Discussing all things heart beat training, "Feel the Fast" with Adam Clarke for END. and adidas Adizero.
An elite adidas athlete, Adam Clarke is a runner well versed in the heart rate training method. Created as a way to move away from over technical approaches to running, the system looks to your own heart rate rhythms as a way of dictating your speed with the aim of building your stamina, speed and performance throughout 5 different running “zones”.
A big proponent of the heart rate training method, Clarke’s skill as a runner has seen the 33-year-old go from strength to strength in the sport, conquering the Manchester Marathon in 2024 with a winning time of 2:16:29. Having worked as a training partner to Mo Farah and a number of other Olympic athletes, the Purdue Performance coach has carved his own lane in modern running. Diving into the world of heart rate running ahead of END. and adidas’ Feel the Fast adizero event on 22nd January in Manchester, we sat down with Adam Clarke to discuss all things heart rate running.
Hey guys, I’m Adam Clarke, an adidas elite athlete and coach from Purdue Performance. For me, running has been a huge part of my life since a young age. I was introduced to athletics and running in a very traditional way as a young kid. I can remember as far back as Year 6 at primary school running the cross country and enjoying it with friends. Since then, I have been lucky enough to run for Great Britain, train as Mo Farah’s training partner before his last 2 Olympics and above all have fun while meeting so many amazing people. I feel very lucky to be part of what we all call the running community and how this is growing every year globally and changing people’s well-being and health.
Heart rate training, specifically in running, is certainly a key training technique that over the years has slowly become less popular among runners. However, it can be an extremely accurate and specific way of working on yourself as an athlete and your personal fitness/performance progression. Heart rate training as a training method simply uses your personal heart rate as a guide to structure and optimise workouts/runs. It focusses on maintaining specific heart rate zones during runs to achieve targeted physiological benefits, such as improved endurance, speed, or recovery. This approach helps runners train smarter by avoiding overtraining, under-training and it’s great for injury prevention. Overall, there are 5 heart rate zones, from 1 to 5, with each increasing in intensity. The biggest bit of advice for runners around heart rate training is that this training technique is specific to you and everyone’s zones are individual.
"Even the journey of practising will help bring back that pure love and freedom that running has always given."
Learning to run and train to your heart rate can bring so many positives. Firstly, it is key to understand that like anything new it can take time and practise to master/build confidence. It can really help optimise individual training, improve performance, and reduce the risk of overtraining. As heart rate training and zones are specific to each individual athlete it allows runners to follow group training sessions and also more generic training plans with a focus on them as an athlete and their progression. As mentioned, it can take a while to practise and master running to your heart rate and trusting this training technique. Once mastered, it will allow you to really strip back from the worry of a watch and enjoy just being out getting some miles in. Even the journey of practising will help bring back that pure love and freedom that running has always given.
The biggest piece of advice I would give when starting to look into heart rate training is not to rush straight into trying to run all your runs with the focus. Pick a single easy run and start with this for a few weeks. This way, you will slowly build confidence and can then progress your runs and zones. I also try to put the zones into 3 key training pillars. For example, zones 1 and 2 are your easy/recovery days. Zone 3 is your tempo/threshold days and then zones 5 and 6 are your harder intervals and race day. This way, it keeps the understanding simple and specific to the 3 main training focusses for an endurance runner. As a great start point, pick one of your safe/routine easy run loops; for example, a run you know the exact distance. Head out on this familiar loop and enjoy the watch-less run at a controlled easy pace. A great starting point!
"If you push too hard to early on ahead of a Marathon it is very easy to get injured or even peak weeks prior to the race."
I’m very excited to be heading to Manchester Marathon again this year. I have such fond memories of 2024, not just for the win but also for the epic race day atmosphere and the course. So far, my training has been going well as we head towards to this year’s race. We still have a long 15+ weeks before race day, so the balance is knowing I am training well but not to the max just yet. If you push too hard to early on ahead of a Marathon it is very easy to get injured or even peak weeks prior to the race.