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Heart Rate Monitors

pippip Posts: 170
So i've gone and bought meself one of these little gadgets,but really haven't got much of a clue as to how i need to train with it.I've set my age,resting heart rate,height and weight and it gives me information,but,i don't really know what to do with the info or how many BPM i should be training at.Iwill be grateful of any advice.Cheers

Comments

  • dhcmdhcm Posts: 67
    Friel zones:

    Zone 2 = zone up to level at which lactate starts to accumulate. Can keep this effort up for hours. Marathon-type effort.

    Zone 4/5a = "threshold" - above this level you are getting into anaerobic too much. This effort will feel fairly tough from about 10 mins or so in, if you keep it up for 40mins you will be knackered. 10K effort.

    Basically, do your long slow stuff in zone 2 and your tempo stuff in zone 4/5a.

    The hard bit is estimating the zones. Estimating them is not straightforward. Basing it on age/resting not likely reliable. Better to use a treadmill test, or record your HR in a 10K run or something. Or get tested using a proper lactate threshold test in a sports lab. Zones vary according to discipline. Most will have lower HR levels in biking and higher in running.
  • pippip Posts: 170
    cheers fellers.I think i need a degree in sports science to understand properly how to use one.I'll stay in my comfort zone whem i'm going long and bump it up a bit when i'm doing shorter distances
  • TRIumphantTRIumphant Posts: 850
    +1 for Joe Friel, website or books all cover it fairly well
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