Pace tells us how fast you are running, but your heart rate tells us how hard you are working.
In truth heart rate training isn’t hugely complicated, but its the one aspect of training that most runners either neglect or get wrong. Training your heart can make a huge difference to your performance and your enjoyment of running.
Heart Rate Zones
Zone 1 & 2 – Easy / Aerobic
Zone 3 – Moderate Intensity
Zone 4 & 5 – Hard / Intense
A large percentage for your training should be in the easy and moderate zones.
Most runners train enough, they put the miles on the clock and think thats the work they need. What most runners don’t understand is they are wasting a lot of that effort on doing the wrong thing. This causes runners to plateau or over load and eventually, injured.
Your heart is a muscle. That muscle needs to be strong and efficient. If you want to grow your bicep muscle into a strong and efficient muscle, you will lift a dumbbell and do bicep curls. But you won’t lift the heaviest weight you can find and then do 1000 reps straight off the bat, instead you will pick a weight that is suitable for 15 reps and then rest for 60 seconds. Your heart is the same, so why choose to run hard and/or for long periods of time, you wouldn’t put your bicep through the same routine?
Running “easy” is akin to lifting a suitable weight and doing 15 reps. It’s much easier to assess an appropriate weight than it is to know if you are truly running easy. Most runners run way to fast for it to be classed as easy.
The benefits of easy running are…
- Builds aerobic fitness
- Improves aerobic efficiency
- Allows training consistency
- Supports good recovery
Achieving all those things is the basis for becoming the best and most progressive runner you can be, and for the casual runner who simply wants to enjoy running and uses running as part of their weekly health routine, this is the gateway to that goal.
Do You Know What Your Zones Are?
Most runners use outdated methods and formulas that have no basis of fact. The most common is the 220-Age which will give you your maximum HR. This was devised by a runner over 100 years ago with no scientific basis whatsoever.
A runner who works off their maximum heart rate is not a runner making progress. Your key metric is your lactate threshold heart rate, and the only way to to assess that is by doing a lactate test. The test done correctly is the only way to get accurate HR Zones.
Your smart watch is no better than our centuries old runner, the only difference is the use of algorithms which are no more accurate than guess work, as aerobic fitness is personal to each person and algorithms are a generic way to assess things.
Once you have correctly calibrated HR Zones, only then can you be sure that the training you are doing is correct for the goal you are seeking.
Understanding HR zones is one thing, applying them into a training plan for a runner to make progress is another.
The brutal reality is that most runners are working way harder than they need to and still not getting the results they hoped for and increasing their risk of injury whilst doing it.
If you want to understand more about this, or want to know your true zones, please get in touch. I am a UESCA Qualified Endurance Coach, which is the only scientifically backed training process in the world that improves your aerobic performance, which is key to your health and progression.