Heart Rate Training Zones

Generally speaking, once your runners are past the beginner stage and aiming to run their distances faster, their training load should vary from day to day and could follow the pattern of : easy, hard, easy, easy, hard, easy, easy; through the week.

As a Run Leader, you will want to be able to monitor how hard and easy your runners are working and one way of doing this is to ask them to monitor their heart rates during their sessions.

To work out your heart rate training zones you need to know their Heart Rate Reserve (HRR) and to work this out you need to know their maximum and resting heart rates.

Maximum heart rate = approximately 220 minus your age. This is a rough estimate. To get a better indication you could consider physiological testing or do 4 X 400m fast running with a reduction in recovery between each one. Have three minutes after the first one, then two minutes and then one minute. You should get their heart rates to maximum with this session.

Then subtract their resting heart rate (which should be taken on waking up) and this is their HRR.

For example, if their maximum Heart Rate is 180 and their resting is 60 then their HRR is 120.

Training zones are very individual and the best way to find them is by physiological testing but a rule of thumb is:

Interval training – 90%+

Threshold training – 80 – 90%

Steady State – 70 – 80 %

Easy, recovery running 60 – 70%

If you were aiming for them to run at a high intensity of 95% you would need to know what 95% of maximum heart rate is. This is an example of a 40 year old who has a resting Heart Rate of 60:

220 - 40 = 180

180 - 60 = 120

95% of 120 = 114

114 + 60 = 174

174 - pace for this session.

Recovery is until the heart rate drops to 60% - 70%.