I have worn a HR monitor for a long time and have incorporated running into my fitness training for a long time. I've never run a marathon, favoring (until recently) 5k and 10k fun run distances, and favoring a treadmill over road running due to old man knees.
Now my running is shorter duration and
higher intensity.
I believe to get and sustain a higher level of cardio fitness with running, it is good to train in all HR training zones. Assuming you have 3 days a week to devote to running, here is what I recommend:
1) one day of steady state running for 30-45 minutes at a HR training range of 70-85% of your maximum HR.
2) one day of
interval training of different repeat distances. I have been a big fan of 8 rounds of 400 meter repeats with 200 meter walking or jogging recovery. I like to spend time in the 88-92% of my maximum HR when doing the 400 meter repeats.
3) once you have some anaerobic conditioning under your belt, I'd suggest sprint work or hill sprints. Last summer I subjected myself to a grueling, once-a-week, hill sprint workout following the Sprint 8 cadence of Phil Campbell. After warming up and gradually elevating my HR, I did 30 second maximum effort hill sprints, then walked down the hill allowing myself 2 minutes for recovery. I repeated this for 8 rounds so this took (excluding a warmup) 20 minutes exactly. This also works well with track sprints. With this training you approach 95% of maximum HR during the later rounds, depending on your conditioning, weather, and hydration levels.
Take it easy for starters and see where your heart leads you. Remember, something is better than nothing and you will get superfit by incorporating a decent and challenging running component to your fitness programs.
p.s. you can get an equivalent workout doing burpees too.
Good luck!
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