Whether you're a single-sport athlete in running or cycling, or you're combining those sports with swimming to compete in triathlons, you'll want to put together a training program that emphasizes both endurance and speed. Your cardiovascular system will need to be able to access both the aerobic ability to sustain a long race, and the anaerobic ability to perform on hills and during sprints. While it's possible to wear a heart rate monitor in the pool, it's most common to do high heart rate efforts, called intervals, in running and cycling. Here's make sure your heart is getting its best conditioning while you train.
Instructions
1. Subtract your age from the number 220; that's your maximum heart rate. Your target zones for aerobic and anaerobic exercise can be based on that figure. Alternatively--and more accurately- figure your own maximum heart rate for each sport by observing your heart rate at flat-out, maximum effort. In order to do this properly, you should feel like you couldn't work harder if your life depended on it.
2. Use a heart rate zone calculator such as the one referenced in the Resources section, below, to learn these zones for you. A 35-year-old woman, using the 220-age formula, will be exercising at an aerobic level when her heartbeat is between 130 and 148 beats per minute, which is 70 to 80 percent of the maximum. Her anaerobic zone is between 167 and 185 beats per minute, or 90 to 100 percent of the maximum. Between those lies her anaerobic threshold, at 148 to 167 beats per minute, or 80 to 90 percent of the maximum.
3. Conduct at least 70 percent of your training in the aerobic zone. So, using a heart rate monitor, watch it to be sure that your heart rate stays there. This feels discouragingly slow for many athletes. In early stages of running training, for example, it is sometimes necessary to walk up hills! But establishing a training base is important, as a foundation for all speed work.
4. When you are ready to add intervals, push yourself until you see your heart rate go into the anaerobic zones. Start with short intervals; even repeated pulses of 30 seconds to a minute will yield some benefit. Slow your pace between intervals, trying to bring your heart rate back down to the aerobic zone.
5. As your training progresses, increase the numbers of repeats and the lengths of intervals. It is common for athletes to work in the anaerobic zones up to five minutes in running and up to 10 minutes in cycling. Working in the anaerobic threshold zone is best for boosting anaerobic capacity, while working in the anaerobic zone builds lactate tolerance.
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