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richard
577 Posts |
 Posted - 04 Nov 2009 : 08:03:06 AM
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With the advent of heart rate monitors some 15 years ago (or more) coaches and exercise physiologists have been busy trying to use this technology to enhance endurance training. There have been a number of different schemes proposed all based arounf the idea of heart rate zones. Some have proposed 5 zones, others 6, and others 7 training zones. The latest research would suggest that effective endurance training can be achieved with just 3 training zones. This research is based on the study of the training programmes used by elite endurance athletes across a number of sports including running, rowing, cycling and triathlon.
The 3 zones are
Z1 heart rate < 80% HRmax (Lactate level < 2mmol/L)
Z2 heart rate 80 - 85% HRmax (Lactate level 2 - 4 mmol/L)
Z3 heart rate >85% HRmax (Lactate level > 4 mmol/L)
As us mere mortals do not have access to blood lactate testing < 2mmol/L there is no burning sensation or discomfort in the muscles, 2 - 4 mmol/L you are working hard, there is muscle discomfort, but not enough to bring you to your knees, > 4mmol/L high level of discomfort, you can't wait for the interval to finish, involves 40 secs - 8 mins maximal effort.
Now we have some idea of the 3 zones what does the study of elite athletes tell us in relation to these 3 zones. First off they spend > 80% of their training time in Z1 (with some spending as much as 95% of their time in Z1, e.g. one study looked at 36 elite rowers over a 37 week period). What about the remaining 5 - 20%? Most of that time is spent in Z3. Z2 is considered "no-mans land" where no real improvement occurs. So the message is to spend most of the time training easy, and the rest of the time train very hard.
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StephenPrice
2109 Posts |
Posted - 04 Nov 2009 : 08:35:10 AM
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| Thanks Richard, interesting little snippet. |
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fishyweb
2307 Posts |
Posted - 04 Nov 2009 : 12:16:30 PM
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That is interesting, thaks Richard. It has a correlation to the scheme espoused by John Parker in "Heart Monitor Training for the Compleat Idiot". The notable difference is that Parker regards 70% as the ceiling for the large majority of training, and 70-85% as no-mans land, with 85% being the floor for hard sessions.
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Steve
http://www.runsaturday.com/athlete/fishyweb |
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joopsy
621 Posts |
Posted - 10 Nov 2009 : 2:39:14 PM
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I used to train to Parker's scheme and found it extremely beneficial to aiding endurance training.
In't running brilliant. |
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Endurance Training - training zones
