by Jonathan Santoro
You’re probably skiing too hard, and not hard enough.
Endurance training focuses on improving cardiac efficiency, VO2 Max, and lactate uptake. Active recovery is an equally important part of the process. Workouts require targeting specific heart rates each of which play into the stress and recovery cycle. Rate of perceived exertion (RPE) is a subjective way to estimate effort, and can be inaccurate even for experienced athletes. Training too hard when you need rest, and not hard enough otherwise, can lead to plateaus or worse—overtraining. A heart rate monitor is the most effective training tool in which an endurance athlete can invest to improve training quality.
I purchased my first heart rate monitor in 1987 almost immediately after I started my first job in a bike shop. It was a Polar Sports Tester and was practically the size of a deck of cards. Bulky with limited features by today’s standards, it changed the quality and effectiveness of my training. I no longer guessed at intensity based on perceived effort; instead I had real-time, data-driven feedback.
What once felt like a revolutionary tool has now evolved into wearable technology that does far more than simply track your heart rate. They can be programmed with custom workouts which will prompt you with the work and rest phases and provide feedback to let you know if you are going too hard or too easy. Keeping track of reps while completely hypoxic can be harder than one might think. You can focus on the targets, and leave the “administration” to the device.
Modern HRMs can estimate training zones or allow you to upload your own. This helps keep you on track to assure you hit high enough heart rates for intensity work. Perhaps more importantly, it keeps you honest about low enough heart rates for proper aerobic conditioning.
In addition to helping with daily training, they use sophisticated analytics to interpret that data and present actionable insights. These devices go beyond simple heart rate tracking and use advanced metrics such as:
Training Load and Tolerance: Algorithms can assess the cumulative load placed on the body over time, helping to determine whether an athlete is training at an optimal volume or if they risk overtraining.
Recovery Scores: Based on Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and heart rate trends, devices can provide a recovery score, indicating whether your body is in a state of readiness for another intense session or if you need more recovery time.
VO2 Max Estimation: Many modern heart rate monitors estimate VO2 max, a key metric for assessing cardiovascular fitness.
While wrist-based heart rate sensors have become increasingly popular due to their convenience, chest strap monitors remain the gold standard for accuracy.
Chest Strap Monitors: Chest strap monitors are worn around the ribcage and use electrocardiography (ECG) sensors to measure the electrical signals generated by the heart. These devices are highly accurate because they directly measure the heart’s electrical activity, providing precise readings of your heart rate, even during high-intensity or interval-based workouts.
Wrist Sensors: On the other hand, wrist sensors, which typically use photoplethysmography (PPG) technology, measure blood flow through the skin to estimate heart rate. While convenient, wrist sensors are less reliable, especially during intense activities which can jar the device. Movements and muscle contractions can interfere with the sensors’ ability to measure heart rate accurately, leading to fluctuations or delays in data.
Takeaway: For performance-minded athletes who participate in dynamic activities, chest strap monitors offer a clear edge. Spring for the chest strap, they are well worth the $50 to $75.
One final benefit to note is behavioral, which contributes to the athlete mindset: always approach every workout with a plan or goal—even if that goal is simply an easy/fun ski. All training should fit into the macro/meso/micro cycles of your periodized training, or at the very least not be detrimental to it. The heart rate monitor will keep you on track and inform you about your training load.
Jonathan Santoro is a former elite cyclist-turned-skier. He’s a USSA L100 ski coach working with TUNA’s Junior Comp program. When he’s not being blamed by his athletes for the weather, wax, or just about anything, he’s also a dad, husband, and cloud platform architect.
