Rate, Not Pace: How a Heart Rate Monitor Can Improve Your Performance

Posted 14 January 2008

by Dr. Alinda Perrine

Bang! The race gun blasts and you think, “Can I really run an 8 minute mile for 6.4 miles?” Or the century bicycle ride begins and you automatically doubt whether you can hang with your group that announces, “We’re holding an average of 18 miles per hour.” Traditionally, athletes have used time, pace, or speed as the sole units of measurement to indicate their accomplishment in athletic events. Runners discuss pace; cyclists boast speed; and every competitor remembers their finishing time. Units of measurement, like speed and pace, help us evaluate our performance and plan our training to reach the next goal. But is there a better method that provides the primary feedback that can help us reach our goals, both on race day and in training? As a coach and athlete, I believe the answer is “Yes.”

For the purposes of this article, I will use the terms “speed” and “pace” interchangeably, acknowledging pace and speed are inverses of each other. Additionally, I believe athletes are best informed with multiple types of feedback including heart rate, speed, pace, power, altitude, etc. However, I value heart rate as the athlete’s primary data. A heart rate monitor offers continuous and evaluative information. Athletes can quickly make sense of heart rate.

The advent of technology in our world of training increased the types of feedback available to the recreational athlete and the elite athlete. One of the best forms of immediate and evaluative feedback is heart rate. Heart rate is easily attainable; affordable; readily available, continuous, and, most importantly, instantaneous. Some coaches even use heart rate data to extrapolate power. Heart rate data is your physiological data from your heart. Heart rate data can be collected during most activities, both indoor and outdoor.

Why is heart rate better to use than pace?
I’ll start with a personal story. Bobby, my husband, and I decided to bicycle across America. Prior to the trip, I researched training techniques, talked with coaches, interviewed and read stories about veteran transcontinental cyclists. Based on my research and my own knowledge of multi-day cycling events, I knew that speed (pace) may lead to overtraining and extreme fatigue. Plus, Bobby was a faster rider than I. There was one other big concern. Three years prior, Bobby had a stroke. His recovery had been phenomenal, but an underlying sense of apprehension nagged me. How intensely could we ride and still accomplish our goal in good health? I dedicated myself to finding a training method that would assure we completed our goals.

We decided heart rate data would be the foundation of our training and primary source of feedback. Why? Heart rate told us how our bodies were responding to the intensity of work load. Each of us selected a heart rate “riding range” or heart rate zone. My zone ranged within 10-15 beats of my selected heart rate. Because Bobby was a faster rider than I, he selected a slightly lower riding heart rate zone. Bobby’s lower zone and my higher zone resulted in a similar speed. Each day we recorded mileage, time in the “riding range” (zone), and average speed. Soon, we began to realize that our speeds were increasing, our riding time was decreasing, and our heart rates were staying in our respective zones. Heart rate had been the key to success. Bobby and I bicycled across America in 30 days, completing 3,013 miles, averaging 16 miles per hour, becoming fitter each day and using heart rate as our guide.

So why is heart rate a better primary feedback guide than pace? Let’s analyze pace. Pace can create a competitive pressure, either within you or between athletes. There is a focus to keep up regardless of what your body may be telling you. Pace does not reflect immediate physiological response to workload. Individuals vary in response to workload. For example, if you use pace as the measurement of workload, you may feel very comfortable running an 8 minute mile, but another athlete labors when running a mile in 8 minutes. Pace can narrow the athlete’s focus. When the athlete cannot meet the expectation of pace, he can lose the mental focus of accomplishing the bigger goal of completing the event healthily. An athlete using pace as primary feedback may create unrealistic expectations. Setting pace can be difficult. How will you consider the environmental factors, terrain, traffic, equipment? Have you considered personal issues such as sleep, nutrition, hydration, anxiety? Most importantly, do you have the ability to perform at your selected pace given all the conditions? What guidelines do you use to modify pace? How specific are your guidelines? Heart rate gives you flexibility and has specific guidelines. You can modify your heart rate quickly and incrementally, observe the immediate effect, and evaluate what you need to do while you are still performing the event.

Do I believe that pace is important? Absolutely. I evaluate pace as part of the complete data portfolio. Here are a few basic “Rate/Pace” guidelines to use in your next three to six month training plan:

When heart rate stays the same or decreases and your pace is staying the same or increasing, you are getting fitter. Raise your heart rate by 3-5 beats per minute, and evaluate pace. You will be faster.
On environmentally challenging days with high winds, rain or extreme heat, stick to heart rate as your guide. Limit an increase in heart rate to 5-8 beats per minute from your selected training heart rate. You will complete the event safely and stay mentally motivated. Pace is a small part of your true performance.
The longer the distance, the more conservative the heart rate. Select a steady-state heart rate, maintain this heart rate and observe your pace. Depending on the distance for completion, if the heart rate begins to increase and the pace begins to slow, decrease the heart rate. Your pace may slow but you will complete the event. If your heart rate begins to decrease and the pace stays the same, increase the heart rate in the last stage, pace will increase, and you will probably pass a few of those who passed you in the early stages of the event.
Observe, record and evaluate heart rate and pace often. Look for the trends in the data.
Bang! The race gun blasts and you automatically know “I can run this race at a heart rate of 155 beats per minute (155 is an example — you must select you own heart rate) for 6.4 miles! My heart rate monitor is my guide. I have trained using heart rate and I know exactly the heart rate zone I will use in this race. My heart rate monitor will help me stay mentally focused. I am confident that I will succeed. My pace will be a reflection of my best training.”

Remember, pace is the result of good planning with heart rate, not vice versa.

Dr. Alinda Perrine is a nationally-recognized fitness authority, author, presenter and master trainer. Since completing her 2001 cross-country bike tour, Alinda has made heart rate training an integral part of her own fitness endeavors as well as her work as a professional coach and personal trainer. She has completed numerous marathons and endurance cycling races, and shares her expertise in coaching others with her ZoneX™ method of sensible heart rate training.. In 2005, she coached a Mt. Kiliminjaro Climbing Team using heart rate training to prepare for the high-altitude climb. She co-authored the Timex Heart Rate Monitor Book and has trained other personal trainers at more than 400 fitness facilities and resorts nationwide. She and husband Bobby operate Free Spirit Adventures, a cycling shop and bike tour business based in Greenbriar County, West Virginia.

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