Knowing how Heart Rate (HR) can influence your training is simple, and you do not have to be an athlete or a professional to know some of the little details that could help you train effective using your heart rate.
I am going to take you through some basics of how to identify some key numbers and how to use them on your training.
By definition, heart rate is the number of times your heart beats in a minute.
The best thing about training with heart rate is that it’s based on your true level of exertion and nobody else’s, no assumption and it's unique to yourself. The heart muscles are no different than any other muscles, it gets stronger when you train them!
WHAT IS MAXIMUM HEART RATE (MHR)
This is the average maximum time your heart should be beating per minute during an exercise session, most commonly calculated with 220 - age. Example for a 40 year old. 220 - 40 = 180
WHAT IS RESTING HEART RATE (RHR)
Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute when you’re at rest. A good time to check is in the morning after you’ve had a good night’s sleep,
HEART RATE RESERVE (HRR)
HRR = Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) - Resting Heart Heart (RHR), can be defined as how much your heart rate can speed up during exercise.
CALCULATING THE TRAINING ZONE
HR ZONE 5 - 90%+ of MHR
HR ZONE 4 - 80 to 89% of MHR
HR ZONE 3 - 70 to 79% of MHR
HR ZONE 2 - 60 to 69% of MHR
HR ZONE 1 - 50 to 59% of MHR
The next step is calculating the zones. Whilst there are many different ways I will opt for Karvonen Fomula, why I chose this is simply because heart rate being unique to yourself it also uses Resting Heart Rate which is a another figure unique to yourself and describes your aerobic condition at some level. Here is a sample calculation for a 40 year old with RHR of 65bpm.
220 - 40 (age in years) = 180bpm
180bpm (MHR) - 65bpm (RHR) = 115 (HRR)
70% (Training Zone) x 115bpm (HRR) + 65bpm (RHR) = 145.5 bpm
80% (Training Zone) x 115bpm (HRR) + 65bpm (RHR) = 157bpm
What you see here is the 145bpm - 157bpm is the ZONE 3 (GREEN) in the above training zone chart.
PUTTING UP YOUR WEEKLY RUNNING PLAN
Simplifying things a little, I would like to give some status to zones mentioned above. Have a look at the chart below.
HR ZONE 5 - 90%+ of MHR - RUNNING ECONOMY
HR ZONE 4 - 80 to 89% of MHR - STAMINA
HR ZONE 3 - 70 to 79% of MHR - STAMINA
HR ZONE 2 - 60 to 69% of MHR - ENDURANCE
HR ZONE 1 - 50 to 59% of MHR - ENDURANCE
ENDURANCE: Mostly on ZONE 1 & 2, the main objective of these runs should be start from a point A and to reach point B keeping your HR under 70% of your MHR, pace and time time taken to reach from A to B is not relevant all what matters would be staying under the 70% of your MHR.
STAMINA: Think of the point A and point B again, but this time you shall be maintaining your Heart Rate at Zone 3 to 4, you should not be slowing down the objective is to prepare yourself to race. If you are a new comer to running, start with a shorter time and increase time as you gain experience, fitness and confidence.
RUNNING ECONOMY: Adding more power to your engine, this prepares you to race, build your leg strength, mostly you should be training at a 90%+ of your MHR which is ZONE 5, when you train at ZONE five this should include Interval training, hills sprints (I mostly do this on the bridge) and Fartlek training (Speed Play)
Now that you are aware of the these types of runs you should be including on your weekly plan, the next question is how much?
Majority of your runs should be Endurance focused (Zone 1 to 2) with one Stamina (Zoen 3 to 4) session and one Running Economy session (Zone 5), here is an example!
Saturday - Endurance
Sunday - Rest
Monday - Stamina
Tue - Endurance
Wednesday - rest
Thu - Running Economy
Friday - Endurance
References:
- www.polar.com - Heart Training Zones (website)
- Heart Rate Training, Human Kinetics, Roy Benson & Declan Connolly, 3-85
- American Heart Association, Recommendations in Physical Activity for Adults, Target Heart Rate Charts (website)
1 comment:
Good info
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