It seems like a lot more people are using monitors for their racing and training then ever before? I recently read a post from someone on here that held back during a race because of what his monitor was telling him even though he knew he had some extra in the tank. What happened to listening to your body and putting the hammer down to see how it responds? Are these for older, slightly overweight people avoiding heart attacks or essential pieces of equipment?
Tinley’s article in the new “Triathlete” touches on this.
I’ve had the cheapy Polars and the nicer 510 and find that for training they are very valuable. My 510 was junk and the reason I don’t use it anymore. You can find the point during time trialing where you go over the edge and can be handy on days you want to keep your rate lower. I know not to go to 171 bpm if I want to continue for more than a half mile. Unless you will pour over info that you can download, I would stick with a $70 model.
I don’t think HRMs are essential. They do provide information that can be useful if you have used them enough for it to be useful. This includes using them enough in races so that you know what a given HR means in a race as you can maintain a higher HR in a race for a given period of time for a variety of reasons.
Plus, they are a really neat toy to play with.
IMHO, a HRM is not a very effective tool unless you pair it with RPE and/or a power meter; and unless you have experimented with it to find out how certain factors (heat, humidity, etc.) affect your readings.
Once you have an idea of what heart zones your RPE/power levels correspond to, you can then use the HRM to effectively manage your effort during a race or training, adjusting for certain factors.
They are a tool that gives you an indication of intensity.
HR varies from person to person and from day to day. Using one can help your training if used correctly. It can hinder your training if you start to depend on it. Opinions will vary widely on this subject. You should try one for yourself and use the information intelligently.
I use one all of the time to help with pacing and intensity, it is a Polar S-120, the cheapest one that I could find with lap times.
jaretj
I’m trying to get my mile splits down to 6:30 for a 10 k so on my hard tempo runs I try to sting along as many sub 6:30 miles as I can. The next time I go out I try to run one mile more at sub 6:30 then the week before. I see no reason why a HRM would help me improve my splits. Although I do agree that they are pretty cool, especially the GPS/HRM ones…
HR monitors are tools just like anything else. Anyone who relies completely on what their HRM tells them is probably missing something, and anyone who doesn’t consider using one to train and race is probably also missing something.
How can a HRM help you with your splits?
Depending on what phase of your training you are in and the type of workout you do will change the usefullness of the HRM.
For a base phase it can keep you slow enough to help build up base endurance which is needed for building and speedwork.
For build phase it can give you an idea of intensity for a given race effort.
For speed work it can let you know how your recovery is going and the type of intensity you are capable of.
Hopefully a coach in the forum can elaborate more or maybe even correct me.
Good luck in you speed attempts, at 6:30’s you would be running circles around me.
jaretj
Good advice, thanks Jaretj. My speciality is running so I’m trying my hardest to catch all the people that past me on the bike…
I agree with the other users. Good tool but you have to know your base resting heart rate when you aren’t overtrained. Also have to know what your cardiac drift numbers are so you can adjust accordingly. I find it a great help when I need to be easy recovery type days…reminds me to tone it down. Also good toolbecause sometimes it will show your heart rate higher than it should be during a training session which then tells me time to back off. something isn’t right. But, I still train alot by feel…getting used to certain bike and run pacing by feel and how much I can kick in durning a race. I still find the feel to be a good way for me.
I found my monitor to be invaluable in my racing. But instead of using it to keep my pace up I use it to make sure I don’t back off too much. I found I was finishing races with too much left in the tank. With the HRm and a good plan for the race my times have improved dramatically.