Resources - Training

Heart Rate Premier

By Bill Comer, MPH

Among the many reasons that coaches prefer heart rate training, particularly for novice runners, is the protection it offers against the injury and fatigue problems that typically accompany "unharnessed" marathon training.

By way of background, hard won advances in exercise science and sports medicine have led to a set of training guidelines proven to increase performance and reduce injury. Simply stated, a safe and effective endurance conditioning program will include variation in the intensity, duration, frequency, and mode of training. We vary mode by cross-training; we vary frequency by "periodizing" training such that runners are not trying to maintain peak fitness throughout the year; we vary duration by including a mix of distances in the weekly workout schedule; and we vary intensity by matching an appropriate effort to the various distance workouts (the long run, tempo run, speed and hill work, and recovery runs).

It's easy to measure variation in mode of training, frequency of training, and duration of training. A person can list their cross-training activities (swimming, cycling, rowing ergometer, etc.). Their training log will give us a count of the number of runs per week, per month, per season, and per year. Duration can be measured in time if not distance. That leaves intensity, but unlike the others, measuring this aspect of training presents a very real challenge.

Intensity is a problem for a number of reasons. Chief among them is, left to our own devices, most runners will naturally fall into a steady state intensity. While this is, at least in terms of the physiological demands placed on the body, a moderately hard workout, thanks to endorphins - the bodies ready supply of natural pain-killers - it is rarely perceived to be all that difficult. Fifteen or so minutes into the run, the endorphins kick in and we gravitate to what "feels" like a comfortable pace. Unfortunately, despite the body's need for a day of recovery from a steady state effort, runners will often go out the next day and run at that very same intensity for whatever distance their program calls for. It's not very long before overuse injury, general fatigue, or both, will follow. After a couple of cycles through this pattern, all too many novice runners simply give up on this type of activity.

To break the cycle and teach runners how to measure intensity, coaches in the not too distant past had two options: pace and perception. Pace running can be taught, but it requires time and experience - lots of experience - before the runner is really attuned to the quality of their effort. Perception, for the reasons cited above, presents problems not for the high intensity training typified by speed intervals, hill work, and anaerobic threshold (tempo) runs, but for the long run, and, most importantly, for the recovery (aerobic conditioning or maintenance) run. At the lower intensities, if you're depending on endorphin mediated perception for information about intensity, you'll often be misinformed.

Fortunately, with the introduction of the heart rate monitor, we now have a third option: heart rate training. With a heart rate monitor, runners can "harness" themselves and provide their bodies with real recovery on the day following a steady state or harder workout. The monitors are minimally intrusive, easy to use, and the biofeedback adds an element of interest and fun to training. It also allows coaches to apply a science-based approach to training that leads to better performance and reduction in injury risks. The core of this approach has to do with a method for determining training zones based on percentage of heart rate reserve. Your heart rate reserve is the difference between your maximum heart rate and your resting heart rate. In the absence of a maximal heart rate test (more on this in the next newsletter), we typically estimate maximum heart rate using a standard formula (220-age or 205-? of age). Resting heart rate is obtained in the morning by taking your pulse for fifteen seconds while lying in bed (number of beats in 15 seconds multiplied by four equals beats per minute).

If we know your max and resting heart rates, the rest is easy. Simply multiply the difference by percent effort and add your resting heart rate (you need those beats!). For example, suppose you are 30 year old man with a resting heart rate of 50 who wants to run at less than 70% intensity on a recovery day. 220 - 30 equals 190. This is your estimated max. Subtract your resting heart rate from this estimate to obtain your heart rate reserve (190 - 50 = 140). Now multiply your heart rate reserve by 70 percent (140 * .7). The result (98) plus your resting heart rate (50) provides the upper heart rate limit (148) for your recovery run.

Of course, some of you - probably all of you! - find the math pretty cumbersome. Don't fear. I have a program that does all the math for all the zones. Simply send me an email (Bill@CommunityRunning.org) with your age and resting heart rate (the average of a couple of days is best). I'll reply with the zones or mail you a hard copy within a day or two.

The table below summarizes the correspondence among intensity level, pace, perception of effort, and heart rate training zones. In future articles we'll discuss workout options appropriate for each intensity level along with the specific conditioning benefits expected to accrue from training in each zone. Until then, remember the importance of recovery and keep training!