I fuck with HR monitor’s heavy, mainly for training runs. I love heart rate training because it really lets you fine-tune your training – it’s doing specific workouts based on your heart rate – so you can perform your best.
The concept of heart rate training is keeping your heart rate within a set range during a workout to achieve certain results. There are 5 zones:
- Zone 1 (recovery)
- Zone 2 (aerobic/ base building)
- Zone 3 (tempo)
- Zone 4 (lactate threshold)
- Zone 5 (anaerobic)
Here is some math to figure out for you:
- What is your max heart rate? (220 – your age (30) *I like to round*) for me, that is 190, so I really don’t want my heart rate ever going above 190.
- What is your aerobic heart rate? (180 – your age) for me, that is 150 beats per minute.
We know my aerobic heart rate is 150 beats per minute max so to be in zone 2, I’d try to keep my heart rate between say 140 and 150. This is the most important thing to remember because it sets us up for the other zones.
Here is what the rest of my zones would look like:
- Zone 1 would be 130 BPM and below.
- Zone 2 would be between 130 and 150 BPM
- Zone 3 would be between 150 BPM and 160.
- Zone 4 would be between 160 BPM and 170.
- Zone 5 would be between 170 and 180 BPM.
There are two types of heart rate monitors, a watch and a chest strap. I prefer the chest strap because it’s a lot more reliable and the whole point of tracking your heart rate is to fine-tune the little things – I want it as accurate as possible. My first ever heart rate chest strap (which I still use) is the Polar H10. Cheap, basic, and reliable. Haven’t had any issues whatsoever and the battery lasts like 100-something hours.
I don’t usually wear the chest strap during races either because I like to go off feel and really see what I can put out on race day. I usually end up going too hard but that’s kind of what I want.
How do I train with the heart rate zones? Do you monitor your heart rate throughout the run or the average heart rate for the entire run?
I do like 80-90% zone 2 type training – 4 miles to 5 hours, and 10-20% zone 3+ type training usually about an hour or two. When I first started doing zone 2 training I could only do like 11 or 12-minute pace with my heart rate below 150, with walking breaks. Now I can do an 8-minute pace with HR below 150
I’ll keep looking at my phone to make sure I’m under 150, in that zone 2 range. It probably will display on your watch, which is way more convenient.
Zone 2 training helps lower our heart rate, increases our energy, and improves our health, and eventually, we’ll be running easier but faster
Joe DiAndrea 