my first heart rate monitor

joe,
not much i can tell you about hr , other then when i looked in the after christmas weekend paper there are a couple of places that are having them on sale this week. check it out. one for $19.00 maybe there are features that you should be looking for but this is a great way to start.

rick

I bought a basic HR monitor on ebay for 30 bucks on ebay. It does not have all the bells and whistles but it will do. For more info on hr training refer to the article on hr training on this websites homepage.

Edited by kgart 2003-12-28 2:07 PM

Congrats on moving a step up on training. I am new to tri's but have been training with a monitor for 8 year for my marathon and ultra races. It is a great tool in all aspects of your training. On your easy day, WEAR it. 90% of the time you are not going as easy as you think. Use it to SLOOOOW you down. You have 3 phases of HR training.
#1- endurance 60-70% MHR This is for long runs and easy days. #2- Strength 75-85% MHR This is cycling and running hills, pace running. #3 is interval 93%MHR cycling,running, swimming.
You need to find your RHR(resting heart rate) to be more accurate in your zones. Take your pulse while just waking up in the morning. Laying on the bed. DO NOT get out of bed yet. Do this for a week and take the average. That will be your resting heart rate. My RHR is 48. Karvonen formula Take 220- age=MHR- RHR=HRR(heart rate reserve)HRRx.85+RHR=85%HR MAX example is 220-45= 175-48=127x.85=108+48=156. 85% of my MHR training is at 156 BPM I hope this helps you and your training. Good Luck!!!

I would look into what you think that you need the hr monitor for. Do you want one that will provide you with alot of data or do you just want to monitor what is going on in your workout. I personally bought a timex from Target and and found it benefited be greatly because I realized that my heart rate was lower than I had anticipated and that I was mentally just thinking that I was tired. HR monitor helped me get past this point. I have since upgraded to a polar s410 which is great for getting data I can use to customize my workouts. It is also nice to ocassionally use during a race to view what my heartrate was at certain points in my workout. A lot of athletes are going with the timex gps system, so that is another option for you also. Educate yourself as much as possible and that way you can find what will best suit you.

Still Tri'n,
Michael

Thanks for the input. I am going to need to do a gut check on finances. I am a techno junky on a peasants budget. I would love to upgrade strait to a polar s520. It would be a great luxury. But I will probably scounge around and find one for this season with the intent to upgrade next season. I guess this is just hedging my bets on past experience. Don't want hundredes of dollars in equipmet that is collecting dust until my next great attempt at fitness. If I give my self the cool reward next year it will be something to keep me motivated. Thanks again.

Joe