Heart rate monitor training

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  • I had tried a self test and got up to max 192. I calculate it using the WHR formula. I have now joined a local running group so i treat that as my trmpo run. with the remainder being easy runs.
  • bb you should probably try at least 2 hard sessions a week. what is your speed at 192 HR? and what is your resting HR?
  • speed at 192 is c6.0mph. Resting heart rate reduced from 62 7 weeks ago to 57.
  • Paininthefoot

    I was doing about 30-40 miles a week, but took advantage of all the easy miles to increase my weekly mileage and now do 50-60 miles per week.

    I guess that the more aerobic training you do the more you push your body to make the physiological changes it needs to make. The more aerobic training you do, the more you push your body to make the adaptations it needs to make I suppose.

    My long runs over recent weeks have been in the 15-18 mile range, up to about 2hours 30 minutes or so. I tell myself that otherwise I'd just be at home in front of the tv.

    I haven't really done a lot of speedwork to be honest, not yet anyway, I go out with my club to the track on a Monday night, although I've missed a couple of sessions due to work over the last few weeks. And again, on Thursday night, which I look at as a Threshold Floor run. All my own training is then at Recovery Ceiling pace. Race Pace for my last Half Marathon was 8.09min/mile but I took it really easy and could have done about 7.30min/mile if I made more of an effort. I haven't really pushed myself in any race recently, and I'm curious as to what I could do myself.

    Heres a link to my Motionbased On-Line logbook if you want to have a look at my runs. Running Log

    I probably need to do some speedwork to make the most of it, I'm taking it easy this week as I'm running the North Downs Run which is 30k of hills and 80% track and trail I believe, so probably not a good race to judge what a potential road race pace might be.

    I do feel stronger though, when I do a speed session, so I guess something is working ;-)

    Dex.

  • Dex,

    Thanks for that. I guess if you can average 8:15 min/miles at 70% you easily be able to better that half marathon pace.

    I've just found this and he's suggesting that if you can run 8:00 min/miles you can do 6:30 min/miles for 5k so sounds like you could go quite a lot faster.

    That North Downs 30k looks a tough one good luck with it.

  • Wore my HR monitor at a race at the w/e. Surprised myself by maintaining an ave HR of 171 over 39min. Not bad for a 41yo pretty hard going for the last few min!
    Based on this I estimate my LT to be around 165, so I now need to adjust my training paces.
  • bb so your 70% max is 151.5 yes? The fact that your resting heartrate has dropped is a good sign of improved C.V fitness. Maybe worth trying another max HR soon. In theory this shouldn't change too much I would also expect that 6mph (unless uphill) wouldn't give a max HR.
  • groovy - yes that is the 70% number I am working to. What do you think is the best way for me to do a self test on a tredmill to redetermine my max HR?
  • I'm not brilliant at these I have to be honest. If your on a treadmill then the best way is to run a speed session. So warm up as usual then do three speed sessions for 2 mins each with 45 second recovery between each. Speed will depend on you but if you get 192 at 6mph I'd try 7 or 7.5mph.The trick is to be absolutely knackered at the end of the 3rd session. If your monitor will record your HR to check later then you wont need to worry about keeping a check on it yourself. If not then look at the thing pretty frequently especially during the 3rd rep. Also keep an eye on it for around 30 secs after the final rep as HR may still go up after you finish. If you feel that you could have done more then you could try another rep or twoo or just redo the test after a couple of days at higher speed
  • Groovy

    Many thanks will try this at the weekend when refreshed. Did a hard run last night.
  • I would appreciate some advice about racing with a HRM.

    Since the winter I have spent several months base training, and I have found that my heart rate in training has dropped considrably, and I am now running at the same pace as a year ago, but with a rate 15 bpm lower. This in in training.

    I have run two half marathons recently and I have found two things:

    1 - I am racing at a far higher heart rate than in training. Even in a gentle jog at the start to get warmed up before the race my heart rate is probably 10-15 bpm faster than normal. This repeats itself in the race when I am running at a much higher bpm than in training. Yet I seem to have no ill effects, I can maintain the pace and rate fairly consistently (although I have slowed a little in the later stages that was because in both races the last few miles were into a head wind). So should I race at a slower pace, or not worry that my heart rate is so much higher?

    2 - I do not train at the heart rates I achieve in races. So should I do some training at these higher rates to improve even more?
  • DR - someone more knowledgeable than me will be along to give you a good answer. I have been doing HR training using the Compleat Idiot method now for a couple of months, doing ALL my runs @ 70%.

    Yesterday I knocked 30 seconds off my PB, av HR for the race was 91%!

    Not sure if this is a good thing or not mind you....
  • DR/Hendo. Probably wouldn't worry too much about heartrate in races as I'm sure you want to achieve as good a time as possible. We all learn about going off too fast and dying towards the end of the race and learn from it. Hertrates are almost certainly going to be higher in races due to the adrenalin rush of compeating
  • I tried a max test at the weekend. Cor how difficult was it. Previous max was 189 but I am sure I can go higher. However really struggled and couldn't get any higher than 182.

    any suggestions anyone?
  • Hi - a kind person just pointed me in the direction of this thread, I'd previously asked a question on heart rates in the Beginners forum. You can read that here:

    http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/forummessages.asp?dt=4&UTN=84793&V=6&SP=

    ...has details of me and how I run if you need them.


    I'd like to know if my max heart rate of 226 is:

    a) Possible. It seems way too high compared to other people, and the ala the forumalas
    b) Indicating a health issue. Is is possible to get this high, but only if your heart's about to stop
    c) Wrong, and my HRM is not reporting correctly.


    Previously my MHR had been 218, and before that 202. I achieved my 226 reading by doing a 5 mile and sprinting the last 200-odd metres. I'm 30 years old and have been running for a coupla of months. I run 3 times a week and do a 3 mile at 8 minutes a mile, and 5 and 7 miles at around 8:30-9 minutes a mile.

    I don't run with anybody else that uses a HRM, and although I run in a city centre I'm not sure whether it's near any overheard power lines or not. My brother, who has been running for about a decade, measured his MHR at 202 at the same time I got my initial 202.

    Thanks for any help.
  • Adam
    Does seem high but there are sigificant variations in max HRs.

    A bit of common sense. What is your resting heart rate, what is your HR when on a longish run and what is it when you do a hard run. It should ne fairly obvious if 226 was just an abnormal reading.

    Do 4 or 5 sprints up a hill and you will get close to your max
  • Thanks for your response redkite.

    My resting heart rate is 52. On 5 and 7 mile runs, 8:30 a mile, I average around 170 with up to 185 on hills. Working hard on a fast section I'm up to around 195 but I can't sustain this pace for very long (maybe half a mile) and still have enough energy to complete the run.

    As I'm a novice when it comes to running and heart rates I can't really apply common sense, or any sense at all, to know if 226 is obviously an abnormal reading based on those figures, as I don't really know what to expect of my heart rates. All I know is that each time I've hit a new max in the last 6 weeks I have felt like I'm pushing it harder than previously, so my percieved work rate has felt harder as I see new maxes.

    To me it does seem high based on my limited knowledge, so I was after some more experienced opinions - thanks for yours.
  • Adam - back at home now so can answer more fully - are you/were you sure that the reading was consistent and accurate? What I mean by this is that sometimes after I set out and before my chest gets sweaty (and hence improves the contact between strap and skin), my monitor will often read high. I know it's high because I'm beginning to learn what effort = what heart rate. A quick wiggle around of the strap and the true reading appears and becomes constant.

    Keep trying and get an idea of what your monitor should read at perceived efforts. Obviously with a pinch of salt because perceived does not necessarily equal actual! Then try a max HR test again.

    Lots of people on here swear by the book "heart monitor training for the compleat idiot" by John Parker. This is what he has to say about Max HR:

    Your MHR has nothing to do with ability, nothing to do with fitness. It's a matter of genetics and cardiac efficiency. I've known former world record holder with a MHR under 160.. ..on the other hand I've done training runs with average runners who were still able to converse while topping 200!

    I think that may ease your concerns?! One other thing that he says is that your MHR does not change, perhaps only a couple of beats as you age. So I would suggest that you just need to test your max more scientifically.

    Hope this helps.
  • Mr BumpMr Bump ✭✭✭
    A quick question (I hope).

    Over the last 7 weeks, all of my runs have been what Dex calls "Recovery Ceiling" (which for me is <150HR(70%HRR/WHR). I am running 4 times a week, 30 miles per week in total.

    In that time (on my 5 mile test course) I have reduced my pace from 9:49/mile to 8:38/mile.

    Where do you recommend I go from here?

  • Now I have a question for the HR team :)

    I often play 5 a side football for an hour on a Wednesday. I'm at the stage where I'm going to add a 'hard' run into my schedule (ie 85%). Conscious as I am of the hard/easy principle, I want to make sure I'm not doing two hard sessions in a row.

    Now, a certain Mr Parker says the following about cross training with other sports:

    "A cross training day by definition uses little or no glycogen in the primary sport muscle cells and thus - like a day off - is simply counted as a recovery day."

    Now this may be true for, say, weight training or swimming or cycling. But 5 a side is a high impact, high stress sport, that certainly doesn't feel easy! Any advice or suggestions?

    Cheers
  • Mr Bump - luckily I've just been scanning the book myself (can you tell?!)

    I'd say add a AT run (85%) once and then twice a week. Parker says recovery runs get longer and hard runs get shorter. I guess when you're at the place you are, you can just adapt a training schedule for a half mara or whatever to fit in with the HRM principles.

    I am no expert but seems logical to me?
  • @Hendo - thanks for all you effort, that's a big help.

    Each time I've hit a max it's been at the end of a run, so hopefully the monitor will have settled down by then and my heart will have been working consistently hard for a while.

    Somebody else has recommended that book, so perhaps I'll take a look.

    I agree that I need to monitor my heart rates more closely over a longer period, I was just interested if anybody had come across a rate so high before. It does feel wrong, but I'm sure I'll be able to judge things better as I progress. For now it's all about putting in the miles for my first half marathon in October!
  • <<tumbleweed blows across Hendo's question>>

  • Mr BumpMr Bump ✭✭✭
    Hendo - Thanks for the tip. I got a few PBs earlier this year having done one threshold (85%) run per week with all other running at 70-75%. Now I feel fully recovered from FLM having done these 7 weeks of base training, I think this is the way to go.

    As for your question, I would not treat your football as a recovery run. I would want to do a recovery run or rest day after the day you play football.
  • Heyup,

    Had a week off last week as I had a stag-do in Latvia, and bar getting shot at with real guns by bouncers running out of a cheap strip joint that we got conned into going in, all is well..no holes in me (or any of the party) at least.

    Managed a 2 hour run on the 18th at about 11min/miles covering just under 11 miles. I was very chuffed. All of it was at about 75%, but toward the end it was climbing, but by then I just wanted to get home.

    Bit put off by a niggle on the outside of my left knee though, its been there since I started back up again about 5 weeks ago. Been reading all sorts about ITBS, so I thought change my 2-3 yr old adrenaline GTSs and book an appointment with the physio. I'll see how the new shoes react with my knee, and hopefully the physio won't say I'll need it amputating :-).

    Its not stopping me running to be honest, just a niggle, and after about 20 mins its there for a while, sometimes goes away for bit, but then back, specially on downhills.

    If that sorts itself out, I'm hoping to have a mission of running an hour a day for the month of July without missing a day. Maybe long-ones at the weekend, maybe not. If I can do that, then I reckon I should be well on the way to getting the min/mile down to 10 @ 75% HR. Fingers crossed.

    Hope yer all well!

    LM
  • Oh...and I'm about 12lbs lighter :-D
  • Bleeding battery dead on the chest strap already :-(...not really happy!

    Anyway, went out without it, and ended up running a 7 mile 10min/miler. Pretty good, but wish the frikkin thing hadn't run out of juice.

    How long does your HRM last?
  • Mr BumpMr Bump ✭✭✭
    The last battery on my HRM, used 4 times a week, lasted about 6 months.
  • Advice needed please? When running speed sessions like today I have real probs with HR. Today was 10X 400m @ 85%. 1st 200m or so of each rep was working up to that % second 200m and I was way over at 95%. Does any body else do this kind of training and how much do they try to keep to their correct %HR. I know 1 thing it bl**dy knackered me
  • Hi guys

    Just thought I'll let you know how the HRM trainings going.


    Since started at run/walk 3.2mph at 70%, I can now manage 3.5mph running at 70%, the change is in 3/4 months period, so slowly but surely I'm getting there.
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