Welcome to the February 21, 2002 edition of The
Heart Zones e-Newsletter
Copyright: Heart Zones, your source of heart rate
training information
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In this issue:
1. It’s Time
to Spring into Action! ** Spring
Seminars in Your Area **
2. The Most
Neglected Heart Zone
3. Interval
Training with a Heart Rate Monitor
4. The
Shortest Long Run
Also...
5. Why I Use a
Heart Rate Monitor
6. The
Tell-Tale Heart
7. Polar “S”
Series in stock!
8. You Don’t
Have to Be a Good Swimmer to Do a Triathlon
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1. It’s Time
to Spring into Action! As
the weather warms up it’s natural to start thinking about spending more time
outdoors and getting fit. But many of
us spend the winter months hibernating, so the prospect of finding out just how
out-of-shape we are can be discouraging.
That’s why expert guidance and enthusiasm can be very helpful in
breaking through our insecurities and embracing a new lifestyle.
Take control of your body and achieve your health and
fitness goals by participating in a local Heart Zones Training Seminar. These seminars are for EVERYONE. Whether you want to manage your weight, add
some energy to your daily life, or gain a competitive edge in your favorite
sport, Sally Edwards will help you change your lifestyle by showing you how to
let your heart be your guide.
Look at the following spring schedule for information
about when a seminar will be near you.
Then follow the link to find out more about registering. It’s easy, the forms are available online.
February 23, 2002 in Cleveland, OH
March 2 & 3, 2002 in Minneapolis, MN
March 16 & 17, 2002 in Cincinnati, OH
March 17, 2002 in King of Prussia, PA
March 22-24, 2002 in Chicago, IL
March 23, 2002 in Washington, DC
April 13, 2002 in New York City, NY
May 18, 2002 in Washington, DC
More Seminar Information: <http://www.heartzones.com/seminars/index.shtml>
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2. The Most
Neglected Heart Zone. For some
fitness enthusiasts, the only Zones worth training in are Zones 3 and
higher. These do-or-die athletes want
to build endurance, stamina, speed, and strength. They enjoy life in the fast lane and are willing to endure the
challenges of intense training for the benefits they provide. Some of us, however, have different
goals. We don’t just want to breathe
the air, we want to smell its freshness or feel its coolness. And for us, the benefit of exercising is the
conversation we have with a workout partner or the slight reduction in guilt
that we feel later when we indulge in our favorite foods. Although we “rose smellers” seek moderation
in our lifestyles, we often view our highly driven counterparts as epitomizing
health and fitness. Intensity, however,
is not the only path to well being, nor is it necessarily the best approach.
Once your heart rate exceeds 50% of your Maximum Heart
Rate, you have broken through the aerobic floor. In the Heart Zone Training paradigm, you would have just entered
Zone 1, otherwise known as the “Healthy Heart Zone”. This zone, which ranges from 50% to 60% of your maximum heart
rate, is by far the most comfortable zone.
For many, a brisk walk is sufficient to maintain a Zone 1 level of
exertion. Surprisingly, the Healthy
Heart Zone may have some of the greatest health benefits of all of the training
zones. Lower cholesterol, lower blood
pressure, increased muscle mass, and reduced fat are among the advantages of
spending time in this zone. In
addition, by training at this level, you can avoid the stresses and other
tradeoffs that often accompany high intensity exertion.
So next time you are out for an after dinner walk and
your neighbor jogs by purposefully, just smile and wave. After all, when it comes to exercise,
sometimes less is more.
For more information about the Heart Zone Training
paradigm and the benefits of training in specific zones, follow this link: <http://www.heartzones.com/hz/training.shtml>
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3. Interval Training with a Heart Rate Monitor. When you’re training to
get faster, how hard is too hard?
Endurance sports, such as cycling, swimming, running, cross-country
skiing, and snowshoeing, have a strong following among competitive
athletes. Most people who have spent
time trying to improve their performances in these sports know that in order to
get faster, one has to spend at least some time training at a high intensity
level. But there are risks associated
with working out that hard. For
example, people who rapidly increase their training intensity or don’t allow
enough recovery time between difficult workouts are prone to overtraining
syndrome. Symptoms of overtraining
include irritability, restless sleep or insomnia, lethargy, and an elevated
resting heart rate. If left unchecked,
overtraining can lead to injury and, consequently, a significant layoff from
working out.
It’s a fine line.
How does one make sure to train hard enough to gain a competitive edge,
but avoid the pitfalls of overdoing it?
Fortunately, a heart rate monitor can be an effective guide to
maintaining appropriate training intensities.
In Heart Zone Training, each training zone is based on a person’s
maximum heart rate. Thus, the benefits
of this approach are maximized when you know, as accurately as possible, your
maximum heart rate. If you overestimate
it by too much, you will likely overtrain, and if you significantly
underestimate your maximum heart rate, you will not train hard enough. This is particularly relevant when using a
heart rate monitor for high intensity workouts. When training close to the edge of your capabilities, there is a
narrower zone of effort for achieving maximal gains. With this understanding, let’s explore a technique for boosting
performance without overtraining.
Interval training can be of considerable value as a
training technique for competitive athletes.
The benefits of interval training are most significant for endurance
events lasting between about 10 and 60 minutes. In running, this covers race distances ranging from about 3K to a
half marathon, depending upon the athlete’s abilities. For most runners, it is useful for 5K and
10K training. For events of this
duration in any sport, the ability to use oxygen is a significant criterion for
performance. Interval training can
actually lead to an increase in the amount of oxygen we extract from every
breath of air.
The word “interval” in interval training originally
referred to the resting time between periods of intense effort. It is this rest interval that permits us to
include a higher total amount of time training at a level that would be too
difficult to sustain without periodic breaks.
The ideal intensity level for interval training is just above the
anaerobic threshold. In practical
terms, this means training in the upper half of Zone 4, or between 85% and 90%
of your maximum heart rate. The total
amount of time spent at this level should be about 4 minutes for every hour of
weekly training. For example, if you
work out 45 minutes, four days a week, that’s a total of three hours per week,
which means you could do up to 12 minutes of interval-intensity training per
week.
Ideally, each training interval should be between 3
and 5 minutes, with equal rest intervals.
In the previous example of 12 minutes of interval-intensity training,
you could break it up into three 4-minute intervals. Thus, after a 10-minute warm-up in Zones 2 and 3, you would run each
4-minute interval in the upper-half of Zone 4 followed by a “rest” at the
bottom of Zone 3. It is helpful to keep
moving between the high intensity intervals to help filter metabolic waste from
your system. This will actually make
the subsequent intervals easier than if you just stopped completely between
each one. And, of course, don’t forget
to do a 10-minute warm down at the end of your workout.
Interval workouts are very demanding and require both
physical and mental stamina. But if you
stay within your limits and the above guidelines, they can lead to significant
gains in race performance. Naturally,
you wouldn’t want to do this workout the same week that you have a race. Always give yourself plenty of recovery time
before a race-level effort. Also,
because of their difficulty, interval workouts should not necessarily be a
training component all year round. It
is best to incorporate interval training for a month or two leading up to an
important race, cutting back on the intensity in the actual month of the event.
So for your next big endurance event, try throwing a
few interval sessions into your training program. Always use your heart rate monitor to stay on the right side of
the risk/reward line, and watch for signs of overtraining. Once you’ve experienced a few upper Zone 4
anaerobic workouts, you may be surprised at what you can do in a race.
For more information about Zone 4 training, follow
this link:
<http://www.heartzones.com/hz/training.shtml>
[Some of the information in this article was adapted
from Daniels (1998), Daniels’ Running Formula]
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4. The
Shortest Long Run. Training
for a marathon? Anyone who is preparing
to travel 26.2 miles on foot knows that a necessary training component is the
dreaded “long run”. These training runs
usually occur every other week leading up to the marathon. They often begin at 10 to 12 miles and
increase by two miles each time, with a final long run of about 20 miles. 20 miles!!!! You said you wanted run one marathon, not three. So why is it so important to do these
increasingly long long runs?
It all has to do with what makes the marathon unique
relative to its shorter brethren.
Unlike the 5K, 10K, half marathon, or even 25K race, the duration of the
marathon leads inevitably to glycogen depletion. Glycogen is the energy that is stored in muscle tissue. When you hear people talking about
“carbo-loading” by eating lots of pasta, they are essentially building their
muscle glycogen stores. At some point
during a marathon, your leg muscles run out of fuel. When this happens, running slows considerably and can be very
uncomfortable. The goal of the long
run, then, is to train your muscles to store more glycogen. With more glycogen reserves you can run for
a longer period of time without running out of fuel and hitting the proverbial
“wall”.
Each time you do a long run that uses up your muscles’
glycogen, your body makes changes at the cellular level. These changes permit you to store more
glycogen the next time around. As a
result, the next time you will have to run even longer to deplete your glycogen
and get the same benefit. But as your
long runs get longer, so does the wear and tear on your body. Joints and connective tissue are
particularly susceptible. In addition,
the increased time commitment can strain other areas of your life. So how does one get the benefits of a long
run without running quite so long?
The following workout is quite challenging, but it
does a good job of depleting your glycogen without filling up your day
planner. Once your long runs start to
take substantially longer than two hours, try substituting this two-hour “short
long run” for your pre-marathon marathons:
Stage 1 - Warm Up: 10 minutes. Gradually work your way
up to the middle of Zone 3.
Stage 2 - Threshold: 20 minutes. Stay in the middle of Zone 4.
Stage 3 - Aerobic: 60 minutes. Remain in the middle of Zone 3.
Stage 4 - Threshold: Move back up to the middle of
Zone 4 and stay there. This is the
critical part of the workout. At this
point, your glycogen is running out, so your legs will feel very tired. In addition, you will be breathing hard
because you are in Zone 4.
Stage 5 - Warm Down: 10 minutes. Relax!
You did it! Gradually work your
way down to Zone 1.
This workout is worth 380 Heart Zone Training Points!
Pasta dinners aren’t just for the night before a
marathon. Don’t forget to carbo-load in
the days leading up to this workout AND in the days following. After you deplete your muscle fuel, you will
need to replenish it. And, of course,
drink plenty of fluids before, during, and after the workout. Sport drinks are great for maintaining safe
electrolyte levels.
In the weeks leading up to a marathon race, it is
common for people to get injured due to the increased training volume. Use this workout to stay healthy and save
the marathon for the actual marathon.
For more information about the various zones and Heart
Zone Training, follow this link:
<http://www.heartzones.com/hz/training.shtml>
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5. Why I Use a Heart Rate
Monitor. I’m a geek. I can’t help it, I love numbers. I’m also a runner, who enjoys competition,
both with myself and others. That’s
why, in a mission of mercy, my wife catered to both of my obsessions in one
fell swoop. For Christmas, she gave me
the mother of all heart rate monitors.
This piece of technological art not only displays my heart rate, it
records it too. It even allows me to
send all the data to my computer so I can pore over it in a thousand different
ways. It got to the point where if I
had spent half as much time running as I did analyzing my heart rate data, I
might have had a shot at the Olympics (or at least a very small local race).
Right away, my running began to improve. But this was due primarily to the fact that
I was running more just so I could collect additional heart rate data. Plus, I had questions - lots of
questions. What’s my maximum heart
rate? How fast does my heart rate go
down when I stop running? And then, of
course, there were the infamous treadmill experiments. What is my heart rate at 6 mph? What is my heart rate at 7 mph? What is the function that relates treadmill
speed to heart rate? You get the idea.
But when I started reading Sally Edward’s “The Heart
Rate Monitor Book” and began implementing some of her Heart Zone Training
workouts, I had an epiphany! Before
using a heart rate monitor, I would go out the door for a training run, and
then measure the success of my workout based on how fast I ran. Each workout was a race against my best
performance. Now, all of a sudden, the
pressure was off. In Heart Zone
Training, I could do workouts with specific benefits and measure my effort
level quantitatively. In other words,
success was no longer a question of how fast I could run, but rather how well I
stayed within the designated heart rate range or “Zone”. I have to admit, at first I was dubious
about being able to train at less than an all-out effort and still see
improvements in my race performances.
But, in the end, it was clearly an easier and more effective way to bolster
my running.
Although the initial chemistry between me and my heart
rate monitor was primarily numeric, the relationship has deepened over
time. Now I trust it to keep me in
check, and it hasn’t let me down.
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6. The Tell-Tale Heart. A heart rate monitor is more than just a piece of
fitness equipment. It is a window to
the soul - well, more or less. Changes
in heart rate reflect concomitant changes in physiological arousal. In other words, positive and negative
stressors can alter one’s heart rate.
This means that you can use your heart rate monitor for self-discovery,
or perhaps other, less noble uses.
For example, strap on your heart rate monitor, and
then open your high school yearbook.
Start looking at photos of your old classmates. For each one, stare at the photo and try to
recall interactions with that person.
After a minute or so, look at your heart rate monitor and jot down your
heart rate along with the person’s name.
Do this for several people and then compare the results. Did any one person have more of an impact on
you than the others according to your heart rate? Does it fit with what you expected or are there any surprises?
Having trouble making a decision? Consider each option carefully for a minute,
and then write down the heart rate corresponding to that option. Evaluating the results can be tricky,
though. If it is a stressful decision,
then the option that resulted in the lowest heart rate might be the best one,
since thinking about it may have caused the least amount of negative
stress. If, on the other hand, if it is
an exciting decision, such as, “which entrée should I order from the menu?”
then perhaps the higher heart rate is the better option, because it reflects a
greater degree of excitement.
Finally, heart rate monitors are now being used in the
new television game show called “The Chair”.
In this game, each contestant wears a heart rate monitor. Before the show, a baseline heart rate is
recorded for future reference. Once the
show begins, John McEnroe (ironically) interrogates the contestant. While answering each question, the
contestant’s heart rate must stay within a designated range. But if it exceeds that range, the contestant
gradually loses money until his or her heart rate returns to normal. It probably wouldn’t be too difficult to
come up with a home cooked version of that game. I bet you never thought your heart rate monitor could be a party
game!
It’s really an art more than a science, but you can
see how unconventional uses for a heart rate monitor might be fun and possibly
useful in some situations. Can you
think of any others ideas? Drop us an
email at staff@heartzones.com
<mailto:staff@heartzones.com>. If we receive enough submissions, we’ll
present our favorites in a future issue of the newsletter.
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7. The “S” series from Polar are all in stock at <http://www.heartmonitors.com/>
The “S” series provides a number of features for all
users. Take a look and compare the
features based on your training. Some
of the models come bundled with P.C. Coach Software - a great training software
with plug-in training programs available from P.C. Coach.
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8. You Don’t
Have to Be a Good Swimmer to Do a Triathlon. For most people, the one skill that keeps
them out of the triathlon is swimming.
Everyone knows how to walk or run, and most people can ride a
bicycle. But swimming isn’t easy for
everyone. It requires more skill than
the other two components of a triathlon.
Many of us haven’t had the benefit of swimming lessons, or if we did, it
was so long ago that nowadays we’re just happy if we don’t sink.
The all-women Danskin Triathlon series is perfect for
first timers and weak swimmers. The
swimming leg is about a half mile. That
may sound like a lot, but relative to most triathlons, it’s pretty short. In addition, the swimming venue is full of
“spotters”, both on kayaks and in the water.
They keep track of all of the triathletes and lend support where it is
needed. Therefore, no one is left alone
out there. The Danskin series is also
swimmer-friendly in another sense. In
many triathlons, all of the swimmers enter the water at the same time. The ensuing chaos can be overwhelming to
first timers. At the Danskin, however, swimmers
are released into the water in smaller groups or “waves” to reduce that type of
confusion.
So if you want to do a triathlon, but you’re nervous
about the swim, you can ease into the experience by making your first triathlon
a Danskin.
Danskin Triathlons are held in major cities around the
country. For more information, visit
the Danksin website at:
<http://www.danskin.com/triathlon/index.html>
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Copyright:
Heart Zones
Phone: (916)-481-7283
Fax: (916) 481-2213
Heart Zones
2636 Fulton Avenue Suite #100
Sacramento, CA 95821
The Heart Zones e-Newsletter is a Heart Zones
publication
Publisher: Sally Edwards
Editor in Chief: Jessica Menendez
Contributing Writer: Pietro Michelucci
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