Recovery Heart Rate Athletes often monitor recovery H R after both aerobic and

anaerobic events. As with resting HR, recovery values are also subject to contamination by factors other than
those directly associated with the bout from which you're
recovering. So, given that under different conditions the same HR might reflect different degrees of recovery, it
might be better to subjectively measure when you've had
enough recovery.
Further, using a particular HR as a guide for recovery must be geared to each individual. You need to know your
own resting HR as well as maximum HR (HRmax ) . For
example, a HR of 1 20 beats per minute reflects a different degree of recovery for a
runner with a resting HR of 70 beats per minute and an HRmax of200 beats per minute
than it does for a runner with a resting HR of 40 beats per minute and an H Rmax of
1 60 beats per minute.
Another area in which using a specific rule-of-thumb HR can get a runner into
trouble is using a particular formula for determining HRmax (220 - age, for example) .
I once tested a 30-year-old elite athlete who had an H Rmax of 148 beats per minute;
220 minus age for this runner would suggest an HRmax of 1 90 beats per minute.
Certainly, any training based on percentages of an estimated H Rmax of 190 would
greatly overstress this athlete. In fact, telling him to shoot for an HR of 1 60 in a certain
workout would be unreasonable. I've also seen several world-class 50-year-old runners
with HRmax in excess of 1 90. In these cases, 220 minus age would suggest a max of
1 70, and targeting 153 beats per minute as the appropriate H R to represent 90 percent
of these runners' max would be inappropriate.
Benefits of Heart Rate Monitoring As you can see, heart rate monitoring can be
of benefit ifyou understand its limitations and train accordingly. Some athletes don't
Fitness and Intensity Benchmarks 63
have measured courses over which to monitor training pace, and H R can aid them in
performing a series of repeated exercise bouts at similar intensities. Heart rate can
help determine relative stress when running against the wind, up and down hills, or
over difficult footing. Possibly the greatest use of HR monitoring is to help avoid overtraining. When standard
workouts under ideal conditions produce H R values higher
than usual, it's often an indication that something is wrong and further evaluation
should be made.
In general, when it can be adequately monitored, pace itself tells the best tale. But
when pace isn'teasily monitored, H R can be useful in controlling intensity. See chapter
2 regarding the association between relative VDOT ( %VO�max) and percent H Rmax.
Often the best approach is to learn to read your body based on your own perceived
exertion scale and to train within the constraints that you monitor by using a device
you have with you at all times-the built-in computer in your head.
Test Efforts
There are several workouts that you can use as test efforts, with the idea of repeating
the workouts later in the season to compare either performance times in the workout
or your subjective feelings while repeating the same performance times. These test
workouts aren't set up to tell you how fast to train but rather to give you a feeling ofhow
your training is going if you're in a period during which you're not racing regularly.
Warm up for these test effortsjust as you would warm up for a race. At a minimum,
do 10 minutes of easy running, followed by stretching and four to six strides.
Repeated 400s (8 to 10) with one-minute recoveries. After a good warm-up, run the
400s with the fastest possible average for the total number run. The best approach
is to run the first few 400s at your current one-mile race pace. After the first three
or four 400s, try to speed up the pace a little, and keep going as best you can until
you're finished. Don't put on a kick for the final 400; keep the same steady effort.
Complete 1 0 runs ifyour pace is 70 seconds or faster; do 9 ifyou're running between
71-second and 80-second pace; do 8 if you're slower than that.
If your 400-meter times are slower than 70 seconds, use the one-minute recoveries; if they're faster than 70
seconds, start a 400 every two minutes, which permits
the remainder of the time for recovery (e.g., running 400s in 65 seconds allows 55
seconds of rest between each) .
When done properly, this is a demanding session because it's faster than interval
pace but is performed with short, interval-type recoveries.
The average pace that you can run for this test set is probably the pace at which
you can race one mile or 1 ,500 meters. In fact, your race pace might be faster than
your average pace for this set, so don't start out too fast or the short recoveries will
catch up with you, and the overall average time won 't be the best estimate of your
mile fitness. I recommend doing this workout only a couple of times in a season,
when you need a test. Ideally, you would do it in one of the middle phases of the
season.