Running To Heart Rate Explained

You might be well-versed in measuring your runs by distance, time or pace, but have you considered measuring them by heart rate instead? Anna and Rick are going to take you through what heart rate training is, how you can benefit from it and a top tip to make sure you have your heart rate monitor - whether that’s a watch or a chest strap - set up in the best way to get useful results.

What’s In This Video?
0:00 Intro
0:51 What Is Heart Rate Training?
2:29 How Is Heart Rate Measured?
4:32 How To Set Heart Rate Zones
9:24 What Do The Zones Mean?
11:25 Top Tip!

↓↓ Do you train by heart rate? Or maybe you’re going to try it after watching this video? Let us know in the comments ↓↓

More info on training to heart rate

This video is intended for informational purposes only and must never be considered as medical advice or recommendation. Anyone considering taking supplements of any kind should first consult a doctor or other qualified healthcare professional.

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[runningchannel]

↓↓ Do you train by heart rate? Or maybe you’re going to try it after watching this video? Let us know in the comments ↓↓

[robertaartro-morris]

Very clear and helpful. I’ve been monitoring heart rate for a long time but only recently started taking the zones seriously as a way of avoiding overtraining. I think it’s worth mentioning that I have consistently found that when I am very fit it is much harder ( almost impossible) to get my heart up to the same maximum as it reaches when I am unfit. I believe this is not uncommon. I spoke to an expert who said this comes down to two factors: as you get fitter you can increase your stroke volume so you provide more oxygen to the muscles at the same heart rate, and then the oxygen supplied by your heart is no longer the limiting factor so you reach a point where your muscles are using oxygen as fast as they can before you reach your theoretical heart rate max.

[geronimopacis]

POV: procrastinating and watching this video of running in replace of actual running

[covkid]

I bought my first Garmin about 4 months ago and have been somewhat frustrated that my watch would tell me I was overreaching, and my HR would be 95% in zone 5 seemingly regardless of my pace. After watching this video I checked my watch and it was set to % max HR, with a default max HR of 162. I changed it to HRR, and set my actual max HR to 190, and my resting HR to 57. Now when I go on a long run, my heart rate is mostly in Zones 3 and 4, which is what I'd expect. So...thank you!

[christopherbrand]

Great presentation of this material! I use a combination of HR, power (foot pod), and RPE to manage my training. For HR zones I find that using the lactate threshold heart rate is more practically accurate - it is certainly more relevant for establishing training intensities. There are several good ways to establish this and none of them are as painful as a proper max HR test. I have found that Garmin’s LT test is pretty good (aligns well with other tests) and there is a built-in option to use the lactate threshold HR (LTHR) to establish zones. The most important zones for training are Zones 1 & 2 and Zone 4. Spending 80-90% of training time in Z1/2 and 10% in Z4 is good for long-term development.

[jtracy]

Great summary video. I've been using a heart rate monitor for close to 30 years and the stuff on heart rate reserve was particularly useful.

[alanchadbone]

I use to do heart rate training runs where I would try and stay between 130bpm and 140bpm. I do this twice a week for 2 months and my pace to begin with was 10minutes and 30seconds a mile to after the 2 months to 9minutes and 30seconds a mile and it did help me with the faster 5km efforts at parkrun

[martinberridge]

Can we have an episode on MAFF, 80/20 and other low heart rate regimes? - MAFF/Phil Maffetone talks about runners training their aerobic systems and avoid running at an intensity/HR that uses the anaerobic system. I think the teams take on this would be interesting

[pquirk]

One advantage of the Garmin HRM Pro strap is that includes the functionality of the Running Dynamics Pod (which I used to use.) Running Dynamics provides more accurate measurements of Ground Contact Time & Balance, stride length, cadence, vertical oscillation, etc.. As I run alone and don't have a trainer, these measurements give me insight into my running form.

[littleleafy]

Thank you so much for this. I couldn’t figure out what zone 2 was for me but now I know. Now to try to stay in it lol. That’s even harder

[timgosling]

I use HRR zones all the time to hit the right training points and make them consistent between runs. I often find at some point I'm feeling maybe a little bit tired, glance at the watch, and it tells me I'm actually slacking! That's when it can act as your buddy and spur you on. It's a state of mind!

[dr.eldontyrell-rosen]

I've been upper zone 2/lower zone 3 training for a while, Garmin watch, getting a chest strap HR sensor is vital if you want reliable readings ❤️

[Solveiga]

You, guys, are so spot on with your videos; all my questions resolved at my fingertip. I am trilled I found your channel :)

[alisonS]

I worked out my MAF HR zone, bought a HR strap and just ran according to it, not bothering to re-set my Garmin zones up. Then I did an all out 5km and at the end my Garmin asked if I wanted to reset my HR zones, I said yes and it did. They are now within two beats of what my paper calculated MAF zones! Go Garmin!! It's nice to have my coloured zone bars reflect my training.

[UlisesRosas]

Awesome, very few people talk about heart rate. Well done!!!

[aberjack]

Recently discovered heart rate training. On my first long run watching my heart rate zone I ran my first ever a half marathon (1:55) .

[runbikerun]

Extremely useful and informative video. I use HR in my training, especially to monitor my progress throughout a training block. It's helpful to look back on old data and see how I 'm now running faster at a lower heart rate.

[Kelly_Ben]

Another informative video! I like the format where you switch back and forth between Rick and Anna. It keeps what COULD be a dry topic from being boring.

[marcosmith]

Just wanted to share this. I used a chest strap monitor from Polar and i found it was very "spiked" at some point, over 220 bpm. So the advice Polar gave me was simply to spin the strap so the sensor will sit on my back. It worked perfectly. The spikes (due to static) were gone and it picked up my HR just fine. I am sure they have sorted all this out by now. But should someone still get this problem try and move the sensor to you back.

[kevinlance]

Like most runners my Garmin keeps the graph of my HR for each run. I generally will look at it, knowing that almost all of my runs have some hill sets, etc... Great tip about elevated HR being symptomatic of overtraining. I may have done that early last summer.