The ideal heart rate to maintain while running depends on your age, genetics and fitness goals. No two bodies are alike, so there is no best heart rate for everyone. Likewise, no two workouts are the same, and you should vary your heart rate depending on your objective for each particular workout.
Maximum Heart Rate
Because individual bodies have differing capabilities, exercise scientists generally break down heart rate ranges into percentage categories rather than basing them on specific beats per minute. To determine which percentage range a given heart rate falls into, you must first determine your maximum heart rate. You can accomplish this by performing a maximum heart rate test, which involves running your hardest for several minutes after a proper warm up and then checking your heart rate. Alternatively, you can estimate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. Once you have determined your maximum heart rate, you can figure out in which percentage category your heart rate is. Workouts centered in each category give different fitness results.
Recovery Zone
The least strenuous category, often known as the recovery zone, calls for a heart rate that is 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. This zone is ideal for long, slow workouts to build endurance and train your body to consume fat stores as fuel. It is also useful for an easy workout the day after hard training.
Aerobic Zone
Increasing the intensity to 70 to 80 percent of your maximum gets you into the aerobic zone. Workouts in this zone are excellent for increasing overall fitness and are sometimes referred to as cardio workouts. At this pace, you should start to feel slightly out of breath and sweat a little. Training at this intensity improves your body's ability to transport oxygen to your muscles. If your fitness goal is simply to get in better shape for overall health, you do not need to exercise any more strenuously than this. When people refer to the "target heart rate zone," this is usually the category to which they are referring.
Anaerobic Zone
If your goal is to run faster, you will need to spend some time in the anaerobic zone, which is 80 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate. At this intensity, you will find yourself breathing quite hard, but you should be able to continue comfortably for several minutes. Working out in this zone trains your body to more efficiently remove lactic acid, a cellular waste product, from your muscles, in turn increasing your performance.
Redline Zone
If you are a competitive runner seeking maximum performance, be sure to schedule a few workouts in the redline zone, 90 to 100 percent of your maximum heart rate. While you can achieve considerable performance gains by working out in this zone, it is important to limit redline workouts to once a week to avoid overtraining.
References
- Running for Fitness: Heart Rate Zones
- "The Heart Rate Monitor Book"; Sally Edwards; 1993
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