Slow Burn by Stu Mittleman

Author:Stu Mittleman [Mittleman, Stu with Callan, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062131034
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-05-24T16:00:00+00:00

Fine-Tuning the Target Zones

Before we move on, I want to emphasize one point: no single formula is right for everyone. Take me, for instance. As I pointed out earlier, traditional heart-rate formulas predict my target workout zone between 120 and 146. Yet I do the bulk of my running between 100 and 125. If I were to train near 146, it it’d be tough. I could do it, but I would neither want to nor enjoy training there every day. I have learned to adjust my target zones upward or downward because I know what each zone looks, sounds, and feels like. I can’t imagine I would have continued to run as much and as often as I do if I had to force myself to stay in the target zones that traditional formulas recommend.

Imagine, however, if a beginning runner calculated his zones according to the traditional formulas and felt miserable while training in them. Unless he is confident about his body, he might not follow his intuition and make the necessary adjustments for the target zones to work better. It can work the other way also. The formulas can also predict zones that are too low. I have new clients who want to give up on using the heart-rate monitor because the training is so understimulating that it’s not worth getting off the couch for.

What I teach my clients and what I would like to share with you is this: the formulas don’t know the state you are in. Only you can know. A formula can’t tell whether you are aerobic and fat-burning or anaerobic and sugar-burning. Formulas are just best guesses based on the general tendencies of the population at large. While they relate to the world in general, they may pertain to no one in particular. don’t become a prisoner of the numbers. Your goal is to have a training experience that puts you in the energy-producing state prescribed for that day, whether it is aerobic fat-burning, anaerobic sugar-burning, or the mixed-fuel transition zone. don’t stick with a training experience that doesn’t make sense to you and your body just because a formula told you so. No one formula is right for everyone.

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