Monitor your effort levels
Alternating hard and easy days during training is not only beneficial for physiological adaptation to training but
it’s also critical for injury prevention. Training gains or adaptation occur while resting or during easy training
days to facilitate recovery. Failure to integrate recovery into your training regime will result in overtraining
and ultimately injuries.
There are a number of ways to gauge your effort during training to determine how fast or how slow you
should be running. Using your heart rate to gauge your effort seems to be the most scientific. Using a heart
rate monitor enables you to measure your cardiovascular and physiological stress during exercise. Your heart
muscles will strengthen and to some extent grow in size with progressive exercise. A stronger heart works less
compared to that of an unfit individual to push blood through your body.
Your heart rate is not dependent on your mood although it maybe be abnormal if you are sick or under a lot of
emotional stress. Under normal circumstances, heart rate enables you to train at the correct intensity for your
current level of fitness.
There are a number of methods to calculate your heart rate percentage to determine your training zones. The
most preferred and widely used method is the Miller formula: MHR = 217 – (0.85 x age). So, if you are 20 years
old, then your estimated MHR will be 200 beats per minute (bpm).
The next thing you need is your waking pulse. Take your waking pulse as soon as you wake up - before doing
anything. Place your fingers on your throat pulse, count for 30 seconds and multiply by two (let’s assume this
value is 50). Now using the figures of 200 and 50 as an example, your heart rate training zones will be
calculated as follows:
Zone 1: 50 – 60 percent of MHR (Recovery Zone – easy run)
Minimum: [(MHR – waking pulse) x 50 percent] + waking pulse
[(200 – 50) x 0.5] + 50 = 125
Maximum: [(MHR – waking pulse) x 60 percent] + waking pulse
[(200 – 50) x 0.6] + 50 = 140
Target Heart Rate: 125-140 bpm
There are three additional training zones that can be calculated using the same formula.
Zone 2: 60-70 percent of MHR (fitness zone – easy run in your base phase)
Zone 3: 70-85 percent of MHR (aerobic threshold zone – easy and long runs).
Zone 4: 85-100 percent of MHR (lactate threshold zone – is reserved for hard sessions).
The Castle Walk Shopping Centre 10km and 5 km event takes place tomorrow at 06:30 am on the corner of
corner of Nossob and Swakop street in Erasmuskloof. The RE/MAX Jowic Wierie half marathon takes place this
Saturday at 06:30 am at Centurion Mall.