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The heart rate monitor as a daily tool
by Luis Alvarez
Winner at Ironman Honolulu - World Record Holder - Only man to complete every Ironman race venue in the world
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If anyone asks me how to get started in exercise or how to train for an Ironman I ask back “Do you have a heart rate monitor?”
All of us that participate in triathlons are addicted to endorphins. In our case more than using the Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) to go to a high heart rate, we have to use it to control it and to get to our personal appropriate rate.
Even though I am 20 years older than when I began competing, I am still breaking my personal record in short distances as well as in the Ironman and one of the reasons of this is because in 1999 I changed the way I trained and began following the program from Dr. Phil Maffetone (used by Mark Allen, Mike Pig among others).
Before, I trained almost all the time with a 170 bpm average. I even trained myself to run the whole Ironman close to that heart rate and my finishing times were fairly good. My best was in Hawaii was 10:21hrs, and my times, if everything went ok was less than 11 hours. 
One of the techniques of the Dr. Maffetone method consists in subtracting your age from 180, and then add to the result 5 (bpm) if you are a healthy person that have been doing exercise on regular basis. But if you are sedentary, obese or have any health condition such as diabetes, then you should subtract 5, 10 or 15. This operation will give you your MAF (Maximum Aerobic Frequency). Mine is 145. Following this, I try not to go over that heart rate, even when I do speed reps. Of course, you will be wondering: “how do I train speed at the same heart rate as I train distance?” Well, I do it going down hill or with a tread mill with declination, approx. 3 to 5 degrees. If you don’t have this kind of treadmill you can add something that raises the back part of the band to simulate this declination. This way I get the neuromuscular training that speed gives to my legs without going over my MAF. Training at this low heart rate also allows me to do longer distances without over training.
 For this reason while training, I ALWAYS use a TIMEX heart rate monitor. With the new TIMEX GPS technology (body link) I can monitor heart rate and I can relate it to my pace, speed and distance and see how I am doing with my training and make changes if necessary. Last year, with this technique I broke my personal best with a time of 10:08 and a marathon of 3:32. Not bad for a 43 years oldie!
Luis Alvarez
Articles from Luis:
Nutrition Tips for an Ironman -
The heart rate monitor as a daily tool -
Competions in cold weather -
How to do 10 IRONMAN in a year without injuries -
250 MILES BIKE RIDE IN EXTREME CONDITIONS -
Health or Fitness -
Thanks to MAP I broke my PR 4 years in a row -
Quality or Quantity -
Three Òfamilies" of Injuries -
Mountain Training for Triathlon -
How I have been able to really increase my IRONMAN racing speed - What's my training pulse? The Maffetone Method -
Lesson in Overcoming -
Lesson in Overcoming -
Luis Alvarez does it again! Amazing! -
MAP not only for athletes -
RUNNING WITH THE POSE METHOD -
MAP Team Member Luis Alvarez does it again -
Ironman Pre-Season -
An spectacular New Years Eve
MAP. It is not only for training
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