Here's my handout from the heart rate training seminar which I conducted the last few season coaching. Given that some of our athletes are determining their heart rate targets for Winter workouts, this might be beneficial. I'll cover this in detail in a later seminar this Spring.
1) Benefits of heart rate training
a. Greater aerobic capacity; improved heart health, circulatory strength
b. More efficient fat burning
c. Develop strategies for optimal fuel management
d. Enhanced performance: improved endurance, faster intervals
2) Determining your resting heart rate (RHR):
a. Check first thing in AM, lie down, perfectly still for 15min, get #
b. Figure can range widely among athletes; generally, the lower the better
c. 55-65 is common; 50-55 is great; sub-50 is super-great
d. Reducing RHR is gradual; even with steady aerobic workouts for 6mos, expect 3-5 reduction
e. Make one of your life goals to consistently maintain a low RHR
3) Determining your max heart rate (MHR). Many formulas exist:
a. There are many methods used to determine MHR, such as a wide variety of anaerobic exhaustion tests (spin, treadmills, etc), . I’ve listed those below. However, mathematical formulas do work quite well and can provide accurate results. Much research has been done in this field. I recommend #3 or #4 below, as both provide an age correction.
i. Best known formula: The easiest and best known method to calculate your maximum heart rate (MHR) is to use this formula. It is reasonably accurate
1. MHR = 220 – Age
ii. US Research: 2001 paper by Tanaka in Journal of the American College
1. Runners < 40 yrs old: MHR = 220 – Age
2. Runners > 40 yrs old: MHR = 208 – (0.7 x age)
iii. US Research: A paper by Londeree and Moeschberger (1982) from the University of Missouri-Columbia
1. MHR = 206.3 - (0.711 × Age)
iv. US Research: A paper by Miller et al (1993) from Indiana University
1. MHR = 217 - (0.85 x Age)
v. US Research: from the Med Sci Sports Exerc 2007 May; 39(5):822-9, identified the following formula as more accurately reflecting the ship between age and max HR.
1. MHR = 206.9 - (0.67 x age)
vi. UK Research: Research carried out by scientists at John Moores University in Liverpool (UK) in 2007, reported in the Int J Sports Med 2007;24, came up with the following formula for predicting maximum heart rates in both endurance and anaerobically trained athletes:
1. Male athletes - MHR = 202 - (0.55 x age)
2. Female athletes - MHR = 216 - (1.09 x age)
4) Understanding your anaerobic threshold (AT)
a. Consider your anaerobic threshold (AT) to generally be 85-90% of MHR
b. There are many, many methods available to determine AT, such as highly sophisticated and accurate tests like VO2 testing, blood sampling, anaerobic exhaustion tests, etc. Meredith HPL offers this, as do other labs in our area. These commonly cost $150 - $300 and are conducted in the lab by trained staff . Knowing your AT is a key metric to understanding – and using – your training zones. Its importance in fuel management cannot be understated. For further reading, see excerpt from my previous training that I’ve attached below. As an endurance runner, you must know your AT, and your 3 key training zones.
5) 3 recommended training zones: Keep it Simple!
a. Many models exist, often complex hard to follow. If you research this topic, you’ll find a 5-zone format and even a 7-zone format. I’ve seen very successful results with 3 zones. I recommend you use 3 zones:
i. Endurance workouts: 65-75% of MHR (totally aerobic)
ii. Intervals / tempo workouts: 75-85% of MHR (becomes anaerobic above AT)
iii. Speed workouts: 85-95%+ (totally anaerobic)
6) Determining your training zones:
a. Use this example for “Suzy Spandex”, a 40yr old runner. MHR = 180, RHR = 60
b. MHR - RHR = 180 - 60 = 120
c. 65% of 120 = 78
d. 78 + RHR = 78 + 60 = 138 bpm. Thus, Suzie’s 65% metric would be 138bpm.
e. Using the formula, Suzie’s complete training ranges would be:
i. Endurance zone: 138 – 150bpm
ii. Interval zone: 150 – 162bpm
iii. Speed zone: 162 – 174bpm
7) Determining your training zones in cycling and swimming
a. Generally, cycling zones are 10bpm lower than run zones. Just like determining MHR, determining the right bpm reductions for cycling and swimming is a widely discussed research area. In the below examples, I recommend 10 bpm lower for cycling and 15bpm lower for swimming. This is based on Joel Friel’s Training Bible, which I’ve used successfully over the years. However, if you research this topic, you’ll find some coaches like a narrower reduction. A common alternative I’ve seen is for cycling bpm levels to be 5 lower than running, and that swimming would be 3 below that. Experiment with it, see what works well for you.
b. Example: Suzie Spandex’s zones for cycling would be:
i. Endurance zone: 128 – 140bpm
ii. Interval zone: 140 – 152bpm
iii. Speed zone: 152 – 164bpm
c. Generally, swim zones are 5bpm lower than cycling zones
d. Suzie Spandex’s zones for swimming would be:
i. Endurance zone: 123 – 135bpm
ii. Interval zone: 135 – 147bpm
iii. Speed zone: 147 – 159bpm
8) Determining HR intensity when you don’t have a monitor
a. Use the many, many choices of cardio equipment @ Finley! Most have HR measurement functionality which are reasonably accurate. Better than not having it. Data is key!
b. Alternatively, consider the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion; famous research from 1970
c. It contains 20 stages to measure; that’s sometimes difficult for folks to discern levels
d. A simpler, summarized version would look something like this
i. Level 1: I'm watching TV and eating bon bons
ii. Level 2: I'm comfortable and could maintain this pace all day long
iii. Level 3: I'm still comfortable, but am breathing a bit harder
iv. Level 4: I'm sweating a little, but feel good and can carry on a conversation effortlessly
v. Level 5: I'm just above comfortable, am sweating more and can still talk easily
vi. Level 6: I can still talk, but am slightly breathless
vii. Level 7: I can still talk, but I don't really want to. I'm sweating like a pig
viii. Level 8: I can grunt in response to your questions and can only keep this pace for a short time
ix. Level 9: I am probably going to die
x. Level 10: I am dead
e. Endurance ranges are Levels 5-6
f. Tempo ranges should run in 6-7, and spike up to 8-9
g. Speed ranges should be 7 to 9
No comments:
Post a Comment