Q & A with Dave Scott
Dave Scott is the most recognized athlete and coach in the sport of triathlon. He is a six-time Ironman World Champion and the first inductee into the Ironman Hall of Fame.
Please send your questions to DaveScott@BodyHealth.com. Some will be selected for response in his MAP newsletter column.
From
A.N.:
What heart rate is the best to work out at? Is there a formula that I should adhere to?
From Dave Scott:
I'm not sure what “formula” you are using for your heart rate ranges, but let me clarify a couple of com ponents of your heart rate ranges.
1. Without having you tested in a lab, in your aerobic zone you should be able to continue a broken conversation ( 3-7 words continuous) no heaviness in your legs and able to sustain the same pace from 1 – 3 hours. You described your “conversational pace” as effortless jogging at around 135 BPM. My guess is that this is your lower aerobic range which typically is a 6 beat heart rate range. Therefore your aerobic range would be between 133 – 139.
When you are trying to tack up your heart rate (hills or tempo sessions) the emphasis is to run moderately hard to very hard. This is a definition of your sub-threshold to threshold pace.
Within the working muscles the rate of lactate production be com es higher and higher as the effort increases. If your body has the inability to remove or resynthesize lactate, then lactic acid accumulates in the blood stream. This is com monly referred to as your absolute lactate threshold (LT). LT can be measured in a lab and for your purposes in training a “fit 56” year old will have a LT around 20 beats higher than the top number of your aerobic zone. This would be 157 – 159.
2. However, to train your LT and ultimately increase your economy at sub LT, heart rate and pace per mile, the range is approximately from 12 beats below LT (approx. 147) up to your absolute LT (159).
So then, here is your range: aerobic – 135 – 139, LT – 147 – 159.
The body needs to “learn” how to clear lactate at a sub LT zone. Therefore your moderate hard to hard efforts should gravitate in to the LT range of 147 to 155. To train your LT – start off with a set of approximately 20 – 25 minutes after an adequate warm up. i.e. 7 x 3 minutes, RI jog of 30 – 45 seconds between. Allow each repeat to gradually build up within this range. Lastly, do not worry about your heart rate going up on the hills – it's supposed to!
Good luck,
Dave Scott
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