Training With Heart Rate
Heart rate-based training is a great way to start gaining insight into your training sessions. It will provide you with valuable data that you can use to track your progress, training stress, and fitness level. It can be used in both running and cycling, but heart rate monitors do not transmit well underwater so it is usually not used for swimming. To begin, you must have a gps device that measures heart rate either at the wrist or with a heart rate strap, and a compatible app that you can download the data to and keep track of it. Monitors that measure heart rate at the wrist can be inaccurate due to a number of variables so I always recommend using a device that incorporates a heart rate strap. Once you have your preferred device, it is time to set your heart rate zones!
I will save the testing parameters for a future post. For now, just know that there are a few methods out there on the internet that you can use, most of which are reasonably accurate. The key is to choose one test and stick with it. You will get more accurate results if you repeat the same test each time and compare those results to previous results rather than choosing a new test every time. Running tests will also give you more accurate results than cycling tests. Because it takes more energy to run than to ride, your heart rate will inevitably be higher during a run test than a bike test at the same RPE (rate of perceived exertion.) To get your biking zones, you can just subtract 10 bpm (beats per minute) from each zone and that has been shown to give you an accurate bike-heart rate zone. Here at Peduzzi Performance I use the Conconi treadmill test and/or the lactate threshold test designed by Joe Friel. Again, I will go deeper into testing methods in a later post, so feel free to look these up on your own for now. Once you have your test results, you can plug them into any “zone calculator” on the interwebs or just calculate it for yourself using the table below. For my athletes, I use a percentage of their lactate threshold which is based on research done by author and nutritionist Matt Fitzgerald, as well as author and world-renowned coach Joe Friel.
Training in heart rate zones takes practice and patience. If you are an athlete who trains exclusively off of pace, or by feel, this will be a very different way to train. Where it is most applicable is in the slower, longer training sessions. During these sessions, the goal is usually to stay steady for a long period of time, at a relatively low RPE. Using heart rate to guide these sessions helps you visualize how hard you are going and lets you know when to slow down or speed up. Things like up-hills and down-hills will affect your heart rate so you will have to learn how to adjust your pace so as not to spike your heart rate too high or drop too low. Most athletes who do not regularly train with heart rate might be shocked to see how slow their endurance heart rate zone or recovery heart rate zone requires them to go. What they have to remember is that we are trying to train specific energy systems in the body, pace has nothing to do with that. On the other end, athletes might have to hold back when completing tempo or faster efforts so as to not overdo the workout.
Remember I said heart rate training is best utilized for slower, longer duration workouts? This is due to an effect called heart rate lag. It can take a minute or two for your heart rate to catch up to your effort, so if you are doing something like a fartlek workout (short, repeated hard efforts with short rest intervals in between,) your heart rate would be a bad indicator of how hard you pushed during the work interval. This is due to the fact that it would not have enough time to register how hard your heart was working during the work interval before it dropped back down for the rest interval. Heart rate can also be influenced by many factors including weather, temperature, elevation, gradient, sickness, injury, and so on. For these reasons, here are a few tips to help you decide when to train with heart rate, and when it is not necessary.
Recovery
Yes! It is incredibly easy to overdo a recovery session so always pay attention to your heart rate and make sure you minimize spikes during these sessions.
Endurance/Tempo
Yes! Maintaining a solid, steady pace for a long duration requires great attention to heart rate so that you don’t over-pace yourself and fade at the end.
Threshold
Yes! As long as your intervals are 3 minutes or longer, heart rate will help you with pacing. Any shorter and your heart rate will most likely lag too much. Remember, because of heart rate lag, the first minute or so might not reflect your actual effort. Use RPE to gauge your pace for this first part of the workout then slow down or speed up to adjust as needed.
Anaerobic/Sprints
No. Your heart rate does not register quickly enough to give you any reasonable data during sprint sessions. Pace, RPE, or power should be your guide.
While it might not always be the preferred method for every training session, it is always a good idea to keep track of heart rate for future analysis. You can measure fitness by comparing similar workouts done over the course of a season and the heart rate data to see if you got any faster or your average heart rate was any lower while at the same speeds. If you have ever wondered about heart rate-based training, give it a try and enjoy the process. Remember, it takes time and patience, but the rewards are well worth it!
Pros
Relatively Accurate
Easy to Understand
Hard to Overtrain
Reliable Feedback
Cons
Somewhat Expensive
Most Accurate Data Comes From Slower Training Sessions
Highly Influential
Limited Capabilities
