Too true, she got an average of 7.59 hours sleep a night. Plus she was in an AIS based skeleton squad for a while not long before she came to me. I tried using the monitor during training but no kidding she could drop her hr to the 64 in a matter of minutes
You have all probably all seen this before.
When you exercise, your heart beats faster to meet the demand for more blood and oxygen by the muscles of the body. The more intense the activity, the faster your heart will beat. Therefore, monitoring your heart rate during exercise can be an excellent way to monitor exercise intensity.
For the majority of aerobic enthusiasts, there is a range of exercise intensities that is described as safe and effective for promoting
cardiovascular benefits. To determine what range is best for you, you’ll
need to be familiar with a few terms. 1Maximal Heart Rate: This number is
related to your age. As we grow older, our hearts start to beat a little more slowly. To estimate your maximal heart rate, simply subtract your age from the number 220. 2Target Heart-Rate Zone: This is the number of beats per minute (bpm) at which your heart should be beating during
aerobic exercise. For most healthy individuals, this range is 50 percent to 80 percent of your maximal heart rate.
MONITORING EXERCISE INTENSITY USING HEART RATE
So, if your maximal heart rate is 180 bpm, the low end of the range (50 percent) would be 90 bpm, and the high end of the range (80 percent) would be 144 bpm. (Use the chart to determine your own target heart-rate zone.)
WHAT DOES THIS RECOMMENDED
HEART-RATE RANGE MEAN?
Now that you’ve determined your target heart-rate zone, you need to know how to put that information to good use. These numbers serve as a guideline — an indicator of how hard you should be exercising. Those just beginning an aerobic program should probably aim for the low end of the zone and pick up the intensity as they become more comfortable with their workouts. Those who are more fit, or are training for competitive
events, may want to aim for the higher end of the zone. Keep in mind that the target heart-rate zone is recommended for individuals without any health problems. Additionally, individuals taking medication that alter the heart rate should consult their physician for recommended exercise intensity.
HEART RATE BY AGE
Age: 20 30 40 50 60 70
50% 100 95 90 85 80 75
80% 160 152 144 136 128 120
Great points! There are always are some lifestyle stressors going on in the life of a 21-year-old student, but we’re addressing those the best we can.
We have used the SLJ quite extensively as a primer for speed/accel work (and thus have the data for comparison), but the VJ would probably be more reliable as an indicator of recovery status - just don’t have the baseline data for that. I will look into the HRV testing as we also have some research going on on the subject at the local uni.
The plan for now is to have a test session after 10 days of recovery from the last high intensity runs, e.g.:
- 3-4 x SLJ
- 2 x 30m from a standing start (smooth)
- 1 x 30m from blocks (timed)
- 1-2 x 60m submax
- weights at reduced numbers
We then have 5 weeks before a 16-day training camp in warm weather, and another 3 weeks before the first planned meet (ie. 10 weeks total). Questions:
-
How would you plan the training in these constraints (assuming the test session shows recovery of the athlete)? Would 2 weeks be enough to gradually increase volumes back to normal, then have a 3 week block of work, use the training camp mostly for recovery, and then maybe another 2-3 week block of work while using the first meets only as training?
-
As Charlie pointed out in the Inside the SPP video, when the 60 m time goal wasn’t reached (on a S-to-L plan) even SPP II should still focus on developing the max speed of an athlete. Is this the case here as we don’t probably know her true potential b/c of the overtraining? I’m still leaning towards focusing on 60-80 meter work (EFE, FEF, 60’s and 80 m SE) until she’s got her speed back and then lengthening that to 120 or just use the first block of competitions to bring up speed endurance. She needs to peak in the first week of August for the nationals as the planned early summer peak is now probably better to forget. Any comments?
-
We used the standard 3 HI - 3 LI sessions per week schedule during the first phase of training. Should we now go down to 2 HI - 4 LI to avoid setbacks or just reduce the volumes so that 3 sessions can be handled?
I would much prefer measuring HR from the carotid artery and I would regard the HRmax=220-age ‘equation’ as highly unreliable.
You would be a triathlete or marathon runner. I don’t have the data here on events and optimal HR, I think it was covered in one of the periodisation books by Tudor Bomka.
I could have fibbed about the athletes 60/64 HR but in her case I found monitoring it as useful as pockets in undies.
Other recovery techniques on the site could include contrast showers/baths, ems, massage, meditation ala the Relaxation Response (you don’t need the Dali Lama for this) and nutritionals. Protein is critical 1.5 - 2 grams/kg bwt – besides muscle protein synthesis it provides precursors for neurotransmitters, a solid multi, additional Mg (not oxide, Malate is good because the malate feeds mitochondria) antioxidants (fresh berries are better than all the juices out there).