heart rate monitor training

Training with a heart rate monitor is brilliant, if you do it right, otherwise it's useless.

The very first thing you need to do is get your maximum heart rate. The internet is full of formulas you can use to calculate this, they are worthless. There is only one way to get your max HR and that's to try and achieve it while running. Here are some ways you can do that. (warm up with some easy jogging first).

1) Run as fast as you can stand for 3 minutes. Rest for 3 minutes, then repeat the hard run again, and note the highest reading from that second trial.
2) Another simple running test: Run a mile at tempo pace (hard but not killer), then a fifth lap that's faster, and a sixth that's as fast as you can go, accelerating as much as you can toward the end. The highest number you see is your max.
3) Some runners also swear by 5k races. If you race that distance (about 3 miles) with every ounce of effort you've got, your highest reading toward the end of the race should be your max.

Once you've done that you can then start to establish your recovery, easy, tempo and interval zones. Either let the watch tell you (if you use garmin connect or strava it will allow you to set your max HR based on your test above and then give you guidelines for zones). Or download one of the many reliable training plans that use HR zones.

Probably the most important thing is that you should be running the majority of your runs at easy pace/zone. HADD (who was a coach in the US) uses a very simple formula for calculating easy pace, it's your max HR -50. You then run all easy runs at that HR zone or lower (not the average, the constant). That's just to give you an idea of what's out there. Find a plan that suits you best and be consistent.

Currently you're running everything at your fastest possible pace. This is a common mistake for new runners to make but it's most definitely the wrong way to do it. Slow down and only run hard in a race or when your plan calls for a tempo or race pace miles.

Best of luck with the new watch.

Its something that has to be done right. I trained by heart rate last year for DCM , running in urban areas where the running was stop/start to cross roads etc . My average heart rate on finishing runs was quite low , I think that gave me an inaccurate appraisal of my fitness at the time .

Just something to bear in mind with HR training.

dickidy wrote: »

Yeh i have been reading up on it and its confusing the hell out of me. run slower to get faster and fitter etc.
now i have my a base HR to work off i can google a few running and cycling plans based on heart rate ( and try stick to them )

thanks for the advice folks.

and if anyone has any or links please dont be afraid to share .

sorry for the bother.

Garmin Connect has HR based plans. They are great because you can sync them with your watch and use the 'do workout' function and follow the instructions on the watch.. ie: run 400m at 4:30 pace... rest 60 seconds - its interactive and full of beeps and buzzes to keep you on track

I found it hard to get my head around the 'slower = faster' thing at the start, but it works. To put it into a very basic form; you have 2 power systems - Anaerobic and Aerobic. At the moment you're only training Anaerobically, if you start to also train aerobically(running slow) you'll get faster overall

torqtorq wrote: »

To have training programs that ignore this - based purely on maximum HR - is ridiculous.

However having pointed this out, HR training is an excellent training method even when using a program only based on maximum HR.

Do you have a link to information or table similar to above which is based on Zero trainng Point Load?

I've been interested in doing some HRM training myself......my heart rate seems to spike awfully high when running though. Tested out on a few different devices and even saw a GP about it, so doesn't seem to be a faulty monitor. I'd have a resting heart rate of around 60, but will get up as high as 215 when running. I did a 5k in quite a slow time last week (though it was quite hot/humid), and averaged 188 bpm. Sound a bit odd?

Can somebody recommend a method (on the track preferably) to determine maximum heart rate? Mine is stubbornly low. When on a tough hill run it only goes to the mid 160's but I haven't tried an actual max test yet.

dwayneshintzy wrote: »

I've been interested in doing some HRM training myself......my heart rate seems to spike awfully high when running though. Tested out on a few different devices and even saw a GP about it, so doesn't seem to be a faulty monitor. I'd have a resting heart rate of around 60, but will get up as high as 215 when running. I did a 5k in quite a slow time last week (though it was quite hot/humid), and averaged 188 bpm. Sound a bit odd?

What did your GP say? Everything I've read suggests that we're all wildly different, and maybe that's just your make-up.

zulutango wrote: »

What did your GP say? Everything I've read suggests that we're all wildly different, and maybe that's just your make-up.

Honestly, that's pretty much exactly what he said. I haven't used much heart rate training though, so still feels odd having these very high ratings even when I'm relatively fit and not even close to flat out.

Chest strap and wrist monitors, and pretty consistently over 210 when I put in maximum effort on any of them.