Heart Rate Training-Breaking it down

Heart rate training is pretty intimidating. It involves numbers, your heart and a watch that beeps at you. It seems like something only professional athletes use. More than likely at one point in your life someone or  your spin instructor has told you to buy a heart rate monitor. But you don't because costs start at ~$70 and you would much rather spend that money on some fantastic make-up from Sephora.

I have to say, heart monitors are worth the investment.

A group of couch to finish line triathletes I assisted workouts for used heart rate monitors as a guide for their training.  All of them had a strong finish at their first triathlon. My brother cycled his way from a chunky cyclist to a slim and trim local pro bike racer using one. The biggest turning point in my athletic ability happened not after I started using one but when I learned how to properly train with one.


This week I am going to write about what to look for in a heart rate monitor, how to calculate your heart rate zones and how to work them into your training.

Today I am going to give some opinions I have on training with a heart rate monitor:

1. Not everyone believes in heart rate training. My fiance's dad is a cardiologist so naturally I asked him for his opinion on the topic. He says that heart rate is arbitrary and is based on the individual. He sees a lot of this heart rate training as hype.
(I will say-definitely throw out the 220-your age heart rate calculation-that is crap)

2. Use heart rate training as guide, not gospel. How your body feels should trump the numbers.

3. Why I think heart rate training works: Let's say last September, I was running in my "cardio zone" at a heart rate of 155. My pace is a 12 min mile.  Now, when I run in my zone of 155, I am running a 10 minute mile. This means that I have become a more efficient runner.

4. Sometimes I am scheduled to do a slow workout. My perceived version of slow may not have anything to do with the required heart rate zone I should be working out in. It is possible that I am working out too hard and will not benefit from the scheduled slow workout. A heart rate monitor helps me gauge how slow/fast I need to go to reap the benefit necessary.  Some people may be the opposite, they have no trouble going slow but may need a heart rate monitor telling them to pick it their pace.

5. To clarify the above, physiological changes happen at various heart rate zones.. Keeping a low, steady heart rate during a workout enables your body to build mitochondria (more mito=good), teaches your body how to burn fat as fuel (definitely want this!) and essentially enables you to build endurance.

6. Sometimes you can go out to do a workout and you find that you can't get your heart rate up no matter what. This is a great indicator that you are getting sick. This happened to me last February-I went for a run and my heart rate was super low. I was shocked it was so low for the pace I was running. A few hours later, I had come down with a nasty flu bug.

7. Sometimes you will find your resting heart rate is really high. This is an indicator of over-training.

8. Heart rate training can take the fun and freedom of working out. It also can keep one from being in tune with their body. So I suggest running sometimes without.

9. I confess, I don't like heart rate monitors for speed work. I like to push as hard as I can when doing speed work and when I see how high my heart rate gets when doing speed, I slow down.

10. I also don't believe in wearing a heart rate monitor when I race. The focus is how I am feeling in the moment not on the numbers.

So, if you are convinced you want to give heart rate training a shot, check back in a few days and I will have more info about buying one and determining your heart rate zones!