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How to lower heart rate
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Started running about 3months ago in preparation for a charity 10k. I'm reasonably fit by playing other sports and occassionally doing strength training.
My training wasnt very organised and just involved runs between 3k up to about 12k about 3 times a week, running them fast enough to leave me pretty tired at the end of them.
I've been using a heart rate monitor on a reccomendation from a friend. My resting heart rate is 54, my max is 204, so am I right in thinking I shouldn't really be exercising above 160?
Well almost as soon as I set off I'm up to 170 and within a few kms I'm working hard to keep it below 185.
I ran my 10k yesterday in 1hour flat- my pb set on a flat trail was 57:38. All the way around I was out of breath and panting and it was a real effort to make it round without stopping. The problem is as soon as there is a slight incline my heart rate rockets above 190 then I spend the flat and downhill sections trying to get it back down rather than maintaining my pace.
Just wondering what the best way to get my heart rate down is? I know that I should be incorporating a long slow run into my training but even when going as slow as possible it's still above what my working heart rate should be.
Any ideas? Should this I be even thinking about this at this stage?
I have a reasonable understanding of aerobic/anerobic systems so I understand it's not doing me much good running at that level for a prolonged period of time but I'm just struggling to improve it.
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Comments
Its a common problem to find it hard to keep you HR down below 70% when you first start out. Only lots of time spent running an low HRs will see you improve. In the mean time you could use below 75% as your target.
... so am I right in thinking I shouldn't really be exercising above 160?
Note that while most of your runs should be below 70% (or 75%) you also want to do some quicker stuff where you aim to stay above 85%.
If you are aiming for a PB then you are likely to be running at a high rate of effort and will be breathing hard, but much of your running should be at a level where your breathing, and probably consequently your heart rate, are comfortable. You should be working but you shouldn't be out of breath.
After that it is about time spent exercising, slowly and steadily your resting heart rate will lower, your ability to run at higher rates of effort will increase.
I suppose it's just counter intuitive to run slower to speed up but I'm willing to trust it will work! I'll probably ditch my GPS app as well and just focus on hr rather than time.
The only way I know as far as I know is to keep exercising and let nature work.,