Heart Rate Monitors For Runners Are Essential
They Can Drastically Increase Your Performance
Heart rate monitors provide an efficient and effective aid to running. In all sports performance relies on generation of energy to power the muscles. You need to train the energy systems of your body to improve the way they generate power for your muscles. For different people performance can be related to a particular level of heart rate. By accurate and constant monitoring of your heart rate during training, you can make sure that you get the most out of every training session. Many runners either push themselves too hard all the time, or just don't push themselves enough. By using a heart rate monitor you can tailor your training to the correct proportions. This will allow you to get the most out of each session. What is the difference between heart rate and pulseYour pulse is taken either from your wrist or neck and is a reflection of the blood being pumped from the heart, while heart rate is measured as a contraction of the heart muscle as is measured by a heart rate monitor.An easy way to check if you are over training or perhaps getting sick, is to take your pulse as you wake up in the morning. If your pulse rate climbs on consecutive mornings you may be training too hard or perhaps getting an infection. If you want to improve your cardiovascular system, exercise within a set range of your maximum heart rate. As you age your maximum heart rate drops by about 1 beat per year How to find your maximum heart rateThe easiest way is to subtract your age from 220. A more accurate way is to apply this formula ( 214 - 0.8 x age for men ) and ( 207 - 0.7 x age for women ). However the best way to find maximum heart rate is to run 800m as fast as you can, rest for 30sec. and then run another 800m. You will reach maximum heart rate in the second 800m. How to find your waking heart rateAs you wake up take your pulse for a full minute, or put on the heart rate chest strap and rest for 2 minutes. How to use this information effectivelyit's actually quite easy, lets use an example; a 30 year old with a waking pulse of 60 would have a maximum of 220 - 30 = 190 and a range of 190 - 60 = 130. So if he were to run at 65 percent of his maximum, his heart rate would be 130 x 0.65 = 144.5. Now what you can do is set various heart rates for different types of training sessions and make the most efficient use of your training time. Training zones- Zone A 55 - 65% long slow distance or recovery runs
- Zone B 65 - 80% medium distance runs
- Zone C 85% time trial
- Zone d 85 - 90% Interval training over 400m
- Zone E 90 - 95% quality training of 400m or less
For each zone the formula is; range x (required %) + minimum heart rate. Time for another example; Man with max 190 and resting 50, range is 190 - 50 = 140,zone b 80% would be 140 x 0.8 + 50 = 162. So for our man to run at 80% in zone b he must maintain a heart rate of 162. One last thought on heart rate monitors. It is not necessary to use your monitor every time you run, once in a while just go for a run for the pure enjoyment of it, after all that's why you run. Another handy running tool is a gps. Check out this site for more info
www.everything-gps.com
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