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KNOW YOUR ZONES

Anyone training with science will be using a heartrate monitor and power/ pace to most accurately guide their training. However, “instinct” and a “sense of effort” are also key skills to bring to your training and race pacing. The more information you have to hand, the better the process.

 

There are also those times when your damn HRM won’t work for some unknown reason and it’s usually when you want it the most!!! In these cases, “RPE” (which is the Rate of Perceived Exertion) is a really useful fall back option. It also helps you better understand how each zone should “feel”.

 

The RPE scale is defined on a scale of 1-10.  Here is a quick guide on how to interpret your zones based on RPE.

 

Zone 1 : ACTIVE RECOVERY

RPE = 1 to 2

Little to no resistance/effort.  Typically walking or spinning without exertion.  Can be done all day.  Nothing above normal breathing.

Talk test: can hold a conversation.

 

Zone 2a:  AERO

RPE = 3 to 5

Light effort.  A long sustainable endurance effort that can be held for long periods of time.  Slight labored breathing above normal.

Talk test: able to talk and converse with slightly higher than normal breathing.

Race Pace : Ultra running

 

Zone 2b : LT

RPE = 5 to 6

A moderate amount of exertion that can be held for a long period of time.  Breathing is somewhat labored.

Talk test: able to talk and converse with slightly higher than normal breathing but would rather not.

Race Pace : Marathon and Ironman effort

 

Zone 3 : AC

RPE = 7

A strong exertion that can be held for a moderate period of time.  Breathing is more labored.

Talk test: Short sentences are ok but you are reluctant to hold a conversation.

Race Pace : Half marathon and 70.3

 

Zone 4 : SST

RPE = 8-8.5

A significant amount of effort that can be held for short intervals or a race like a 5 or 10km.  Heavy breathing.

Talk test: a few words at a time if you really had to.

Race Pace : Olympic Tri & 10km

 

Zone 5 : VO2 

RPE = 9+

A high level of effort that can only be sustained for very short periods of time such as high performance intervals.  Very heavy breathing.

Talk test: one to two words.

Race Pace : Sprint Tri & 5km

 

Zone 6 : POWER

RPE = 10

Max effort.  Small maximal bursts up to 30sec.

Talk test: forget it!!!

Race Pace : Sprints

THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO HEARTRATE MONITORING

 

Although Heart-rate monitors (HRM’s) are a common item in most athletes’ kit bags these days, very few people know how to get the best out of them. Many athletes have little idea what the numbers they see actually mean. Some wear their monitor yet completely ignore it, whereas others totally rely on their heart-rate data and forget other key information. Very simply, HRM’s are there to help guide the intensity of your workout. To train specifically and correctly, you’ll need to train in carefully defined “zones”. This article assumes that you already have your zones but need practical pointers on how to use your HRM out on the road. What follows is a brief discussion on some of the factors affecting heart-rate and the remedies you can apply.

After prolonged exercise at moderate intensities in a normal or warm environment, heart-rate will often rise despite no felt increase in intensity. This is called “Cardiac Drift” and can produce heart-rates up to 20 beats per minute higher than early session heart-rates. The cause is core temperature increase. Here heart-rate does not offer a true reflection of intensity so in this case heart-rate is best used in conjunction with power (on the bike) or pace (on the run) and/ or perceived exertion. The remedy is to start at the lower end of your training zone and over the course of the session allow the heart-rate ro rise up through and slightly above the upper limit of the target heart-rate zone whilst holding constant intensity.

In cold weather, there may be an increase in oxygen uptake with heart-rates staying similar to those of normal conditions. In this case, the body is working harder but this is not shown in the bpm’s on your monitor. Here heart-rate underestimates the intensity. The take home lesson is to train in the lower portion of the prescribed training zones. Hot weather gives much higher heart-rates than usual. This is due to the core temperature increase as discussed in cardiac drift plus the increase in environmental temperature. Increases of between 10 and 30 bpm have been reported in the heat, with no change in actual intensity (watts/ speed). Here again, Heart-rate is not reflecting the true intensity. In this case, the bpm’s shown over-estimate the workload. However, the higher heart-rate is indicative of a higher total body stress as the body works harder to cool and maintain homeostasis. Even though the intensity of a work bout in the heat is not a high as in normal weather, the stress the body is under is increased. Therefore, train at the normal prescribed heart-rates (which will mean an “easing off” in power and pace) and use the heart-rate as a guide of “total body stress”.

Nutrition and calorific intake is critical especially for the long distance athletes. During racing, a lowering of the heart-rate in conjunction with an increase in the perceived effort means that you need to take in calories. In this case, the heart-rate monitor serves as your blood sugar level monitor and saves you from the much dreaded “bonk”. If you find that your heart-rate won’t rise to normal levels early on during training sessions, it’s a good sign of underlying fatigue, especially if your legs feel heavy. In this scenario, cyclists typically find that they are pushing huge race pace gearing but the heart-rate says otherwise. Here you have two choices. Either back off the pace and do a shorter active recovery session or head home for passive recovery.

Dehydration is a common phenomena especially but not solely in the heat. Here the blood plasma volume drops and the heart-rate increases as cardiac output rises. The bpm rise may be between 2 and 7% (that’s up to 160 bpm from 150 bpm). The remedy here is obviously to drink, but also to use heart-rate as a guide of “total body stress”.

For Cyclists and Triathletes, as you strive to make your time-trial position more aerodynamic you may find that your heart-rate at a given intensity has risen. Many think that this means that the new lower position is counter-productive. This is not necessarily so. Research shows that both oxygen uptake and heart-rate are higher in the “aero” position than the standard road position. This is attributed to the increased contribution of the shoulder muscles & a less efficient hip angle. The costs in heart-rate are considered negligible compared to the time savings of improved aerodynamics. Although the heart-rate may be up by 2-5 bpm, it is not a true reflection on intensity so you can allow your heart-rate this “drift” when on the aero-bars, knowing that there has been no real increase in effort. The key here is to train in your aero position & be aware of how it affects you. As long as you can maintain an efficient pedal stroke and cadence and as long as your breathing mechanics are not compromised, the aero position is the way to go for faster times despite the small bpm increase.

On race day, you may find that your heart-rate is up at high levels even when you are warming up. Here the heart-rate is exaggerating the intensity and the adrenalin coursing through your veins is responsible. For Triathletes, they often find that the heart-rate is elevated early on during the bike ride after going from a horizontal position during the swim to upright running then transitioning to the bike. The key here is to train for this transition, but in both these cases the real answer is to wait until you are settled and some time (30mins+) in to your race to let your heart-rate settle down and give you more honest readings. Furthermore, it has been shown that athletes can achieve higher heart-rates during race situations than during training sessions even though the intensity, power or speed produced has remained the same. These race day heartrates again over-estimate the intensity. In all these cases, perceived exertion is a useful tool to use in conjunction with your heart-rate. For short races, I suggest forgetting your HRM completely unless you are recording the bpm to analyze later. For long races, the HRM has many benefits listed throughout this article. In racing conditions often it is your gut instinct that will tell you hard you should go with your HRM providing back-up information and real-time data on the current stresses and conditions you are facing.

The most important message for you to take away from here is that, HRM’s are a great tool but they are best used in conjunction with other information. Heat, dehydration, bike position, biomechanics and day to day biorhythms all affect the numbers you see and some of these affect the intensity you feel. Taking into account all the factors allows you to further maximize your training and take your performance to even higher levels.

HOW TO DO INTERVAL TRAINING CORRECTLY

Interval training is one of the best ways to increase performance across all endurance sports. It is therefore a regular staple in all of my training programs.

 

During interval training you typically work at higher intensities than you are normally used to sustaining in an effort to increase aerobic capacity and push your fitness to a new level. You do this by doing short “intervals” followed by a brief recovery. Over time as you get fitter you will be able to do longer intervals at the same pace and over time your sustainable pace will increase too. For example, early on in the program you might do:

 

10 x 2 minutes at a zone 4 (SST) effort with 1 minute recovery between each interval

 

As you get fitter this session might grow into something like

 

5 x 4 minutes at a zone 4 (SST) effort with 1 minute recovery between each interval

 

Here you can see that the length of time at the higher intensity is increased to keep pushing you to become fitter as you adapt to the training stimulus. There are many ways to work with intervals and with me you don’t have to worry about the science behind them so much as how to do them accurately!

 

Tip #1 : Always press the “lap button” on your smartwatch at the start and end of each interval

 

How you should approach these sessions so that you get the most out of them largely depends on the technology you own. That’s because when moving at a set pace/ speed, heart-rate takes about 3 minutes to rise then stabilize. If you are only doing short 1 to 3 minute intervals you can see that heart-rate will not be the correct judge of effort for the interval. Therefore, you need to also use your instinct along with power on the bike or pace on the run to accomplish the repetitions accurately.

 

Tip #2 : Set up a dedicated screen on your smartwatch so you can see all relevant data with ease

When you start the first interval, simply work at the correct power, pace or effort that is associated with the target training zone. (You will get to know this exactly through the lactate testing that we do ). Over the first few intervals you will see the HR gradually start to come in to zone and stabilize earlier in each interval.

 

As your session continues, watch to be sure that the heartrate does not go over the upper target for the desired zone. If the heartrate goes too high then lactate production will increase and this will shift your fuel usage and undermine the goal of the training session. Therefore as the session goes on, you might have to ease off the pace/ power to keep the heartrate “in zone”. As you get fitter you will find that you won’t need to ease off the pace and that you are able to complete more intervals at that same effort.

 

Tip #3 : it’s always better to start a little too easy that to go out too hard!

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