Do you care what your max heart rate is?

What is your maximum heart rate? Are you using the "220- your age" formula, or the Karvonen formula to estimate? Do you really care what it is? After all, what does max heart rate have to do with your training zones? Very little, actually.

 The first thing to bear in mind is that estimating your max heart rate using one of the two conventional methods mentioned above can be off by 15-20%. That's a lot! And once you get that number, what do you do with it? Many coaches estimate that your Lactate Threshold (if you're a trained athlete) will be around 85% of your maximum heart rate. That's another "estimate" that can be way off, so now how far off the mark can you be?

If you really want to dial in to your training zones, find a local college that has an exercise physiology program and see if they'll use you as a guinea pig and do a blood borne ramp test. They'll get you on a treadmill and increase the incline every couple of minutes and take a blood sample from a prick in your finger. That test will be pretty spot on. If you don't have access to such testing, you can do a ramp test at home that will get you pretty close.

For a good estimate of your Lactate Threshold on the bike, warm up well on your indoor trainer. Then start a 30 minute time trial at the maximum effort you can sustain for the 30 minutes. When you get 10 minutes into the test, hit the lap button on your heart rate monitor and continue on. At the end of the test, find the average heart rate for that last 20 minutes (the final lap). That will be the estimate of your lactate threshold. From there you can calculate your training zones:

Zone 1 Less than 81% of LTHR
Zone 2 81% to 89% of LTHR
Zone 3 90% to 93% of LTHR
Zone 4 94% to 99% of LTHR
Zone 5a 100% to 102% of LTHR
Zone 5b 103% to 106% of LTHR
Zone 5c More than 106% of LTHR

For running, you can add 7 to the Lactate Threshold HR that you got from this test or do the same ramp test above, but running and calculate your zones as follows:

Zone 1 Less than 85% of LTHR
Zone 2 85% to 89% of LTHR
Zone 3 90% to 94% of LTHR
Zone 4 95% to 99% of LTHR
Zone 5a 100% to 102% of LTHR
Zone 5b 103% to 106% of LTHR
Zone 5c More than 106% of LTHR

Either way, it seems to me that maximum heart rate has little to do with effective training. Your Lactate Threshold (or the point at which your ability to continue on in your race is impacted) is more of an important metric to measure and train by.

When your Execution doesn't Match your Plan

I frequently run into this issue with both business leaders that I coach as their business coach and with athletes that I coach at all levels: You start out doing everything right: Set your goals, hire a coach or otherwise get on a structured plan, put together a support structure and start out with 100% commitment to following through. Then, life Happens! You get sick, you have an unanticipated business change (Perhaps you're traveling more, commuting further, working longer days, etc.), family commitments take you away from your training, or maybe an injury puts you on the sideline for awhile. For whatever reason,  you realize that you are no longer in synch with your plan. There's a sunken, lost feeling that sometimes goes along with this realization! So what can you do to get yourself back on track?

A few things that are required for every major goal in life:

• Commitment- If you took the initial steps I described above, it has to be assumed that you were, at least at one point, committed to your goal. You are now in a situation where you need to re-commit to that goal, including making a pledge to yourself to doing what's necessary to accomplish it.
• Support Structure- Your support structure includes your family, co-workers and employer, your coach and your friends and training partners. You need to communicate with them so that they can fulfill their roles as your support team. Tell them what's going on and what's gotten you stopped. Let them help you figure out how to get moving again.
• Flexibility- I can't remember ever seeing a plan for a significant goal that has been accomplished without some bumps in the road. You have to be willing to acknowledge the barrier, recognize it for what it is and make adjustments to your plan.

Now, specific to athletes, making adjustments to your  plan is particularly important because it is very important that you look at whether or not it's appropriate for you to just jump back on the plan or if you have to make adjustments to the plan and starting again.

For younger athletes, you de-train more slowly than older athletes, so if you're just off the plan for a few days, it's likely that you can just pick up the plan from where you are. Do not try to make up the training days that you missed. The most you should do is look to see if there are any key workouts that you missed that you may want to replace the current days plan with. Take a hard look a this and if you have a coach, speak to your coach about it. Sometimes doing this will throw your coming week's training off balance. For older athletes, who de-train faster, and for everyone who may have fallen off their plan for more than a few days, you'll need to make adjustments in order to safely re-enter your training.

Work with your coach if you have one. If not take a look at the following:

• Are you still able to dedicate the same number of hours per week to training as you initially thought? Be realistic. You may have been overly optimistic at the beginning, or perhaps your circumstances have changed. Much of your training can be done on the weekends, or days off, with shorter training days during work days. You should plan a minimum of 5 days per week to train at the iron or half iron distance level (assuming your goal is to finish the event with a respectable time) and 4 days per week for sprint or Olympic distances. How many hours can you devote each day?
• Use the time available wisely. My strong recommendation is to not just go out to swim, ride or run, but to have a specific purpose for each workout. Doing this will help minimize the number of hours you need to train. Just going out to cycle 4 times a week may help build your endurance base, but you'll use a whole lot more hours doing so. Using the appropriate drills for skills development and intervals for base building will get you to your goal in fewer hours.
• Did you just not get your plan started on target and at this point are lost trying to figure out how to catch up? Again, your coach will help you reshuffle the schedule to get you back on track. But if you're doing it yourself, start at where you left off and build a structure from there. Perhaps you can ramp up your volume a bit faster than your initial plan called for in order to catch up (but be very careful with this to monitor how you're body is responding to avoid injury or illness). Be sure to allow for sufficient rest and recovery (you get stronger when you're resting, not when you're working hard)
• Finally, bear your limiters in mind. If swimming is your weakest event, be sure to reshuffle your training plan in a way that doesn't eliminate swim training. If cycling hills is your weakness, focus on power and hill climbing. Your weakness is where you want to concentrate as you rebuild your plan!

Don't despair if you fall off of your plan. It happens to everyone sooner or later. Success is something that's achieved from your ability to get back on track and re-commit to your goal quickly. Remember that "a goal without action is just a dream". And another favorite quote from a famous boxer, "It's not how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up that counts".

Here's an inspiring video about swimmng and life

Thank you to my friend, Sue, for sending me the link to this inspiring video by Diana Nyad, the 61 year old swimmer who attempted to swim from the US to Cuba last year. It's definitely worth watching to understand the obstacles that she has had to overcome and how they have affected her thoughts on life, not to mention the different perspective we'll get on our own "open water swimming".

Click below to view the video:
Diana Nyad Video

January To-Do List

January “To-Do” List!

Notwithstanding New Year’s Resolutions, it’s tough to get off to the right start in January. Here are a few things I find bulletproof for ramping up training and getting stoked for the coming year. They’re simple and in some respects obvious when you look at them individually, but if each is an ingredient to a recipe, then the recipe produces motivation! 

• Develop Focus- What’s the point of training? A key race? A breakthrough in personal fitness or accomplishment? Write down the vision. Keep copies in key places (at your desk, in your car, with your workout bag, etc.). When starting my training year, what gave me motivation was to write down the splits that I wanted for my key “A” race. Any time I wasn’t “in the mood” to train, I’d look at them and remember what I was working toward and how important it was to get out and get the training done!

• Create the Roadmap- This is likely your training plan. If you have a coach, one will be created for you. If you don’t, you’re on your own to either create one (if you have the background to do it) or buy one online. But you wouldn’t get in the car for your family vacation without first knowing where you were going, or what roads you were going to take to get there. Don’t try “just doing it” without your map!

• Be Consistent- It’s hard, for everyone! Sometimes you’re just not in the mood. Sometimes it’s sickness, soreness, fatigue or just plain “don’t wanna’s”. Consistency in your training will pay in big dividends. Get out and do something. Even if you have to cut back on your planned training day, get yourself started and many times you’ll find that you feel better after your warm up and get the whole thing done!

• Maintain a Flexible Mentality- Don’t let the weather, your job or other variables destroy your plan. Keep options available. If the pool is closed for some reason, switch your training days around and do something else. If you can’t ride outside, ride on your trainer. If your boss schedules an early morning meeting, bring your running gear to work and get your run in during lunch (or immediately after work). Don’t let variables get in the way.

• Have a Support Team- Few people (if any) can do “life” on their own. We all need a support team to help us through. When I ran my first marathon, I made a pact with a good friend that we’d call each other at any time we “didn’t wanna”. And we kept that pact. After speaking to each other for a few minutes, we’d get the kick in the butt that we needed. Develop your own support system with Family, training partners, co-workers and friends.

• Take Good Care- Your mental stamina will go a long way, but we all have to maintain our physical health as well. Good sleep, quality nutrition, scheduling quiet time are all important factors. Eating junk and only getting a few hours sleep will not support you in your training! The better you eat, and the more you get a good night’s sleep, the more you’ll be up to the task both physically and mentally.

• Visualize!- You have a vision that gets you excited and stoked for the season (if it doesn’t, you have the wrong vision). Spend some time visualizing the accomplishment of your vision. Close your eyes and experience being “in the zone” as you ride smoothly and effortlessly through the course. Feel the excitement of crossing the finish line. Re-live a “perfect day” or racing or training where you were totally in the zone and loving life.

As the adage goes, “the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts”. Take all of the above as part of the whole and use all of them to get you to the next level!

Chuck Graziano is the owner of Inspired Performance Coaching and provides training and coaching to endurance athletes of all levels. He is a USA Triathlon level II certified coach, is certified by USA Cycling at level III and is a Training Bible Elite Level Coach. Chuck served as the Head Triathlon Coach for Team in Training- NJ for 11 years and now coaches their IronTeam. For further information, contact chuck@inspiredperformancecoaching.com

Don't miss the opportunity!

We're on the countdown to the end of our early registration discounts for the 2012 Triathlon Training Camp at Lake Placid. This year's camp runs from June 28th through July 1st, perfect for tweaking your performance up a few notches and ideal timing for many ultra distance events (IM Lake Placid, NY/NJ, Louisville, Canada, Mt. Tremblant, etc.). Whether you have an iron distance event on  your schedule, or are targeting a personal best for an Olympic distance event or just want to learn more about training effectively our camp program will be ideal for you. Our limited enrollment allows for attention to every camper and coaching for whatever your goals.

Take advantage of the early registration discount and save $50 now and get one of the limited rooms in our reserved block at a very special price.

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A really Easy Way to Measure Training Progress

I’ve found that a really easy way to measure the progress we’re making in our training is to look at the input/output ratio that’s being generated by each workout. I thank Joe Friel for writing about this in his recent blogs, especially since it’s a relatively simple and “low tech” method. I’ve been using this myself in my recent training and find it pretty valuable, but as with everything, it has its limitations.

How does this work? I've posted an easy guide to using this system on my website, so click here to read the short article.