteran runner and women’s running coach, specializing in the non-elite athlete. Bennett is the publisher of the innovative Women’s Running Update, a FREE weekly online newsletter for smart women runners who want to maximize the benefits they derive from running. To learn how to achieve your objectives for your running, training and healthy lifestyle, visit http://www.womensrunningupdate.com
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Topics: heart rate training |