Mthunzi submitted his question for the Ask Coach Parry Podcast today, and it is somewhat related to the chat we have had regarding training to heart rate and building your fitness base using your heart rate monnitor.

His question goes as follows: “My training routine is as follows: I go to gym (focus on legs), road run (10/ 11km in approximately 75 minutes), running on a track (15 rounds alternating 2 fast and one jogging), hill repeat (5 repeats of a 600m stretch of road) and 2hr slow run at the weekend.

I have bought a heart rate monitor with the objective of increasing my speed, in other words to develop a base. Should I now change all my runs to be at heart rate of 138/ 139 (180-age) for 12 weeks, then once I have developed a base (and aerobic speed) revert to my current or improved program?

If not how do you recommend I change my program?

Brad Brown: Mthunzi submitted his question for the Ask Coach Parry Podcast today, and it is somewhat related to the chat we have had regarding training to heart rate and building your fitness base using your heart rate monnitor.

His question goes as follows: “My training routine is as follows: I go to gym (focus on legs), road run (10/ 11km in approximately 75 minutes), running on a track (15 rounds alternating 2 fast and one jogging), hill repeat (5 repeats of a 600m stretch of road) and 2hr slow run at the weekend.

I have bought a heart rate monitor with the objective of increasing my speed, in other words to develop a base. Should I now change all my runs to be at heart rate of 138/ 139 (180-age) for 12 weeks, then once I have developed a base (and aerobic speed) revert to my current or improved program?

If not how do you recommend I change my program?

Lindsey Parry: You have already done the 180 – age, so I would physically do a test. It is always slightly more difficult for a person whose been training as hard as you have.

The heart rate test will guide you

It should actually give you a clue quite quickly as to whether you need to go strictly onto low heart rate training or if you can continue in a similar vein.

I would do my 5 – 8km, taking my splits every kilometre. I don’t know a lot about your running but I do know a lot about your training and you seem like a fairly fit guy, so I would expect that you should be able to run at a reasonably good pace.

Using the word reasonably because I don’t know what answer to give you, that would depend on a couple of specifics. Say for example in your 800m efforts that you’re doing round a track. For example If you could run those or are capable of running them in 3 minutes. Then run an easy lap and another 3 minute 800m, then another easy lap. If you are capable of running those sorts of speeds, then I would expect you (at the heart rate 180-your age) to be able to run close to 4 minutes per kilometre.

If then for example you are running at 5 minutes per kilometre that would indicate exactly the fact that you need to develop your aerobic base more before you continue with speed work. So in that example I would say go for it.

You need to aim for 180 – age heart rate and you never run harder than that. You will keep repeating that test until such time as you get to 4 minutes per km.

If however you are very close to 4 minutes per km now and perhaps under 4 minutes a km when you do that test, then you have a fairly well developed aerobic engine and you can start using your heart rate training to make your high intensity training a little bit more specific.

Maybe getting your max heart rate by doing some sort of ramp test: 3 maximal 800’s with 3-4 minute recovery in between. That will give you a pretty good idea of your maximum heart rate.

You can then start working out sessions like recovery runs at lower than 65% of your maximum heart rate, endurance runs at 65 -75% of your maximum heart rate, threshold runs at 80 – 85% of your maximum heart and so on and so forth.

You can start using your heart rate to make your training sessions more specific.