I've been running off and on for a long time mostly long distance and slow. I have never really trained with a heart rate monitor as my heart rate is wacky compared to most of the general formulas such as the max being 220-age or even using multiplier of .7 for those of us over 40.
My max is approx 195-205 from field testing with Lisa and results on some nauseating hills recently.
The problem is I usually run at approx 170-175 which is comfortable (if I have a long, slow warm-up)and can maintain it for an hour + but.... it reaches that point rather quickly on some days and then I cannot maintain that rate. On those day after 30 minutes I cannot maintain an easier pace at the rate of 165 even. And to make matters worse I cannot run much slower. It becomes an uncomfortable shuffle and I could probably walk faster.
I would like to train with the heart rate monitor to improve my running as I've become the poster child for "train slow, race slow". Any tips or others with this problem?
Forums » Teams, Groups, and Events » Las Vegas Half Marathon
Heart Rate Issues
(5 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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Tina,
This is an interesting question. First off, I'll admit that I'm not a certified coach or medical professional and so please take my advice for what it's worth... not much.
But it seems to me that that is an awfully high heart rate if it's your common running heart rate. I would expect that as you continue to train that your average heart rate would begin to come down. Conditioning should make your heart rate respond by coming down for comparable work efforts.
One question I would ask is, are you reporting an AVERAGE heart rate of 170? Or are you simply stating that "when you look down at your heart rate, it seems like it often says 170-175". Your heart rate monitor should be able to tell you your average heart rate for a workout... and I guess I'd expect it to be lower for light effort workouts.
That being said, if your field test showed a max heart rate of ~200... then 170 is basically 85%... which is pretty high, and I'd expect a conditioned age-group athlete to be able to sustain that level of effort for about 30-60 minutes... which it sounds like you are seeing in your training.
If you are really working out at 85% max, then you are probably simply pushing too hard. And maybe you need to integrate some lower heart rate training into your plan. If you can't keep your heart rate down when running, then maybe you should switch to cycling.
As I understand the current recommendations, you want to do the majority of your base work at approximately 70% of your max heart rate... in your case about 140bpm. You should reserve 85% efforts for "race simulations" and "break through" workouts.
You may also want to introduce "interval training" where you push to 85%-90% of max for only about 30 seconds, and then take a recovery of about 90 seconds or until your heart rate returns to 60-70%; and repeat these kinds of intervals over the course of a 30 minute workout. These interval workouts allow your heart to build strength up so that you will eventually find that today's hard efforts turn into efforts that can be sustained at 70-80% maxHR... instead of 80-90%. Personally, I think interval sessions are much easier to control on a bike (like a spin class where the instructor is specifically working on an interval session). Although my Yazzo 800 training and other running speed sessions are a form of HR interval training.
To summarize, I'd suggest the following:
1) If you "new" to running then this high heart rate is probably just an indicator of lack of run conditioning. As you become more conditioned to running, you'll see this average HR come down. And in the mean time, slow down... you don't want to push too hard.
2) If you see this kind of high HR for all cardio vascular workouts, then it seems to me that you want to work on general cardio conditioning, and as such you still need to slow down, and you may want to consider structuring a program around swimming, cycling, and walking (and some running) so that you can more easily keep your HR in the 70% range.
And by all means, please get professional advice if you have any concerns.
Good luck!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Tina,
I know that you are very fit. You have demonstated that in cycling and triathlon. I think that starting too fast may be contributing to an elevated heart rate. Once you jack up your heart rate, it's hard to level off and bring it back down.
Heart zones are sports specific, according to Sally Edwards, http://heartzones.com/ Cycling is different than running. Most people have a higher HR Max running than cycling because you are in constant motion. There is no coasting, like on a bike.
I would suggest extending your warm up to about 15 minutes. Try to gently warm up and take your time getting into the aerobic zone. Once you have warmed up, I would try to keep the heart rate below 170. If your Max HR is 205, then 70-80% of that would be the aerobic zone for you. That means 143-172. If your HR creeps up, take a walk break for 1 minute or so. This is a great way to build aerobic fitness, that is needed for distance running.
Here are a couple of articles about heart rate and training zones: http://sweat365.com/library/articles/determining-max-hr/ http://sweat365.com/library/articles/heart-rate-zones/
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm no expert at all on this . . . but anecdotally, I agree 100% with Lisa's opening paragraph - the fitter I am, the quicker I find my HR responds on the way up. And this is more pronounced if I go out fast & sudden. Also, the fitter I am, the quicker it returns to 'normal' when I stop.
But, here's the thing. If I do go out fast, and spike up to, say, 90-100%, then even if I slow down, it does tend to stay high for longer than I'd have expected - even if I back right off from 'hard' to 'easy' on the pace. AND, it takes much longer to recover on my breathing.
The odd thing is, that if I put on a hard spurt mid-session (once I'm really well warmed up), then the 'up' response is still quick, but the 'down' recovery to whatever I was at before is also much quicker. Like I said - I'm no expert, so I've no idea why this is!
Posted 1 year ago # -
It is good to get this feedback. It really makes me look at how I have been training. Brad and Lisa, you are right, it would benefit me to spend more time training at a lower heart rate and take more time warming up. The time I have done this I seem to feel a lot stronger for a longer period of time. I think I just get mental about running at even a slower pace.
Hobbes, my heart rate mimics yours! I didn't really think that at an increased fitness level your heart rate would respond quick on the way up also, but it really does seem to be the case.Posted 1 year ago #
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