Excerpted from CORE PERFORMANCE ENDURANCE by Mark Verstegen with Pete Williams. © 2007 by JOXY LLC. Permission granted by Rodale Inc.

FIND YOUR HEART RATE TRAINING ZONES
By Paul Robbins

If you are a novice endurance athlete or new to the concept of heart rate training, do this "stage training system" prior to following the Core Performance Endurance Energy System Development guidelines. It will help you better establish your base and define your specific heart rate zones.

Stage training is for people who don't have access to a VO2 analyzer to determine their max VO2 and anaerobic/lactate threshold. It will allow you to continually adjust and refine your 220-minus-age foundation and your corresponding heart rate values.

STAGE 1: CREATING AN AEROBIC BASE

You'll use this phase of training for the first of your three heart rate zones. The Stage 1 heart rate zone is 60 to 70 percent of your 220-minus-age heart rate. It should be low enough to ensure that you are in an aerobic state. You'll use this zone during your regeneration days, as well as during the recovery period of your strength and power days. If you are 40 years old, your Stage 1 would be 108 to 126 beats per minute (BPM).

As a novice endurance athlete, you should be able to maintain your Stage 1 heart rate for at least 30 minutes, two or three times per week, which you will accomplish on regeneration days. An example might be walking at a relatively modest speed of 3 miles per hour. This should be a light workout. If it's too easy, ramp up the requirements by adding 5 beats to the zone. Using our 40-year-old example, you would tweak your Stage 1 heart rate zone to 113 to 131 BPM. If Stage 1 is too difficult, reduce it by 5 beats. In this case, our 40-year-old would be at 103 to 121.

At this point, it doesn't matter what exercise equipment you use because you are simply trying to build an aerobic base. Don't feel limited to gym equipment. If you'd rather do your ESD work by walking up hills, jogging, biking, or even swimming, then by all means, go for it. You should, however, purchase a heart rate monitor. (For information on specific products and recommendations, please visit www.coreperformance.com/endurance.)

STAGE 2: INTRODUCTION TO INTERVAL TRAINING

Now, you'll build both cardio and leg strength. Stage 2 is an introduction to interval training. Begin with a warmup in Stage 1 for 10 minutes, and then do a 3-minute interval in Stage 2.

To determine your Stage 2 heart rate zone, take 80 to 85 percent of the 220-minus-age formula. Using our 40-year-old example, this would be 144 to 153 beats per minute. Use the formula first but then adjust it if it's too easy or too hard. This zone should be 5 to 10 percent above your adjusted Stage 1 zone. Once your heart rate hits the top of that zone, maintain it for the remainder of the 3-minute interval. It might take just 45 seconds to reach your target heart rate, which means you'll only be at the top end for 2 minutes and 15 seconds before you reduce the workload—either through decreasing the speed or the angle of incline—and return to Stage 1.

Again, it doesn't matter what type of cardiovascular exercise you are doing; just be sure to increase the workload to get your heart rate up to the top of Stage 2. It also doesn't matter whether you use speed or incline to reach Stage 2, because at this point you will determine workload by heart rate.

After finishing the 3-minute interval, return to Stage 1 for 5 minutes. Repeat this sequence (3 minutes in Stage 2, 5 minutes in Stage 1) based on the amount of time you have. The most important part of the interval is to recover back to Stage 1 between intervals in Stage 2. Recovery enables you to repeat the intervals. If your heart rate does not recover, you need to continue working on your aerobic base.

You'll probably need to make adjustments to your target heart rates during the first few training sessions. How hard was it to reach Stage 2? If you couldn't get to what you thought would be Stage 2 within 1 minute, decrease the expected heart rate zone by 5 percent. If you reached Stage 2 with no problem, look to increase time in this zone. Go ahead and do another rep, and as you get really fit, this workout may last up to an hour—or for several hours if needed.

If your heart rate goes beyond the predicted zone, but you're able to recover back to Stage 1, it's because either you have not developed an aerobic base or, if you have been working hard, you may be overtraining. Either way, add a couple of beats to the zone and work on increasing the time.

STAGE 3: FOR POWER WORKOUTS

If you're ready for a greater challenge, proceed to Stage 3, where we'll create a third zone. Now that you have found a Stage 2 zone that works well for you, add 5 percent to the top heart rate to create your Stage 3 zone. This zone starts where Stage 2 left off and ranges 1 to 5 percent above it. You can make adjustments in this as well, going 2 or 3 beats lower or higher if needed.

Your Stage 3 heart rate zone is used in the power workouts, and it should be one that you can maintain for 5 seconds—2 minutes in the latter levels—and repeat 4 to 12 times, based on the level and phase that you are in.

The most important part of Stage 3 is not to make it too ambitious; the goal is to do all the sprints designed for that stage. If your heart rate in the first sprint is too high, your final sprints will have poor form, which could lead to injury or burnout.

It is best to try all the sprints at your adjusted Stage 3 heart rate zone. If the last sprint is easy, add 1 to 2 beats to the next workout.

Paul Robbins is the metabolic specialist for the Athletes' Performance Institutes.

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