Thursday, April 21, 2011

heart rate zones for endurance training and weekly diagramming

back again!  We have 5 heart rate (HR) 'zones' to use for us to be our best for our next race! Again, I encourage you to read ''SERIOUS training for endurance athletes."  The first two HR zones, (OD and EN), are focused on building your capacity to use oxygen, phosphates, sugars, and fats efficiently so your muscles, (cardiovascular and skeletal), can work better for longer periods of time.  Also, your blood vessels, (capillary density), need to improve.

It is easier to work on mechanics at a lower intensity.  You have more time to focus on how you should move when you get into a higher intensity level so you can run faster for a longer period of time while keeping your HR as low as possible.  In other words, working through your full range of motion, (ROM) as relaxed as you can while working as fast as you can through your entire ROM.

You spend the greatest amount of time in these two HR zones throughout your training, especially at the beginning of your training.  In addition, you spend more time doing resistance training at the beginning, (WT) so you can tolerate greater stressors of high endurance training with respect to your bones, muscles, ligament, and tendons.

When you chart your weekly minutes, you will be spending 90% of your time, in the first eight (8) weeks of training, in these two zones as well as resistance training, (WT).  Keep in mind, I have created two different periodization schedules, (fixed and variable), one for beginners and one for advanced endurance athletes.  Please reference my website for these periodization schedules.  Enjoy!!

My next blog will focus on the next two HR zones, Interval Training (IT) and Race Pace (R/P) , and more detail about weekly diagramming!

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