One of the first choices to make when you start running is the benchmark for your workouts. In other words: when you run, it’s best to follow your heart rate (measured in beats per minute), the step ( minutes per km) o For more advanced and equipped athletes the power (watts)? Each parameter can be corrected, and all three can also be used at different times or within the same workout to cross-reference the data and assess well all the effects on your body.
Heart rate monitor is your ally
One of the most widely used systems for monitoring and managing training is the heart rate monitor. The first uses date back to the 1980s when expensive and impractical tools were available on the market. Current models work through the combined use of an elastic band and a sensing device that can be a wristwatch or smartphone. The band fastened around the chest is equipped with a sensor that has the function of detecting and transmitting pulses to the device, which displays them instantly. Find some models on the market that can read the pulse directly from the wrist while wearing the watch. However, these systems still do not offer the same performance at the level of accuracy compared with the traditional range.
The operation of the heart rate monitor is simple, but you need to be able to use the data that the instrument transmits. Heart rate offers very important information. Heart rate is a measure of internal load, thus the level of fatigue you are sustaining in the face of physical exertion.
It is a subjective and variable parameter. It makes little sense to compare your heart rate with that of your fellow exercisers because everyone’s cardio circulatory system works differently. This means that a person with 150 beats per minute (bpm) might be at a significantly higher exertion level than another who is at 170 bpm but with a much higher maximum heart rate than the former.
Always keep an eye on your fc
Moreover, the heart rate is variable. It means it is influenced by internal factors such as your level of fatigue, stress, hydration; but also by nutrition, illness etc. and external factors such as temperature, humidity and other climatic factors such as wind or altitude at which you are doing physical activity. Variability is an advantage because it can give you the first rough measure of how you feel at the time you are training. My advice is to take a good look at the heart rate habitually even before starting the activity. At rest, even when sitting, always measure your pulse rate before you start. Do this every time you practice so you get to know yourself. You will understand what your resting pulse is when you are well or when you are an altered state from fatigue stress or illness. If one day, before you even start you have a much higher pulse rate than usual, you most likely have to give up your workout to listen to an alarm coming from your body. If you decide to train anyway, especially if you have a demanding job scheduled, you risk further compromising your balance and aggravating the situation you are in. Remember that every workout is a stress on the body that should produce, if properly dosed, long-term growth in performance and efficiency. But in the immediate term it tires you out and generates a lowering of immune defenses proportional to the level of sustained effort. Avoid if you are not well even before you start.
Once you start your heart rate training you have a tool to assess intensity at all times. Some workouts may have heart rate as the only target. This means you don’t have to worry about any other parameters such as speed, power and can focus on beats per minute. To get a good understanding of what your correct intensity zones are, it would be helpful to do a functional assessment test at a specialized center. When you have the prospectus with your intensity zones then you will really know what is the correct intensity at which to do a warm-up, at which to do a long workout, or at which to do a challenging repeat.
It is essential that among the different parameters you know what is the maximum heart rate level that you absolutely must not reach and exceed. This is so you don’t put your health at risk, which takes priority over sports activity and its results. All of these parameters you must then enter within your heart rate monitor. Along with the zone values, you can also set alarms so that when you exceed certain intensity zones your cardio is triggered with audible alerts.
Know your Zones of Intensity
If you don’t have the ability to do a functional assessment test, you can estimate training zones based on the percentage of your maximum heart rate. You might know it if you had a test or stress test at the hospital. If you do not have this measurement you can estimate it with Tanaka’s formula: 208 – (0.7 x Age) = Theoretical Maximum Heart Rate (MHR). Remember that this is only an estimate to get an idea of the intensities to be held but it is based only on population averages and therefore does not necessarily represent your specific case.
From the maximum heart rate you can also estimate your intensity zones:
Zone 1
: Very light 50 to 60 percent of the FCM
Zone 2
: Light 60 to 70 percent of FCM
Zone 3
:
Moderate 70 to 80% of FCM
Zone 4
: Lasts from 80 to 90 percent of the FCM
-
Zone 5
: Very Hard 90 to 100% of FCM
What are the workouts in which you can use heart rate? It is certainly reliable for continuous efforts of medium and long duration but not for very short or even short efforts but performed with rest from standing. This is because the heart has a latency and adaptation period: it therefore responds with “delay.”
I can ask you to do 10 km at 150 bpm or run for 45 minutes with a pulse progression going from Zone 1 to Zone 3. On the other hand, I could not make you run for 100m after resting following a target heart rate. Starting from a resting situation in fact, the heart rate will rise gradually without reaching high values if the duration of exertion is short no matter how intense. Indeed very often the peak heart rate is reached in the first few seconds of the recovery phase. In the next graph you can see the behavior of heart rate (Red Line) during different phases of a workout with step changes (purple line) at high intensity and active recovery.
By cross-referencing heart rate data with other parameters you can estimate your efficiency. Over time and as your performance progresses at the same heart rate, your running pace will improve and your watts will increase. Analyzing the data from each workout allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of the work.
Always use the heart rate monitor in all your workouts and take full advantage of all the information this valuable tool can give you.
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