1

GPS Sports Watch – Your Tra in ing Partner

In our prev io us art ic le ”Lo ok int o Bryton Cardio 40 /60 Tra in ing Features” , we

intro duced the “Pace Calcu lator” an d t ra ining features of the Bryton Cardio

40/6 0 GPS sports watches . In this art ic le , we wou ld l ike to introduce the bas ic

concepts of modern spo rts t ra in ing theo ries and sha re why t ra ining is impo rtant

to us . No matter whether you are us ing a Bryton Card io watch o r not , we ho pe

you can ac qui re usefu l info rmat ion by re ading this art ic le .

The Pr inc ip le of F ITT

Train ing , in general , in c lu des fou r e leme nts :

■Frequency (t ra in ing fre quency): How o ften do yo u run a week?

■ Intens ity ( t ra ining intens ity ) : H ow fast do you run ?

■Time (t ra in ing du rat ion ): H ow long o r how far do you run?

■Type (t ra ining type): The c ommon ly us ed t ra in ings inc lude L ong S low Dis tance

(LSD), Temp o Ru n, Interval Run , etc . So met imes , these t ra ining types are

combine d with the cross t ra ining a nd we ight t ra in ing , etc .

2

I f you a l ready make run ning a habit , you must understand what the t ra in ing

frequency , t ra ining d urat ion an d t ra inin g intens ity means . Normal ly , i f you

make running a rout ine , you may usual ly have a draft run ning plan in your mind.

For example , how many days can you ru n per week? H ow fast or how fa r sho uld

you ru n acco rd ing to you r cu rrent speed ? The c ommon ly used t ra ining programs

are developed by com bin ing the c oach ’s experiences and the exerc ise

phys iology theo ries so that they cou ld b ecome eff ic ient t ra ining methods .

However, regard ing the type of t ra ining such as , interval run, you m ight want to

cons ider severa l opt ions . A lso, t ra ining intens ity varies by person. Even th ough

you cho ose the same tra in ing type as the other pe rson, your t ra ining intens ity

might be di f ferent . Fo r th is is sue, B ryton Cardio watches can eas i ly solve this

prob lem by o ffer ing a custom ized t ra ining intens ity through the pace ca lcu lator .

You may refer to the art i c le ”Look into B ryton Card io 40/6 0 T ra in ing Features”

to acqui re f urther in format ion.

When I dec ided to s tart ru nning , I knew none o f the t ra ining conce pts . A l l I d id

was , i f I had free t ime, I ran. General ly , i f I reg is tered a 10km race, I wo uld ru n

the same amount of dis tance in my p rac t ice. Gradual ly , I advanced to the ha lf -

marathon runs . In this case, I wo uld ru n 21km two o r three t imes a week for

3

pract ice. Afterward, I reg is tered a marat hon race. My pract ice plan was s imple

and s tra ightfo rward. I p la nned to gradu al ly increase the runn ing dis tance u p to

42km. However, I enc ountered a bott le n eck. From then, I began to learn the

prin cip les of sp orts t ra in ing to imp rove perfo rmance. The refo re, in th is art ic le , I

would l ike to share some o f these va lua ble t ra ining concepts with yo u.

Tra ining p lan

F irs t , let ’s f in d a marath on t ra in ing p lan and f ind out how it suggests to t ra in in

a marathon run. Ha l H igdon is a wr iter f or Ru nner ’s Wo rld. He a lso pub l ished

several runn ing re lated art ic les . He offe rs severa l t ra in ing programs, vary ing by

race dis tances fo r d if fe rent level of run ners for free of charge. However, m ost

of them use the metr ic system. I f you are more fam il iar w ith the im peria l

system, you may need to convert it (1 m ile = 1.609 km). Let ’s take a look at “ the

Marathon T ra in ing - Advance 2” as an example. F irs t ly , i t shows how ma ny days

you have to run pe r week. How long an d how fa r sho uld you run per day?

Secondly , i t ind icates the t ra in ing intens ity and t ra ining type. For example,

3m run＝ Easy Run for 3 miles (about 5km)

45 tempo＝ Tempo Run for 45 minutes

5m pace＝ run in a race pace for 5miles (about 8km)

7 x 80 0＝ implement ing the Yasso 80 0 ru n for 7 t imes

Long Distance Run (LSD) on Sundays, 10 miles ( 16km)

The Easy Run , Tem po R un, Yasso or LSD s tand for the t ra in ing type and t ra in ing

intens ity . This might be di f f ic ult f or a be g inner to unde rstand. In this art i c le , we

wil l exp la in these t ra in ing types . However, the t ra in ing intens ity is var ied by

each person. B ryton Card io Watch offe rs a solut ion for this is sue by ad ding a

Pace Calculato r feature on the dev ice. I f you are interested in the top ic , p lease

4

refer to my art ic le “Look into Bryton Card io 40/60 Tra in ing Features” . I have

deta i led descr ipt ions f or the Pace Calculator.

The pu rpose o f the F ITT pr inc ip le attempts to prov ide a t ra ining guidance to

indiv iduals at dif ferent levels and ass is t t ra inees to enhan ce thei r end urance

capabi l i ty . Joe Fr ie l , the autho r of the T riathlete ’s Tra ining B ib le sa id,

Endurance can be def ined as the ab i l i ty to resist fat igue. Improving one ’s endurance to resist fat igue is accomplished by systemat ic t ra in ing.

Fatigue

A runne r might be no s tranger to “ fat igu e” but why does a runne r feel fat igue?

How to res is t fat igue th rough t ra in ing? Let ’s take a look at what Mode rn

Exerc ise Phys iology has to say :

§ Tired

“Tired” or “Weak” sounds pretty vague. However, in Maratho n doma in , i t has a

c lear de f in it io n, so ca l led “h it t ing the w al l” . Everybo dy knows jogg ing and long-

dis tance ru nning are aero bic exerc ises . Under the ae rob ic c ond it io n, the

movement can be susta ined mu ch longe r t ime than in anaero bic exerc ise , but

how lo ng is i t? I t can be c ont inued t i l l the body ’s ene rgy is exhausted. The

energy requi red f or a n aerobic exerc ise is mainly from two fo rms: o ne is fat a nd

the other is carb ohydrate. In the low-intens ity exerc ise , fo r example the easy

run, fat is the maj or so urce of ene rgy supply . When the pace inc reases but not

yet reaches the anaerob ic zone , the percentage of energy consumpt ion from

carbohyd rates wil l get higher an d h igher . In a race c ompet it io n, speed cann ot

be too s low so it h ighly re l ies on ca rbo h ydrates to supply the ene rgy .

Unfortu nately , muscles ca n s tore o nly l imited carb ohydrates , a roun d 1 500 to

2000 Kcal , which wi l l be b urned up when the ru n reac hes arou nd 30 km ’s . Th is

is so ca l led “h it t ing the wal l” .

5

§ Soreness of legs

When carbohydrates break down into your blood system with the absence of the oxygen, it will

produce lactic acid in the muscle. The faster you run, the more anaerobic lactic acid is generated.

When the lactic acid produced exceeds the speed with which the body can metabolize and remove

it, the lactic acid will begin to build up in the muscle. Excess lactic acid will interfere with the

muscles’ contraction, cause pain, and make the runners not able to increase the speed while

running. Generally it will take some time to metabolize the lactic acid. This may be the reason why

people start to run fast in the beginning but are not able to last for long. When the speed of lactic

acid produced is substantially equal to the rate that it can be metabolized and removed in the

muscle, it is called the Lactate Threshold. Tempo Run is the well-known training related to Lactate

Threshold.

§ Shortness of breath

Normally we don’t feel shortness of breath during long-distance running except in some

circumstances, for example, running through the traffic light while avoiding cars, etc. High-speed

running can only last for a short period of time, because the intensity eventually exceeds the

Lactate Threshold and goes into an anaerobic zone. Some people may think it does not matter

building up lactic acid in the muscles when the finish line is just minutes away. But in fact, related to

the Lactate Threshold, there is another important factor, called the "maximal oxygen uptake”

6

(VO2max). Physiology experiments have found that, in the case of a continuously accelerating pace,

the amount of oxygen absorbed by the body will eventually be stopped at a maximum amount.

Even after re-acceleration, the inhaled oxygen cannot be increased. Maximal oxygen uptake is one

factor that can determine an athlete's capacity to perform sustained exercise. In these studies, top

athletes’ maximal oxygen uptake can be doubled compared to ordinary people. Horses and some

kinds of dogs’ maximal oxygen uptake is several times more than in humans.

Tra ining

The des ign o f a runne r ’s t ra ining program is intende d to bui ld up the a bi l i ty to

res is t the above three fat igue factors . Enhanced a bi l i ty to res is t fat igue means

gett ing better body f itness , runn ing lon ger and faster. The phenome na of

carbohyd rate deplet ion , accum ulat ion o f lact ic ac id and ina dequate intake of

oxygen occur in dif ferent t ra ining c ircu mstances , which re present di f ferent pac e

zones . The f igure below dep icts a t ra in ing intens it ies pyramid by Dr. Jack

Danie ls . The top of the pyramid re presents higher t ra ining intens ity and faster

pace. The Green zo ne is easy exerc ise and rec overy pace. Speeding up wi l l enter

the ye l low zone , wh ich means lact ic ac id s tarts to accumulate. Moving up , i t wi l l

reach the V O2 Max zone in red：

7

The most famous ma rathon t ra in ing p ro grams: LSD, Tempo Run and Interval

t ra ining are based on these three t ra in ing intervals in thei r des ign. The core

concept o f ent i re t ra ining theory and t ra ining programs can be summar ized as

fol lows:

1 . There are several major reasons fo r fat igue in the d if fe rent types of exerc ise

intens ity .

2 . The training target should be set at a fatigue-prone zone in order to build up your fitness level

to better cope with fatigue. This target helps your body to become accustomed to the level of

fatigue or the intensity level of training. Rather than setting your training target at any random

zone, this mechanism can develop your fitness level more systematically and efficiently.

3 . The ability to resist fatigue is physical fitness. It eventually will be reflected in the performance

results.

§ LSD

Long s low d is tance (LSD) is a form of aerobic endu rance t ra ining in ru nning . I t

was promoted as a t ra ining method by Joe Henderso n in 1 969 and became one

of the c lass ica l t ra ining methods . LSD tra ining focuses on “ run s lowly” an d “ru n

a long d is tance” . I t is a most impo rtant t ra ining method f or beg inn ing maratho n

runne rs . Let ’s read the Ha l Higd on ’s 30- week marathon t ra ining guide that was

specia l ly des igned fo r the abso lute beg inner n ov ice. In that t ra ining gu ide,

there is neithe r tempo run no r an interv al ru n. Instead, he ar ranges an easy run

from Mo nday to F r iday an d LSD run on S aturday. Hal ment ioned that i f yo u miss

out on a specif ic day , d on ’t catc h up. H o wever, he suggests runners to fol low

the LSD instruct ions and imp lement the LSD run ser ious ly on each Saturday. The

runn ing d is tances are gradual ly in creased weekly , s tart ing a 5km run in the 1st

week, and gradua l ly increases to 32km in the 27 t h week. Most LSD ru ns are

des igned to ru n at an easy run pace. Ge neral ly , the easy run pace is s lower than

a race pace by 30 seconds to 1 minute p er km. Another ind icator of the easy run

is run ning at a ce rta in pace that you can s t i l l be ta lk ing with others . The

8

s implest way to ca lcu late the LSD pace i s use Pace Calculator in the Bryton

Cardio ser ies watches .

The other pu rpose o f LSD is to increase ut i l izat ion of fat for fue l by runn ing at a

s low pace. S ince the propo rt io n o f fat to consumed ca lo ries is re lat ive ly h igh

when run ning in a s lower pa ce, th is ena bles your body to bu rn fat t o supp ly

nutr ients . Sek iya Ryoich i , a wel l -known ult ra-marath oner , sa id , “ I o nly d rank

water without tak ing any f ood whi le ru n ning in a long d is tance race. T he

purp ose is to save carbo hydrates and c o nsume fat to supp ly nutr ients .”

I f you are t ry ing to lose weight or to s tay a good shape rather than to p ursue a

race speed, an LSD run wou ld be a suita ble way to reac h you r goal. T here a re

many advantages of an LSD run. F irs t ly , you can run lo nger dis tances . Second ly ,

your b ody wil l c onsume mo re fat . The to ta l fat consumed of a LSD run is even

higher than a fast and sh ort d is tance ru n. Thi rdly , s ince yo u are ru nning at an

easy pace, you may feel less s t ress for b oth your bo dy and m ind. Y ou can inv ite

your f r ien ds to ru n together. Th is can b e an in cent ive to make runn ing more

rout ine.

§ Tempo Run (TR)

Tempo run is hard to def ine. S ome peop le sa id “ the TR pace is to run at your

best for an hou r” , or “ the TR pace is s lo wer than a 5km run pace f or 10

seconds” . Others even sa id the TR pace i s a pace when you ru n a 1 5km o r ha lf -

marathon race. However, these descr ipt ions are con fus ing s ince what should be

the s tandard d is tance to p redict a TR pa ce? I t varies by the indiv idual.

In fact , the c oncept of tempo ru n is based on the amount of lact ic a c id

accumulat ion. The f igu re below demonst rates the re lat io nship between the

lact ic ac id levels and the exerc ise intens ity . Exerc is ing at a low intens ity level

prod uces very l i t t le lact ic ac id and the b ody can q uick ly c lear what is p rod uced

so that the volume of the lact ic a c id re mains at the same level . Once the

intens ity of exerc ise exceeds the lactate threshold, lact ic ac id can rapidly b ui ld

9

up in the b lo od an d muscles . Between the green and orange a reas , there is a

ye l low area that s tarts to produ ce s l ight ly higher lact ic ac id than the green a rea.

In this area, a person can exerc ise belo w the lactate threshold f or a lo ng t ime,

even for hou rs . This area is the most sui table intens ity level fo r a tempo ru n

t ra ining . I f you pra ct ice mo re tempo run s , the lact ic ac id p rodu ct ion cu rve wil l

move from the red l ine to b lue l ine. This ind icates your body has a better abi l i ty

to remove lact ic ac id acc umulat ion. Bes ides , at the same intens ity level , the

lact ic ac id level o f the b lue l ine is lower than that of the red l ine, so you w il l

run eas i ly or ru n faster with out feel ing t he muscles are t i red.

The level of lact ic a c id can be measured by us ing a b loo d test . However, we

don ’t measure it whenever we exerc ise . Instead, we can use the Pace Calcu lator

of the B ryton Card io watch to def ine the tempo ru n. For example, i f you are a

beg inning runne r an d you r pace is 6 m in /km in a 10km race. You r pa ce is a lm ost

equal to the pre dicted va lue that was ca lculated by the pace ca lcu lator (6:05

min/km). I f you a re an Olympics ma rath on athlete, you may run in an ho ur at a

half -ma rathon race an d you r pace is 2:5 0 min /km. The resu lt is s t i l l s imi lar to

the predicted va lue of the pace ca lculat or ( 2:5 1 min/km). The refore , f rom the

log ic of the pace ca lculato r, we can real i ze that the def in it io n of the tempo run

is “ to ru n at you r best fo r an hou r.” But , why we say the general def init ion of

10

tempo run is c onfus ing is because it doe sn ’t have a c lear specif icat io n o f the

level of the ru nners . For the p rofess iona l ru nner , the tempo ru n co uld use

his/her hal f -marath on pace s ince he/she can f in ish the ha lf -ma rathon in an h our .

However, general run ners may take 2 ho urs to f in ish a hal f -marath on race. In

this case, i f you implement a tempo run by us ing a tempo run pace as

determined a bove, the t ra in ing intens ity may be too low.

§ Interval training:

Interval training is a type of discontinuous physical training that involves a series of low- to high-

intensity exercise workouts interspersed with rest or relief periods. The high-intensity periods are

typically at or close to anaerobic exercise. Yasso 800s are a popular workout among runners. Here

is how to do Yasso 800s. Try to run 800 meters at fast speed, recover after each 800 meter by

jogging, then, start off your training with 6 to 10 repetitions. There are lot of articles discussing

Yasso 800s. If you are interested in this kind of training, you could browse this topic on the internet.

Take myself as an example to explain how it works. I run 10km in 50 minutes. In this case my tempo

run pace is 5:05 min/km and Yasso 800 pace is 4:45 min/km. Obviously, Yasso pace is much faster

than Tempo run. Therefore, under the Yasso pace, lactic acid will quickly accumulate so it cannot

last too long. I can only maintain this speed to run about 3km, afterward my pace will slow down. If

I purely run at Yasso pace till I am not able to hold up during the training, the training distance is

merely 3km. The effectiveness is limited. Since the purpose of training is to build up your fitness

level to cope with fatigue, the interval training - Yasso 800 method was created. The purpose of 400

meters recovery runs which come after each 800 meters sprint run is to let runner take a break. At

the end, 10 repetitions of Yasso runs at target pace total accounts for 800m*10 = 8km. My total

training under this intensity can be much longer than my original 3km. Training efficiency is better.

11

Intensity Measurement

In the F ITT t ra ining pr inciples ( f requenc y , intens ity , t ime , and type) , the

intens ity is the hardest to cont rol . The L SD, Tempo Run , an d Interval Ru n are

des igned for di f ferent level o f exerc ise intens ity . But , how d o we im plement a

t ra ining us ing a c orrect intens ity? General ly , when we imp lement an LSD

tra ining , we are interested in the co nsu mpt ion of tota l fat an d the rema ining

carbohyd rate in your body. When we d o a tempo ru n t ra ining , we want to kn ow

the lact ic ac id level in you r b lo od. Howe ver, when we im plement interval

t ra ining , we usual ly want to measure th e aerob ic capac ity . Unfo rtunately , i t is

only easy to measure these va lues in the experimental e nv iro nment . However,

we might have dif f icu lt ies to measure th em us ing a wearable product .

With the weara ble pro duct , there are two methods to measure t ra in ing

intens ity : pace an d heart rate. A heart rate watch is a bas ic to ol t o measure

t ra ining intens ity . However, us ing pace as an index to measure intens ity might

be more s tra ightf orward. Trad it io nal ly , i f you want to measure your ru n pace ,

you have to f ind a t rack and make sure y ou know how many k i lometers of that

t rack . In Ta iwan, the schoo l p laygroun ds are no rmal ly open to the pub l ic fo r

exerc ise . However, they don ’t set up d if ferent speed by each t rack . I f you want

12

to imp lement an interval run at a higher intens ity , you may have dif f ic ult ies to

do this an d you may even annoy othe r p eople. Fo rtunately , after the GPS sports

watch came to the market p lace, run ners can ca lcu late d is tance and pace at any

t rack eas i ly . You don ’t have to l im it you rself to run in the schoo l p laygroun d.

For you r da i ly t ra inings , as long as you r can cont rol your ru nning pace, yo ur

t ra ining wil l be ef fect ive and e ff ic ient . Even though you go t o an unfam il ia r

course, yo u can s t i l l ru n to yo ur target f in ish t ime or at your target pace

without d is turbing others . I f you a re pu rsuing a higher per forma nce, we h ighly

recommend yo u wear a GPS spo rts watch whi le you a re ru nning . Not on ly can

you reco rd yo ur t rack deta i ls , but a lso y ou can acqu ire a lot of va luable data

instant ly , such as d is tance, t ime , pace , c a lor ies , etc . Most impo rtant ly , one o f

the key features of Bryton Card io watch is the pace-re lated fu nct io ns . In the

next art ic le , we wil l intro duce mo re det a i led features of Bryton Cardio watch to

ass is t you to reach you r goal and e nhan ce your perfo rmance.