Listen to your heart

heart training

Contrary to popular belief, using a heart rate monitor during your training is neither as complicated nor as expensive as you might think. After your trainers and clothes, a heart rate monitor should feature as the next most important item in your running wardrobe, to help keep your training on track and ensure you are running within your limits.

For every one of my years as a personal trainer, I have strongly believed in the importance of knowing how the heart responds to exercise, for both safety and fitness-monitoring purposes. By knowing how hard your heart is working on each training walk, jog or run, you can have peace of mind that you are not over-working (or under-working) your cardiovascular system and you have real-time feedback, so you know when to ease off the pace or even put your foot down.

It is a common myth that the use of heart rate monitors is reserved for the more serious athlete and that you have to remortgage your house to purchase one. Even if you anticipate walking and jogging a 5k course, a heart monitor costing less than half the price of a pair of running shoes can quickly become your best friend, and will help give you peace of mind that you are training at just the right intensity.

What's a Normal Resting Heart Rate?

heart rate running A normal resting heart rate is anywhere from 60-80 beats per minute. This can vary massively depending on fitness levels (the higher your resting heart rate, the more unfit you are) and genetics, but the majority of people fall within this range.

Your maximum heart rate (known as ‘HR max') is also variable, depending on a number of factors, but the most reliable factor is your age. Again, there is a degree of variability from person to person but, as a rough guide, the maximum number of times your heart can beat per minute can be determined by subtracting your age from 220 if you are male and 226 if you are female.

So, for example:

If you are a 40-year-old woman, your maximum possible heart rate is:
226 - 40 = 186

If you are a 40-year-old man your maximum possible heart rate is:
220 - 40 = 180

It is from this figure that you can then work out how hard you should be running during your training runs. You do this by exercising at a certain percentage of your maximum heart rate - a term commonly referred to as your suggested ‘heart rate zone'.

So, what is your suggested training heart rate zone?

Ok, so you've worked out your maximum heart rate, now all you need to do is work out your training zones - which is far easier than it sounds.

Put simply, during your training you are going to need to run at certain intensities so that you can make the necessary

fitness gains to achieve your race goal. When you're training with a heart monitor, these intensities are shown as percentages of your maximum heart rate, and generally fall between 70 and 90 per cent of it.

So, imagine you're a 40-year-old woman with a maximum heart rate of 186 - now let's work out how many beats per minute (bpm) your heart should be making during training runs.

Jogging zone: 65-75 per cent

For many runners, the jogging zone is where you will be spending the majority of your training weeks. It is a pace at which you should still be able to hold a conversation with someone, and it should feel ‘comfortable' and not a speed that you feel is overly fast or unsustainable. So:

65 -75 per cent of 186 = 121-139 bpm

By keeping your heart rate between 130 and 139 bpm, your body will be working at just the right intensity to adapt to the stresses of training and, over time, this will make your heart stronger and more efficient.

Running zone: 75-85 per cent

Now we're getting into the tough part of training. Running at this intensity is difficult to maintain for a long period of time if you are not used to it, so be cautious if you are new to running and you find your heart rate creeping up to and over the 75 per cent barrier.
The difficulty of running at this intensity is offset by the immense fitness gains that can be made by regular training sessions performed in your running heart rate zone. You might find yourself sweating profusely and panting like there's no tomorrow but the hard work really does pay off. So:

75-85 per cent of 186 = 139-158 bpm

Initially, running at 85 per cent of your HR max will not feel pleasant, but you will adapt over time and see significant improvements in your running ability.

Advanced running zone: 85-95 per cent

Unless you have been running or exercising rigorously for a few months, it's best to avoid training with your heart rate this high. Going from a sedentary lifestyle where your heart rate barely exceeds 90 beats a minute, to then making it pump at over 90 per cent of its maximum ability puts it under enormous stress, and it can be dangerous.

Running at this intensity can be performed only in short bursts of a few

minutes or so (more if you are very fit and have a high anaerobic threshold). Running at this intensity can be performed only in short bursts, and is best undertaken during interval training sessions.

Exercising this hard once or twice a week can give you massive fitness gains, but you pay the price in terms of increased risk of injury and the discomfort that this intensity of running can inflict on your leg muscles. Unless you have a specific goal to achieve on race day, or you are a glutton for punishment, I'd leave this intensity well alone and enjoy your training in the relative comfort of your jogging zone. So:

85-95 per cent of 186 = 158-176 bpm

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What sort of monitor should you choose?

Polar RS 300 The decision of whether to use a heart rate monitor to help you prepare for your chosen event is of course totally up to you. Some runners love them and find it difficult to train without them, others see them as a waste of time, and just enjoy running as far and as fast as they like, without feeling compelled to check their heart rate every few minutes.

However, If you're dabbling with the idea of investing in one but worried about the cost, why not just do what nearly all 21st-century shoppers seem to be doing do these days: Google ‘heart rate monitor' and see what you find.

The range of monitors you can buy is extensive, so the model you choose is ultimately down to what you want to use it for, how fat your wallet is and how resistant you are to being seduced by highly functional (yet often unnecessary) gadgetry.

Although certain models, such as Garmin, come with high-tech GPS (useful if you want to know how far you've run), computer link-up and running speed functions, for the majority of runners all you really need from a monitor are the basic functions, which are standard on most entry-level models anyway.

Leading heart rate monitor manufacturer Polar produces a series of entry-level models, which are both easy to use and - more importantly - easy on the wallet. They feature all the functions you will need to see you through your training. These include:

• Heart rate

• Average heart rate

• Stopwatch function

• Percentage of maximum heart rate function

Most models should have these features and, although you can buy very cheap models that will only give you your current heart rate, just a few of the additional features can be really helpful.

Average heart rate

heart training Knowing what your average heart is after a training session can be a really good way of charting your progress, and will give you clear feedback on how your fitness levels are improving. Over time, your thrice-weekly training runs will gradually strengthen your heart muscle, and it will become far more efficient at pumping blood to the working muscles.

This extra strength and efficiency makes the training runs that initially found you gasping for air far easier, and the proof is right there on your heart rate monitor: your heart is not having to work nearly as hard as it did just a few weeks ago.

For example, if the very first training session you took on involved a gentle 2k jog, it's very possible that your unconditioned heart may have been going like the clappers and averaged a high heart rate of 150, or as much as 80 per cent of your HR max.

However, after as a little as two weeks of training your heart will have adapted to increased activity levels and will find the same run at the same speed a piece of cake - and it is highly likely that your average heart rate will have dropped down to 140, or 75 per cent of your HR max. This is a far more sustainable rate, and one that won't make you feel nearly as exhausted.

By keeping tabs on your average heart rate, you'll be amazed at how uplifting it can be to watch it drop as you continue through your training programme, and you'll look back in disbelief in months to come at just how hard you were making your heart work to jog such a short distance.

Stopwatch

Having an integrated stopwatch on your heart monitor makes sense as it means you don't have to carry a separate time-measuring device with you and you can easily keep an eye on how long you have been running. For runners who are aiming to finish a 5k or 10k under a certain time, this is particularly important as you can easily check how fast you are running each kilometre, while at the same time ensuring that you are running in your correct heart rate zone.

Percentage of maximum heart rate

For those training runs where it's advised that you should keep your heart rate within a certain training zone - 70-75 per cent of HR max, for example - there is a function on some watches that can display at what percentage of your maximum heart rate you are training, rather than the actual rate.

This can be particularly useful if, like me, you keep forgetting what your heart rate should be during a long run and instead find it easier to just check that you are working at 70-75 per cent of HR max. It's not essential, but some runners find it a useful feature.