Heart Rate Training

If you run or cycle more than twice a week, you owe it to yourself to use a heart rate monitor (HRM). A heart rate monitor can help to ensure that you don't work too hard, or take it too easy, in training sessions. (Most people train too hard.) To know your target heart rate, you'll need to know your maximum. If you're very overweight or a complete beginner, the very approximate formula of 214-(0.8 x age) for men and 209-(0.9 x age) for women will help you estimate your maximum.

Unfortunately for much of the population, this figure can be wrong by up to 24 beats per minute. It's much better to find your maximum through running. Do this by running a few hard hill repeats. Find a hill that takes about four minutes to run up. Warm up for at least twenty minutes, then run as fast as you can up the hill. Walk or gently jog back down the hill, and repeat twice. During your second or third repeat you should hit your maximum heart rate shortly after you crest the hill. Keep an eye on your HRM, and take the higher HR of the two.

Once you have determined your maximum HR, your training zones are as follows (complete with “Talk tests”):

Zone 1 (Recovery, 50 - 60% of maximum HR): The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warmup, or for active recovery. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats.

Talk test: Talking should be easy. Assuming, of course, you have someone to talk to. If not, you may get some strange looks.

Zone 2 (Fat Burning, 60 - 70% of maximum HR): Training within this zone develops basic endurance and aerobic capacity. This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories burned is still 85%.

Talk test: Talking should be slightly labored. This is social-run pace.

Zone 3 (Aerobic/Tempo, 70 - 80% of maximum HR): The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system and increase the size and strength of your heart. The body's ability to transport oxygen to, and carbon dioxide away from, the working muscles can be developed and improved. This is the preferred zone for longer interval training, ie. 5-30 minutes. More calories are burned, with 50% from fat.

Talk test: Conversation should be quite labored, while frequently pausing to catch a breath. Slowing down begins to seem like a good idea.

Zone 4 (Anaerobic, 80 - 90% of maximum HR): Training in this zone will develop your lactic acid system. In this zone your individual anaerobic threshold (AeT) is found. During these heart rates the amount of fat being utilised as the main source of energy is greatly reduced and glycogen stored in the muscle is predominantly used. One of the by-products of burning this glycogen is the endurance athlete’s worst enemy, lactic acid. There is a point at which the body can no longer remove the lactic acid from the working muscles quickly enough. This happens at an different heart rate for different individuals, and is accompanied by a rapid rise in heart rate and a slowing of your running pace. This is known as your anaerobic threshold, or to some, “The Wall”.

Through the correct training it is possible to delay the AeT by being able to increase your ability to deal with the lactic acid for a longer period of time or by pushing the AeT higher. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, but only 15% from fat. It's appropriate for shorter interval sessions, ie. 2-5 minutes.

Talk test: Gasping and possibly drooling, keeping chit-chat to a minimum. If you can talk, you’re not in Zone 4.

Zone 5 (Maximum Effort, 90 - 100% of maximum HR): Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

Talk test: Talking is out of the question, as your world becomes a red haze of pain.

As you can see from the above training zones, much of the benefit of endurance training can be derived in zones 1 and 2. Most people who get frustrated or fail at a training program, do so because they spend too much time in Zone 3. A common complaint is they are not losing weight (usually their primary goal), and are constantly tired. The reason: They are burning as much glycogen as fat. In addition, training at tempo too frequently, or for too long, really stresses the body. In a typical endurance training program, long efforts are done in zones 1-2, and shorter efforts consist of a few intervals in Z3-4, with recovery periods in Z1-2.

Garmin, Timex and Polar are popular brands of HRMs, and some incorporate GPS technology so you can monitor pace, speed and even altitude as well. I'll discuss these cool toys in a later post. Prices range from $80-$500, depending on the level of functionality. However, even casual athletes can benefit from using a HRM, by training within the appropriate target zones, and eliminating those "junk miles".