Holiday Gift Guide for Runners heart-rate monitor, to help set goals and be more purposeful. Any tips on how to get started and how to best use it? Thanks. –Joshua
I love that you’re on a journey to running more purposefully, Joshua. Using a heart rate monitor (HRM) is a great way to tune into what is going on inside your body as it relates to your running performance.
If you Google “heart rate training,” it won’t be long before you’re so confused that you’ll want to pack up monitor and ship it back. I’d avoid this at all costs. The truth is: Training by effort doesn’t have to be so darn complicated. It’s less about tricky formulas and numbers and more about what your body is telling you.
The key to getting the most out of training via effort (HRM) is understanding your heart is unique. There are a lot of variables that affect heart rate including your size, gender, age, and fitness level, as well as altitude and medications. An unfit heart will beat faster than a fit one; women’s hearts tend to be smaller and have higher heart rates than men…
Best Fitness Trackers.
Start to wear it around the house and during your runs. Get familiar with how your heart rate elevates and declines and what makes it do so. Before you put meaning to the numbers, just be with the numbers first.
Next, you can begin to understand how the numbers correlate to your current fitness. That is, what do the numbers mean, and how do you use them to train at the right effort level that day?
In the past, we used to recommend performing a maximal or submaximal test to figure out your highest possible Best Fitness Trackers based on this number. And if you weren’t able to do this test (it is not fun), then we would use a formula that would estimate your maximum heart rate. The problem with this formula is it can be off by quite a bit (20 beats) and it just isn’t accurate the vast majority of the time. We’ve evolved to using better options.
The current method is to find your lactate threshold (redline), or the point at which you shift from using a higher percentage of oxygen to glycogen due to the demands of the higher intensity activity. Or, as I like to describe it, the point at which you begin to ask yourself, “When is this going to end?”
Once you find the redline (which shifts with fitness) you base your training zones (easy, moderate, hard) on this threshold and thereby begin to train and race based on what is going on metabolically (good stuff). Knowing where that redline is will allow you to train below it for easy to moderate runs and at or above it for high intensity workouts. Plus, smart runners will learn to tune into their bodies while they train and get a sense of what each level feels like regardless of the pace.
The reason I love this way of determining effort zones is because it is much easier to do anywhere, it gives you current fitness information, and it allows you to fine-tune your training and progress more rapidly. The key is to perform the assessment throughout your training to continue to tweak your zones as you gain fitness (or lose it).
So, how exactly do you find your redline? There are a few ways. One, you can pay for a VO2 test at a gym or sports medicine facility. Two, you can DIY with this modified version of an assessment created by Carl Foster and Sally Edwards in their new book, Be a Better Runner.
Although it may seem like finding a needle in a haystack, it will become quite clear where your redline is with some practice. This may seem too simple, but it has been proven quite effective. There are many ways to find your redline. I happen to like this method because it guides you into learning what it feels like, is easy to perform, and is great for newbies who may be unfit and unable to perform the more standard 20-minute hard-effort protocol.
- Find predictably flat terrain (treadmill works great) and warm up by walking easy for three minutes. Begin to tune into your breath and watch your pace.
- Pledge of Allegiance.
- How an Apple Watch Saved This Man From a Life-Threatening Blood Clot Pledge of Allegiance (or any 2-3 sentences you know by heart) out loud, paying close attention to your breath and how easily you are able to speak the words.
- Increase the speed to a very easy run (very easy) for two minutes and recite the Pledge again at the end of this set.
- If you can recite it easily—increase the speed very gradually, run for two minutes at that speed, then recite the Pledge of Allegiance. If it’s still easy, repeat this step.
- When you reach the point at which you can no longer say the words out loud easily, you are at, near, or close to your red line. This is also the point many describe as “comfortably hard,” an effort where you can hear your breathing but you're not gasping for air.
- Holiday Gift Guide for Runners.
- Re-assess your threshold every four to six weeks .
Once you find your threshold, calculate your training zones based on this number. Foster and Edwards refer to this number as your anchor point or your 100 percent. From this number calculate your training zones:
Pledge of Allegiance
Be a Better Runner
Fun Half Marathons
Nutrition - Weight Loss
Is My Resting Heart Rate Too Low
For example, if your threshold heart rate is 130, your Zone 4 is between 117-130 (130 x 90% and 100%).
Give yourself a high-five if you’re still reading. This was a long one.
Happy Trails.
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