TRIATHLON TRAINING WITH A HEART-RATE MONITOR

A heart-rate monitor can be an excellent training tool in helping you prepare for your triathlon. In a nutshell, following a heart rate monitor program teaches your body to work more efficiently. A heart monitor teaches you to be aerobic as opposed to anaerobic.

AEROBIC-Workouts where you are burning fat as your source of energy. A heart-rate monitor helps you accomplish this.


ANAEROBIC-Workouts where you burn carbs as your source of energy. Proper use of a heart-rate monitor will keep you aerobic and prevent this from happening.

When endurance is paramount, teaching your body to conserve carbs is ideal for a very simple reason.

Your body doesn't store a lot of carbs. So during your race, if that's all you burn, you use up your glycogen stores too quickly. Glycogen, simply put, is stored carbs. Trust me on this--In a physically demanding event like an Ironman Triathlon or a triathlon of any distance for that matter, once you use up your glycogen stores, you will hit the proverbial wall almost without warning.

A heart monitor will guide you in staying in your prime burning range. There is a reliable formula for finding your maximum aerobic heart rate. The idea is to NOT go over this heart rate in the early months of your training. If you are in poor shape to start with, you will be training at a very slow pace at first. If the program is done properly, you will find that eventually you will be able to train at a faster pace and still stay below your max. Also, by staying out of the anaerobic zone, your recoveries from training will be much faster and less painful. Better still, your chances of being injured will be diminished.
I have trained with a heart rate monitor for years and have had great success. I would highly recommend giving it a try.

If you decide to, here is how to figure out your max. aerobic heart rate:
The key number is 180. Subtract your age(no cheating).

When you begin, if your physical fitness really sucks(and don't worry, we'll change that)take off ten more beats.

If you have trained a few days a week for several years, don't change the number.

If you have trained like an all-star for a few years and are in really good shape to start, add five beats.

If you are almost set to retire(over 60), add five beats.

If you are still in your teens, add five beats.

Now that you have that magic number. Your maximum aerobic heart rate, strap on that monitor and away you go. I would suggest using the monitor in the run and bike portions of your Ironman Triathlon training. It doesn't work that well in the pool, because you basically have to stop to check your monitor. Its pretty difficult to track while you're swimming.

Use it on all your runs for sure and always start out running slowly for 10 or 15 minutes, then let your heart-rate get to within 20-25 beats below your max. If you are in really poor shape, it will seem very slow to you. THAT'S OK! Be patient. It will improve. Over the weeks you will teach your body to burn fat and like magic you will start running faster without going over your max. Here is how to do a test so you can actually see your progress. Do your initial test the first few days you start heart-rate monitor training.

Find somewhere(a track etc.)where you can run an exact measured mile. Warm up for 15 minutes and stay 20-25 beats below your max. After your warm-up, pick up speed so that when you hit the start line for your mile, you are right on your maximum aerobic heart-rate.

Begin your stop watch when you hit the start line. Stay in a very tight range for the whole mile. For example, if your max. rate is 130, stay between 125 and 135 through the whole test. The idea is to average 130--your max. rate. Stop your timer right at the end of the mile. Record that time.

In one month--not before--do the exact test again. If you have trained on a regular basis (4-5 times a week)and used the monitor properly you WILL see an improvement.

FOR EXAMPLE: If your first test resulted in a mile time of 9 min 40 seconds and your second test had a time of 9 min 15 seconds, then CONGATULATIONS! You are teaching your body to burn fat. YOU ARE BECOMING AN AEROBIC MACHINE! YOU ARE BECOMING FITTER! You are training at the very same heart-rate as when you started, but are able run faster without any added stress.

Do the test every month(not every week). Your mile time will continue to drop and your fitness level will improve as well if you train on a regular basis. After 4 months or so when you have developed a sound aerobic base, you will be able to start adding some anaerobic work-outs. This is an indication that you come a long way. GOOD FOR YOU!

As far as what brand of heart-rate monitor you want, I've always gone with Polar and have never had a problem. They are reliable and come in a wide variety of models. For instance, you can buy just the basic heart-monitor that has just one function. It shows your heart-rate at any given moment once its turned on. These can be purchased for well under $100 dollars.

On the other end of the spectrum, you can purchase heart monitors that will interface with your computer. Normally I find just the basic heart monitor is good enough for me. However one day I borrowed my coaches high end monitor(over $1000)and wore it during a marathon. Every kilometer I hit a button that stored my heart rate and running time at that point. After the race the coach downloaded the info into his computer and it was really quite amazing.

It actually did a graph of my whole race. Showing and recording the rise and fall of my heart rate during the race. He could tell by looking at the graph every time I slowed down at a water station. These high end models have many, many functions and if money is no object they can be very interesting to have. However, the basic model is all you really need to teach your body to burn fat and improve your conditioning while staying injury free.

Should you decide to use a heart rate monitor in your training, I feel sure you will improve your chances of achieving all your goals on race day.