50 and 70 per cent of your maximum heart rate. When you exercise at this low intensity, your body draws energy from fat. As your heart rate goes up, more energy comes from carbs. So it seems logical that to lose fat you should keep your heart rate low

heart rate. Your easy and long training runs can be much slower – they’re often just time on your feet. Don’t worry too much about pace – what is key, is the effort you put in. Pick some races at weekends, relax, make sure you’ve got enough breakfast

. The last physiological variable to adapt is your sweat rate, which takes eight to 14 days to reach maximum efficiency. Other, faster responders include increased plasma volume, decreased sodium concentration in the blood, decreased heart rate while running

sluggishness at the beginning of my long runs? • What exactly causes a reduction in resting heart rate? • Do I need a rest? • Is this tiredness a result of working hard, or over-doing it? • How hard does hard training need to be? • Routines

and run whichever way your impulses suggest.Let your heart beat freely. The heart-rate monitor is a great training tool, but some runners become so dependent on it that they forget what it means to run by feel. Others compute their maximum heart rates too

think the "fat-burning" low-intensity zone is a myth, and that high-intensity exercise burns more total calories, and more fat, per unit of time. The most important factor is the distance you run. However, running at around 70% of maximum heart rate

great aid to motivation. The information you record is up to you, but normally includes training route, speed, distance, the weather and how you felt during and after the run. Some people also note what shoes they wore, their maximum heart-rate and how

up the back of the screen evenly, usually with a bright blue glow). We reviewed 8 good running watches in April 2002:Adidas FX100 £80Adidas SF100 £50Nike Triax 300 £99.99Nike Triax S Series Stamina 100-lap £99.99Polar S610 HRM £180 (with heart-rate

Train too hard, and you'll probably burn out or get injured. Train too gently and you simply won't make the most of your potential (but hey, that's okay).Training by heart rate is one good way of getting it right (see the links at the bottom

up of two five-minute runs at a faster pace, each framed by five minutes of easy jogging. Once this becomes easy, try one 10-minute interval at threshold pace – this is about 85 per cent of your maximum heart rate, where you can utter a few words