With Coach Kelvin, offering Online Running Coaching for We Run and the We Run Virtual Running Club, and 1:1 Running Coach for Leeds and surrounding areas.
Reviewing Heart Rate Data from Recent Races
In this video, I’m sharing some thoughts on part of heart rate training. I’ve been looking back at four races that I did throughout the summer and checking in on my heart rate data.
I raced a three-hour event with an average heart rate of 165 bpm, a two-hour race at 170 bpm, a one-and-a-half-hour race at 173 bpm, and a 43-minute race at 178 bpm.
I also looked at the heart rate files from those races, and they were pretty constant throughout. I was able to hold my heart rate almost all the way through, which shows the races were well paced. The heart rate distribution across those distances was what I would expect to see. Each race was well paced, and heart rate and pace didn’t decouple at any time. I went pretty hard on all of them.
Confirming Threshold Heart Rate
The first thing I learned from this is that my threshold heart rate – LT2, the top of Zone 4 in a five-zone model – is set at 175 beats per minute.
The heart rate data from racing this summer confirms that’s correct. So as I roll into the winter and spring, I know that my heart rate zones are set correctly.
Racing to Perceived Effort
The main focus of this video is that even though the heart rate distribution was really good across those timescales, in none of those races did I look at my heart rate on my watch.
All of those efforts were based on perceived effort. I don’t have a heart rate screen on my watch while I’m racing, although I do wear an optical armband to make sure I get an accurate heart rate reading.
It’s important when we’re training not to use the watch like a speedometer – not to constantly check heart rate to see if it’s a bit too high or a bit too low and try to adjust on the fly.
Using Heart Rate and Perceived Effort Together
The idea is to run our workouts to perceived effort and then check heart rate afterwards. We’re using both of these to calibrate each other – using heart rate to calibrate perceived effort, and perceived effort to calibrate heart rate.
For example, if I do a threshold session, I’ll go back afterwards and look to see where my heart rate was on the reps. Or I might look back at a block of training and check the time spent in each heart rate zone.
What I don’t do is constantly look at my heart rate during training.
When to Check Heart Rate
There are a couple of reasons I might check it periodically, which I’ve covered in other videos, but that’s not to see if I’m in the right training zone. It’s just to check at the start of a run whether I’m fatigued or not.
If my heart rate is five to ten beats higher or lower than I expect, it might show that I’m carrying fatigue. So I’ll do a quick check at the start, then run the workout, and afterwards check to see if I was somewhere near the heart rates I was expecting.
Adjusting Training Based on Data
It’s really important to use heart rate data to calibrate where we are and make sure we’re not spending too much time in the wrong training zones.
But the flip side is that while I’m actually running, I’m not worrying from workout to workout whether I’m in the right zone. If I do a Zone 2 run and the data shows I was in Zone 3, and that happens a few times, then I’ll know to recalibrate my perceived effort and go a bit easier next time.
I hope that makes some sort of sense. If you’ve got any comments, please pop them down below.
And for now – happy running.
