While Eat Pray Run DC, Mar on the Run and You Signed Up for What! have suggested “Spring” as today’s Friday Five link up topic, I want to talk about heart rate training and ask for your advice. I’ve been using my heart rate monitor for a few weeks, and now that I have a general idea of my heart rate data (as you can see from the five graphs below), it’s time to figure out what–if anything–I want to do with it.
Heart Rate Training Based On Heart Rate Reserve
The Heart Rate Reserve approach is behind the “fat burning,” “aerobic,” and “anaerobic” zones you may see on posters and cardio machines at the gym. For this approach, you determine your Heart Rate Reserve–the difference between your “maximum” heart rate (most resources suggest [220-age] as a rough estimate) and your resting heart rate–and calculate the different zones based on percentages of your Heart Rate Reserve.
If my maximum heart rate is 175 and my resting heart rate is 45, my Heart Rate Reserve would be 130, and sample training zones would be:
Easy–Endurance/Recovery (60-70% ): 136-140
Aerobic–Cardiovascular Training (70-80%): 140-153
Anaerobic–Interval Training (80%-90%): 153-167
How does this match up with my actual heart rate?
Here, I was doing incline intervals on the treadmill.
I definitely pushed into the anaerobic/interval zone.
Here, I was doing a track workout.
800/800/800/wait–was that only 600?/800/1000
Overall, it looks like my recovery segments aren’t
long enough or easy enough to really let my heart rate recover. š
Here, I was doing hill repeats outside.
It’s interesting to see a bigger dip into my recovery zone–
the longer downhill recovery must have helped.
Here, I was doing a steady state 5K on the treadmill.
It’s interesting to see my heart rate creeping up.
Overall, it seems like my heart rate came pretty close to the Heart Rate Reserve zones I would have targeted for these workouts.
MAF Heart Rate Training
MAF heart rate training was developed by Phil Maffetone, and is based on his theory that if you train at your “Maximum Functional Aerobic Heart Rate” you will get more efficient and be able to run faster more easily. According to one of his formulas, my Maximum Functional Aerobic Heart Rate is 140. Looking at my heart rate data, I can’t imagine keeping my heart rate that low while running, but he’s already one step ahead of me:
Initially, training at this relatively low rate may be stressful for many athletes. āI just canāt train that slowly!ā is a common comment. But after a short time, you will feel better and your pace will quicken at that same heart rate. You will not be stuck training at that relatively slow pace for too long. Still, for many athletes it is difficult to change bad habits.
Amanda (a/k/a Miss Zippy) has shared her experience with MAF training, and while she did find it frustrating at first, she also found that it paid off in the end.
I can believe that MAF training could improve my running, but I’m not sure I’m willing to give up the stress-relief or endorphins of a good hard run! To see where I stand, I wore my chest strap during a normal “just a run” run.
Now that I see that my average heart rate was only 134, I am starting to think that maybe MAF is something I could live with–and benefit from.
[Tweet “Exploring Different Approaches To Heart Rate Training”]
Do you train with a heart rate monitor?
Have you tried the MAF approach?
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I think I said this before, but your HR runs really nice and low! I am envious!
I still pull my HRM out for my easy runs and keep it all below 145, but since I’m not doing dedicated MAF training, my paces are pretty slow in this zone. But I do it b/c it feels so good and keeps me honest on easy days. Thanks for the shout out.
Very interesting. I’ve been HR training for over a year (not MAF). The 220-age formula is very general and works okay as a guide but everyone’s HR runs differently. I did a post on key bike workouts last week and have a link that describes how to field test Lactate Threshold. Your graphs look about right. If anything, I would say the one set of intervals that looks like the most typical HR response is your outside hills. The others don’t have as much of a spread between work and recovery HR. I’ll be interested to see what you think of MAF!
I’ve been doing heart rate training for a few months and am a big believer. For me it’s all about running my easy runs easy enough (much slower by heart rate than you would) so that I can run my hard runs hard enough and get all the benefits of both easy and slow runs. My friend and a local blogger recently posted a really thorough writeup on her history with heart rate training, how she does it, and how it’s helped her. Good luck!
http://greyshirtrunning.blogspot.com/2015/03/heart-rate-training-history-guide.html
Yes! I think having a numbers goal will help me make my easy runs easy, since I’ve never been good at that. Thanks for sharing the link!
I’ve read a lot of blog posts by runners using MAF training. I don’t think I have the patience for this. I’m impressed with the results, tho!
I found this very interesting! I have never monitored my heart rate but maybe I should? I hope you keep us informed of your progress, I am curious.
This is so interesting Coco! I closely followed Amanda’s MAF training – I’m just not sure I have the patience to go that route. I’ll be really interested to see which path you take.
That is the big question. I’m not sure I’m there yet, but maybe for one “easy” run a week I could handle it.
Wow, I love all of your data analysis. I’ve never thought to keep track of and monitor my heart rate during exercise. Maybe I should start doing that.
It’s addicting!
I have been wanting to try out this approach. I’ve heard so many great things about it but that it’s definitely an adjustment. I will be doing more research on it soon! Great post!
Maybe you can try it after Paris, before you have to worry too much about MCM?
this is super fascinating. i haven’t given it any serious thought yet but have been reading more about MAF and HRT in general!
I tried MAF training for a while. Decided it just wasn’t for me. I’m curious to see what you think.
I think I’ll start with one run! It’s too close to my spring races to change things up too much now.
I tried to do HR training a few years ago and kind of got confused. I use my HR monitor in spin class mostly to see how hard I am working. Interesting post!
This is awesome!!! I find my HR goes so high…I tried running my long training runs at 65% but found it hard to stay in that zone.
I used to run with heart rate monitor linked to my garmin but it just felt so bulky so I stopped. I maybe used it for 2-3 weeks. I can honestly say I didn’t take the time to research my finding either. But you post is inspiring me to train with it again.
Never tried training with a heart rate monitor. I have one but the band around my chest always felt so constrictive and I felt I could not breath well.
That’s one reason I’m eyeing the apple watch. š
I have a heart monitor strap and never wear it. I am guilty of not running my easy runs slow enough. I may try wearing it to monitor those. Who knows, I may get addicted to all those numbers and wear it all the time.
I too am envious of that heart rate. Looks very consistent and low. Mine runs really high and I know when I’m out of alignment. I do wear a HRM mainly to just confirm what I’m feeling but I like the way you presented this. It’s interesting to see the different workouts side by side.
i’ve never attempted heart rate training.. i know it’s beneficial, and just good to know your body even more, but, eh, too much paperwork for me!
I wear a heart rate monitor for all my OTF classes and find it really interesting.