Heart Rate Training Is Great [If You Know Your Numbers]
How to accurately train with a heart rate monitor and no, 220-age isn't right
I absolutely love training based on my heart rate. I found so much comfort knowing exactly how hard I could train on any given day based on what my body’s feedback was.
Feedback that affects everyone’s heart rate include: fatigue, being tired, being well-rested, being in good shape, being in terrible shape, hungry, dehydrated, etc.
Easy runs? Great. Run up to the max heart rate tolerated for my body for an easy effort run.
If I got fitter, I could run my easy pace at the same heart rate, but I’d be running faster.
Out of shape? Same. I’d run to my heart rate “ceiling” (the max my heart rate should be) for an easy run, and the pace would be slower.
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Even workouts were the same. Threshold miles would be 88-92% of my max heart rate. I knew my max, which meant that my heart rate for repeats would be 173-176. As long as I kept my heart rate in that range, I was hitting the right effort.
Keep in mind, the pace would vary - cold day versus hot day; hilly loop versus track; in shape versus out of shape.
But the effort was always the effort.
All of this was possible because I was put on a treadmill and ran as hard as I could for as long as I could, while being measured like a lab rat.
What this number meant to me was everything. What my heart rate max number means to you: absolutely nothing. My number is not your number. Do not use my number unless you’ve been tested and your max happens to be the same as mine.
You can use Garmin’s predictions based on a race result, but it’s not really accurate. It’s close, but it’s not going to be exact. To get exact, you need to be in a lab.
Zones, on the other hand, are not tied to paces. Zones are made up. Zone 2 is easy, but it’s also moderate. Zone 5 is all out, but that’s a gray zone and doesn’t exactly equate to any kind of running effort.
Instead of focusing on your watch’s 5 zones, think about heart rate (if you know your max) or training paces based on recent race results.
Here are some articles to further illustrate heart rate running and zones on watches:
Running with a Heart Rate Monitor
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