Welcome to the November, 2002 edition of The Heart Zones e-Newsletter
copyright: Heart Zones, your source of heart rate training information

1. Conference Wrap Up
2. Off Season Training
3. Improve Circulation and Flexibility - Get a Massage
4. High School Healthy Hearts in the Zones
   also...
   
5. Workout Challenge: Steady State
6. Heart Zones Survivor Series Development Continues
7. Pedometers
8. Heart Zones Seminar Dates

The first Heart Zones International Fitness Conference was held last month in Seattle bringing together the most respected faculty in the world for three days of learning and zoning! All levels of learners from first timers to specialists were in attendance and based on the feedback we received - we are doing it again! Tentatively we have scheduled it for October 3rd - 5th, 2003. View pictures from the conference here: http://heartzone.com/2002conferencepicts/

We will keep you up to date with the development and planning for the 2003 conference. As always, visit our website for the most current information on Heart Zones activities.

It sure doesn't seem like it was that long ago that we were all talking and excited about our summer races and events, and now, here we are approaching winter and switching to off-season training. Think of off-season training as summer school. It is a great time to improve on your aerobic base, sport specific technique, power to weight ratio and your knowledge. And while it is an unstructured period meant to help you recharge mentally and physically - you need to stay active. Doing other endurance activities will continue to build the small muscles, tendons and ligaments in your body and ultimately enable you to increase volume and intensity in the future. If you are a runner, cut your frequency of running from 5 days a week to 3 to 4 times per week, and specifically work on something else besides putting in the miles. Go to the track and work on strides, hit the trails and enjoy the fall colors or better yet, put on an aqua jogger and head to the pool. For cyclists, this is a good time to work on your spinning technique and spend time in the lower 3 zones. Swimmers will enjoy taking a break from the lap routine and concentrate on drills and other strokes. Club athletes can experiment in taking different classes, such as kickboxing, step, or trying out the rowing machine or other cardiovascular machine they typically don't use. You get the idea: back off - but stay active with other activities and a different emphasis rather than continuing to train as if you have an upcoming race or event. Finally, let's not forget that off-season training should include weight and flexibility training. For most of us, our weakest link is the muscle-tendon junction. This is where strains and tears often occur. We can prevent most of these injuries by gradually improving our muscle strength and range of motion. So think about hitting the weights and stretching mat. Evaluation of your season will help you to begin to put pieces into place for your off-season training and the development of your annual training plan.

Massage provides relief to people of all walks of life. Weekend warriors, competitive athletes, seniors, and even babies can benefit from a massage. Taking care of your body with a massage is just as important as training for endurance and strength. Massage is an accepted part of many physical rehabilitation programs and has been proven to benefit many chronic conditions such as low back pain, arthritis, and bursitis. For athletes, massage should be part of your recovery and self care regimen. An interesting book I recently picked up is "Job's Body - A Handbook for BodyWork" by Deane Juhan and Ken Dychtwald. This book is required for national certification in massage therapy and is reader-friendly for the general reader. Learning more about how your body responds to therapeutic touch can be a valuable component to your training. Another resource for learning about massage is getting a massage and asking the therapist to explain their techniques. Foot reflexology is also an incredible way to relieve the stress of training and daily life. Go ahead, treat yourself to a massage and take the time to learn more about your body.

Deve Swaim, President of Heart Zones Education, and Sally Edwards introduced middle school teachers to heart rate monitors in their book "Middle School Healthy Hearts in the Zone" published earlier this year. Now their latest book focuses on the needs of high school teachers. The book comes with worksheets and workouts with expanded coverage of the health benefits of heart fitness. Available at our web site - www.heartzones.com. For more information on Heart Zones Education, contact Deve Swaim at heartzted@aol.com

Try this work out on an indoor bike or on the treadmill. After a 10 minute warm-up, take your heart rate up to 80% - this is the heart rate that you will maintain for the entire workout. If you have a downloadable heart monitor - I would love to see your profile after this workout. Once you have maintained your 80% heart rate for 5 minutes, you will change either your cadence, speed, incline or body position every 3 minutes. For example, on an indoor bike, take yourself to a climbing position. Once out of the saddle with more resistance added, your goal is to remain at 80% for 3 minutes. Then change again, remaining still at 80%. An example for running on the treadmill would be to add a level incline. Be creative - the point of this workout is to remain at 80% despite the resistance or cadence load. Pick 5 different changes and run through them twice. This will give you a great 30 minute steady state workout. Remember that breathing and relaxing your body helps in keeping your heart rate from floating up. This workout is a great way to learn more about how your body responds to different types of intensity. Send your download profiles to jessica@heartzone.com

I've received some interesting submissions to my request last month for ideas for games and obstacle courses to develop a low-cost, Heart Zones Survivor Series that you can host with your friends or fitness club. Now I need some information and ideas on "mystery" events that you have heard about or done as part of an adventure race. Be a part of developing a FUN Heart Zones Survivor Series that we can all do! All entries will be eligible for a drawing for a SURVIVOR BUFF too! jessica.menendez@heartzone.com

Heartmonitors.com has a great selection of pedometers. Like a heart monitor, pedometers are great exercise partners. These devices count your steps, measure your distance and speed and some models also measure your heart rate. Go to www.heartmonitors.com and check them out. It is not too early to think about what gifts of health and fitness you can give to yourself or others this holiday season! www.heartmonitors.com

If you don't see a location close to you, contact Kathy Kent at mkent11@aol.com to explore how you can schedule a seminar in your area! Visit www.heartzone.com for registration information.

Date Place November 9 Albuquerque, NM November 9 Barrington, IL November 16 Calgary, Alberta December 7 Houston, TX January 19 Concord, CA January 25 Detroit, MI February 8 Sacramento, CA

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If you would like to contribute to the newsletter content, or have ideas, questions, or concerns for us to address, please contact the editor by email at: jessica.menendez@heartzone.com

copyright: Heart Zones
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Phone: (916) 481-7283
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The Heart Zones e-Newsletter is a Heart Zones publication
Publisher: Sally Edwards
Editor in Chief: Jessica Menendez

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