Running To Heart Rate Explained

you might be well versed in measuring your runs to time distance and pace but have you ever considered that heart rate may actually be an important measurement too i'm anna and i'm rick and we're going to be guiding you through how to use heart rate as a useful tool when it comes to running yeah whether that is finding out what heart rate zones mean what each of them are how to set them and how you can apply all of this to your training don't you worry we have got you covered and don't forget to stay watching right to the very end because we have got a top tip about how a heart rate monitor can potentially give you early warning signs of illness or over training and don't forget to hit subscribe and tap the bell icon so you get notified when we upload new videos to help you with your running which we do every single week why is heart rate such a useful metric for runners well when you do any kind of cardiovascular exercise it means your heart rate is elevated and so it's a really good indicator of just how hard you're working and when you run at different heart rates they impact your physiology in different ways training different systems and changing the emphasis of the type of workout you're looking to complete knowing what heart rate range or zone you're training in can help maximize the benefits of your training or recovery it's important to note that different heart rate levels at rest and during exercise and corresponding heart rate zones will vary wildly from person to person and that's all down to a number of different factors including age weight gender fitness levels temperature and even things like medication or stress for example fitter runners tend to have a lower resting heart rate and keep watching for more on resting heart rate and why it's important to keep an eye on it you may find that your heart rate varies from day to day and from run to run for example one day a pace that might have felt easy may feel much harder another day this can be down to a number of different factors maybe you didn't sleep very well the night before maybe you're coming down with something and feeling a bit poorly and stress can also play a part in this too which is why it's really useful to keep an eye on your heart rate when you're running to factor in all of these different variables that you may not actually have noticed now when it comes to measuring your heart rate when running there are two main options the first is optical based sensors on your wrist so for example on my garmin you'll see there are flashing led lights on the underside that sits on your wrist so light of different wavelengths is refracted by the movement of blood under your skin your device then interprets that into heart rate data to give you a figure of beats per minute or bpm now the second option is a chest strap worn against the skin under any clothing you're wearing these measure your heart rate in a different way using something called electrocardiography so a simplified version of the way your heart rate would be measured in hospital when you would have lots of electrodes stuck onto your skin so there's a transmitter that sits at the front and it sends the data that it's collecting to your watch or your phone so if you are wearing a chest strap as well as a watch then the watch automatically takes the data from the strap over the wrist base sensor which you choose that's up to you it's probably easier just to wear a watch so it probably comes down to a question of accuracy with the latest technology using optical sensors and clever algorithms it means that risk-based monitoring is probably enough but in certain circumstances the accuracy can be affected by a user's physical characteristics the fit or the type of activity for maximum accuracy make sure that you keep your sensor clean regularly and that you have a nice snug fit around your wrist be aware that things like tattoos and skin tone can affect the accuracy of readings a lot of high-level athletes will use a chest strap to ensure the most accurate and consistent data they need to fit snugly to stay in place and also require moisture to pick up the electrical signal so sweat once you get going or a little water or saliva before you start heart rate zones are a way of measuring the training effect that you're going to be getting from your run so some people will use a three zone system and there's no reason why you can't use any number of zones really what we're going to be running through today is the five zones that you find most commonly on all garmin watches and is probably most regularly used so in a five zone system zone one is the easiest probably just a very easy run or a brisk walk zone five is where you're really training hard we're going to talk you through what each zone means but first we're going to talk you through how to work yours out there are a number of different ways but almost all of them require you to know or work out what your maximum heart rate is now the most basic and easiest way of doing this is by using what's known as the fox formula where you take the number 220 and subtract your age from it now of course this most certainly isn't the most accurate way of doing it because what might apply to one 30 year old for example may not apply to another especially when you take into consideration things like gender height and general fitness for example there are two other formulae that are slightly more technical that you could use as an alternative if you're looking for a really quick way to try and get this number but if you want to find an accurate figure for your maximum heart rate which is how you use heart rate to improve your running you'll need to consider doing what's called a stress test since you'll be trying to get as close as possible to your maximum heart rate you shouldn't attempt this if you have any medical condition or injury and should seek some medical advice if you're in doubt if you've already worn your watch or your heart rate strap for a hard interval session then you may save yourself the pain of having to do a stress test and simply just take the highest heart rate measurement from that session because chances are you were pretty close to your max heart rate during it however we're going to show you the way that you can perform a stress test if you are up for it so you'll be looking to do a thoroughly easy warm-up at first building up to a maximum exertion within 10 to 12 minutes at hard effort so that could be an all-out 3k at race pace it could be two times 800 meters or it could be two to three minute intervals at hard effort or it could be starting out around five minutes away from the bottom of a long hill building up speed gradually to the bottom and then running at full pace for two minutes back up it that will give you your max heart rate figure and it's entirely possible to set up all five zones just with this one figure as a percentage of your max heart rate but there is one other thing that we would recommend that you do in order to personalize your zones even further and that's taking your resting heart rate so a couple of ways of doing this are to wear your watch for a few days and get a good baseline of your average resting heart rate from that or you can simply take your pulse first thing in the morning and use that figure now that you have your own personal maximum and resting heart rates you can work out your heart rate reserve which is essentially the difference between the two and this is your useful heart rate range for your training you can then work out your zones in the way i'm about to show you though thankfully using garmin connect all you need to do is select hrr in the based on drop down and pop in your maximum and resting values so zone 1 is from 50 to 60 percent of your heart rate reserve or hr you can work out your reserve by subtracting your resting heart rate from your maximum then work out fifty and sixty percent of this number add these numbers to your resting heart rate to give you the bottom and top heart rates for zone one you can repeat this for other zones using sixty to seventy percent for zone two seventy to eighty percent for zone three eighty to ninety percent for zone four and ninety to a hundred percent for zone five finally if you're really keen to get the most accurate possible measurement of your heart rate zones then it is possible to go to a lab and have these tests carried out by a professional this involves you running on a treadmill at various intensities they'll take blood usually from a pimpric in your ear to measure the level of lactate in it as well as measuring your oxygen through a mask as i say it's possible to get this done in a lab but you will of course pay for the privilege so now that you've set your zones here's a quick run through of what each of the zones means so if you haven't gone and had a lab test done but you've merely checked your max heart rate using a stress test or maybe you've used one of the formulae from earlier in the video then try and use our examples of each of the zones with perceived efforts how much you can talk and how heavy your breathing is as you may want to tweak your zones as you go zone one is a very light intensity effort so it should feel very relaxed and easy your breathing is controlled you're able to hold a conversation and your perceived rate of exertion is very low zone two is easy running this is what you should aim for in your recovery runs or your warm-ups or cooldowns you should still be able to have a full conversation it should feel like a four or five out of ten effort zone three is steady aerobic running you might consider your long runs at this pace so breathing is still well managed not ragged but getting a little bit harder zone four is a hard sustained effort like a threshold run you should only be able to reply to questions with a few words zone five is very hard so this is intervals and sprints your breathing is a lot harder conversation is impossible think almost at your max effort for any runs that you're doing to a specific heart rate you can set up a heart rate alert on your garmin so it will let you know and give you feedback with a buzz or a bing to let you know if your heart rate exceeds or drops below a certain range so that's a really good way of being able to monitor your heart rate on the run without having to constantly look down and check your watch and if you're using your watch you can set your screen to let you know which zone you're in according to colors so you don't have to remember all the numbers now we told you we'd have a top tip at the end so here it is if you ever show up to a threshold run and have a good idea about the type of heart rate you'd expect given the pace and conditions but you find it significantly higher it could be an early sign of illness or fatigue and it would be a really good idea to pull back on those expected rates even if that means running slower and if you turn up and find that you're more or less hitting your paces but it's actually difficult to get your heart rate up into the zone that you're aiming for then it may be an early sign of being under the weather or perhaps being over trained and so best to call it a day head home and make sure you recover hopefully this video has answered your questions about heart rate training and how it can help your running if you've got any questions let us know in the comments below or maybe you're going to start looking in more detail at that heart rate data after you've finished training tell us and hopefully we'll see you next time here on the running channel

Channel: The Running Channel

Views: 410,757

Keywords: Running, running channel, the running channel, running tips, running heart rate, heart rate, heart rate strap, measuring heart rate, HR, Running HR, HR Strap, Garmin Heart Rate, wrist based heart rate, how accurate is wrist heart rate, heart rate zones, the running channel anna, heart rate when running, heart rate while running, good heart rate running, heart rate running monitor, how to lower heart rate running

Id: FoDDN7T5whY

Length: 12min 39sec (759 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 27 2021