When I exercise, I generally aim to stay within my aerobic zone. You know, where you try to keep your heartrate around 70-80% of maximum while you do your exercise? I sometimes do anaerobic workouts, and occasionally go redline, but for the most part I target aerobic training.when I’m running and hiking and recovery (60-70%) when I’m just out walking from A to B. (And yes, when I am walking down the sidewalk, I really do target a heartrate and stick to it… it’s part of my walking ritual.)

I don’t wear a heartrate monitor, so how do I know what my pulse is? How do I find the right zone, accounting for age, for health, for conditioning?

Actually, it’s really easy. My body tells me: my breathing gives me everything I need to know. I’ll share my running process, but it’s the same for climbing steep hills, going up stairs, or walking fast around town. It’s the same for riding a bike or swimming or any other endurance activity.

Starting from rest, I just begin to walk at a comfortable pace. I walk about ten minutes both to warm up my body and to calibrate my own monitoring. The starting pace will be slow (for me) for a minute or so, stretching out my legs within a couple minutes to a moderate walk just to get the blood diverted to my legs. The pace is in the recovery zone… no sweating, easy to breathe. At this point I begin a five-count breathing pattern: inhalation takes two steps and exhalation takes three.

After a total of around seven to ten minutes, I’m ready to run. I’m about to transition between recovery mode and aerobic mode, and for the transition my only goal is to not enter the anaerobic zone. So my first 30 seconds or so is a slow jog.

The key is that I continue the breathing pattern I established. For a moderate or fast walk on level ground, it’s comfortable to breathe deeply at that pace. When I start to run, it’s a little uncomfortable after about half a minute and then becomes comfortable again. This tells me I haven’t gone too far.

So I can speed up. I run a little faster, lengthening my stride. With each step I continue the five-count. If breathing is still comfortable after another 30 seconds, I speed up more. Breathe. Speed up. Breathe.

Pretty soon I hit the pace where breathing on a five count is adequate but feels a little strained. I back off just a hair, and that’s my pace for the moment. After 30 seconds or so, I speed up a little bit again and see what happens. I back off when I need to, I speed up when I can. As long as I can still breathe on the five count, I am in my aerobic zone.

So what happens when I get to a hill? If I keep the same pace, I know I will go anaerobic, so I slow down preemptively. Once I’m running up the hill, I begin the same test-adjust strategy. If it becomes too hard to run up on the five count for a couple steps, it’s not a big deal, but if my breathing becomes labored while I’m heading up, I slow down. I may even drop out of the run and walk fast until it’s less steep. Remember, my goal is to stay aerobic. If I can walk and still be in my aerobic zone, great! Once the ground levels off, then I start running again.

Here’s the real beauty: it works as long as I’m continuing to exercise. Time doesn’t matter. Climate doesn’t matter. Whether I run for 15 minutes or two hours, the basic strategy of running as fast as I can while breathing on a five count keeps me in a sustainable zone. After an hour my pace may have slowed a bit, but I’m not exceeding my ability to keep going indefinitely. If it’s humid and my body can’t shed heat, the added labor to my breathing is an immediate indicator… I just slow a bit and keep monitoring. If I’m at high altitude, I still find the right pace very quickly to be able to run as long as I want. If I’m dehydrated or tired or sick… my breathing alone tells me what pace I can handle and get the workout I want.

In fact, I never even know what my heartrate is. The fact is, it doesn’t matter. People monitor their heartrate to target a zone… the heartrate is just the indicator. I have a different indicator, and it’s with me always, without any fancy gear.

You don’t need a heartrate monitor, you just need to pay attention to your breath. It tells you everything you need to know to pace yourself.

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Quote for the week

I believe that every human has a finite number of heart-beats. I don’t intend to waste any of mine running around doing exercises. – Buzz Aldrin

Healthy thoughts,
Jeff