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- Welcome back to Triathlon Training Explained
powered by Trainingpeaks.
This week, we are looking at heart rate monitors.
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Heart rate tracking was first developed
as an objective measure in sport back in the 1970's
in order to help athletes and coaches
record and analyze their training and racing efforts.
And honestly, technology has advanced a long way since then
and we now see heart rate wearables common place
in both high level sport and physical activity.
- Yeah, but if you are new to monitoring
and training with heart rate,
it kind of will be quite daunting in the start.
So today, we're here to help,
we're going to break it all down for you
and to start of with, we're going to be actually helping you
to choose a heart rate monitor.
And then, also actually looking into
how you can train with heart rate
and the benefits behind it.
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- Heart rate is a general indicator
as to how hard you are working.
As the more oxygen and energy your muscles require,
the faster your heart's going to have to beat
in order to pump that blood from your lungs
to your muscles and back again.
- Yeah, and by using a heart rate monitor and a watch,
you can just quickly glance at your wrist
to see your current heart rate,
giving you a real time heart rate
as to whether you need to be working harder
or perhaps even back off.
- Let's quickly look at how heart rate is measured.
Now in the clinical setting they use an electro cardiograph,
also known as an ECG.
And this is the most accurate method,
as it generates patterns
from the electrical activity in the heart,
measuring that time between the two R waves.
And it gives instantaneous feedback,
it actually shows even the smallest of changes
in the heart beat
and it's then displayed by beats per minute.
- Yeah, and on the flip side of that,
if we remember back to school,
we were taught how to read our pulse.
We were taught to use our two fingers
on either our wrist or our neck
and count to either six or ten
and then multiply that by either ten or six
and that would give us our beats per minute or bpm for sure.
And this is basically counting on the pressure change
within our arteries as our heart pumps blood around our body
which, well, that's not going to be quite as accurate
as the ECG method.
- Yeah, well that then brings us
to the devises on the market.
And basically you can either measure the ECG,
which is the more accurate of the two,
using something like a chest strap
or the other option
is to measure that change in pressure that you talked about
and you can use an optical heart rate measurer for that
which you can either wear on your wrist,
arm, or even on your leg.
- Now you don't actually need to switch these on or off,
they just automatically detect a heart rate
and when they're synced to a devise,
they activate themselves.
And once you have actually synced them
and paired them for the first time,
that's it, you don't need to do it again
because it will just pair
and sync every other time after that for any other activity.
And also, you can pair these with white computers,
also other products such as your Iphone, Ipad, laptop
and then utilize on the training platform, such as Wift.
- Yeah, but some people might find the chest strap
a little bit restrictive, sometimes it can rub
and for some activities it might not stay in place.
And this is where the optical option comes in handy
and that we touched on earlier.
It measures the, or detects that change in pressure
through your blood vessels.
And that is basically what the heart rate watch does.
So it will have a sensor on the back of the wrist here,
which actually uses LED light
to detect that change in pressure.
If you are opting for a heart rate based wrist watch,
then it's important you do place it
on the correct part of your wrist.
You want it just away from the bony bit,
and it needs to be sitting flat
and tight enough that it can detect those changes,
but not so tight that it's going to be
restricting blood flow.
And then the other option
is an optical sensor like this OH1 from Polar,
which you can actually wear on your upper arm,
you can even wear it on your leg
and then this can be used just the same as a chest strap,
to link it up to your phone, your watch,
your bike, computer, or even your laptop.
- Once you've found
and chosen your preferred method of heart rate measurement
and then it's a case of learning how to use
and optimize all this feedback that you are now receiving.
Now if you are new to all this heart rate measurement stuff,
then it's likely that you would be working by pace
or conceived effort of exertion before.
Or maybe both.
Now we're not saying that heart rate comes in place of that,
actually they can really compliment each other.
And actually over time,
you start to learn what you're normal heart rate
is for different intensity levels
and effort levels and paces.
And the ultimate aim is to increase your pace,
while as keeping your heart rate at the same level.
- Yeah, but measuring heart rate
or using it as a training tool
does have a couple of limiting factors,
because unlike pace or running for effort,
which change automatically,
heart rate does take a little longer to catch up.
And this is known as the heart rate lag.
For example, as you increase your pace,
your heart rate's going to take a little bit longer
to increase and get there.
So if you are doing short intervals
and you probably want to stick using perceived effort, pace,
or even pair if you have that available.
However, once you've become used to using heart rate,
it's a good idea to determine your heart rate zones,
so you can then use these
really effectively in your training
and even in your racing.
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- Okay, well for all of this,
you will need to do a fitness test to find out your
lactate threshold heart rate.
And I'm afraid to say, it is different
and specific to both cycling and running,
meaning you have to do two separate fitness tests.
Now if you would like a little bit more information
on how to find that out and how to use them,
then you can see our How to Run Using Heart Rate Zone video.
And you can do that by clicking on the link
in the description below,
or you can wait to the end of this video.
Now if you do already have
your lactate threshold heart rate,
then you can use that number or those numbers
to then calculate your zones.
On screen right now, you can see that percentage
of the lactate threshold heart rate
for each zone specific to running.
And now, we have the same, but for cycling.
There is a slight difference,
so don't just use the same heart rates.
And once you calculate it, those heart rate zones,
you then start to work and train more effectively
by sticking to certain effort levels
for reps of intercession or for a whole session.
And if you are using something like Trainingpeaks
and you upload your session after your workout,
it will then tell you
how long you've been working in those certain zones for
and if you like, you can set that
to automatically update your heart rate zones
as your fitness changes.
- Now on the Polar watch we saw,
you can actually set your screen
so that it clearly shows your heart rate zone,
which makes it really easy to just glance down at it
and know that you are running at that correct intensity.
And let's say you are prescribed a session
that is sticking to the one zone,
but you are doing it over hilly terrain.
Then you don't need to actually worry
about the pace of that,
because obviously you will slow down on hills.
But it will show that you are in the right zone,
if you are slowing down on the hills,
you're going to just need to increase a little bit
when you are going back down the hill.
- Now we've already touched on this lag in heart rate,
but it's worth being aware of other factors that can alter
and effect your heart rate.
So dehydration is one.
And with dehydrated, that makes our heart work harder,
and therefore beat faster.
Alcohol has a similar effect, partly due to dehydration.
And then off course we have stimulants such as caffeine
that will raise our heart rate, as does stress.
- On top of that,
if you are racing or training in hot conditions,
then that's obviously going to raise your heart rate.
And then the cold can also effect it.
But the final factor,
is one that surprises quite a few people,
and that's fatigue.
It will actually raise your resting heart rate,
but you will find it harder to get your heart rate high,
when you are putting in the effort.
So a great way to monitor that
is actually using your resting heart rate in the morning
or heart rate variability.
But we've got more on that in a video,
which we will have a link for at the end of this.
- Yeah, well, in short,
using heart rate is a fantastic tool.
And I'll be very honest here,
it's something that I didn't actually use enough
when I was racing professionally.
But I really do realize the benefits behind it now.
Now if you do like today's video,
then please hit that thumb up button
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- Yeah and if you live in the northern hemisphere
and it's still a bit chilly, these jackets are pretty cozy.
If you want to get your hands on one of those,
just click on the link to the shop.
And that heart rate variability video I talked about
is just here.
- And if you like to see how to use zones in running,
then just click down here.