Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

Today my tempo workout was 2 sets of 6x100. I did them on the grass and took 30 seconds rest between each one and between sets i took 2 minutes. Im not sure what i was running them in since i was only worried about timing my rest but it was a stride around 16 seconds.
My heart rate BPM immediatly after the 1st sets was 174. After the second set it was the same. My question is is 174 where it should be for tempo? Since tempo is for recovery and aerobic endurance isnt 174 beats per minute around the Anaeorbic threshold ? Im really not so clear on this whole thing. Can someone clarify?

I have used heartrate work for swimmers for years and have flirted with it for tempo during track. The key is to get the percentages of speed and scales of effort first. When you have that taken care of start using the HR Monitor to create your own formulas on what you do. THIS IS VITAL. Even elite distance athletes doing the same event with the same training will have different individual responses.

HR monitors are one way we monitor overtraining since CNS fatigue shows up acutely but long term overtraining is far more sneaky. I am not at the level of a Dan or Charlie, so I can’t see a tight adductor from 200m away, or gage that the athlete is a tenth slower in the training. I need this data for looking at the enitre program as well, since general fatigue is real, not just CNS fatigue. If you are doing a balanced program CNS fatigue is only one part of the equation.

Quick, 174 seems a little high and I would think 165 would be closer for a college athlete.

Things to look for....

(1) Increase in resting/waking HR
(2) Cardiac drift during circuits or tempo
(3) How fast the HR settles during workouts
(4) Steady state fluctuations
(5) Total product (add and multiply the volume to see how much work is being done.)