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New to running

RocinanteRocinante ✭✭
in Beginners
I've just started running recently and have been building up very slowly because I have achilles tendon issues. I'm a 44 year old male, main sport is cycling so wanted to add another sport to help boost my fitness in general.

I'm currently doing 4.5km distances and hoping that my next run will be just over 5km!

I am monitoring my heart rate and I am finding this quite high - averaging 155 or so. Is this too high? Will I adapt and my heart rate start to drop eventually (as it has done with cycling) or is this too fast for my current state and should I reduce the pace - which is difficult as I am already running quite slowly - around 6.20/km?

Thoughts /advice welcome please.
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Comments

  • northernsoul_mannorthernsoul_man ✭✭✭
    Hi Rocinante,
    A very warm welcome to running, your doing really well, your cycling will help your fitness evolve it's hard at first I've been jogging for about 5 months, I'm 55 and very new to this as not done anything like this before, used to cycle when I was younger but I jogg using HR zones, doing 3 easy days in zone 2 followed by 1 hard day in zone 3/4 and a little in zone 5, so 5 months in and my HR has settled, as you say really high at the start but my easy days are a little longer jog for maybe 1 1/2 hours and my uptempo harder day is around 45 mins so up the intensity and lower distance.
    Not sure if this is how everyone does it, but low intensity Zone 2 is good for aerobic conditioning and higher intensity is good for anaerobic but try to do most training in lower zones sort of an 80/20 mix.
    But let others comment, but I think it's normal to start off running with a higher HR and as you your body gets used to running your HR will come down.
    Paul.
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  • SteveForbesSteveForbes ✭✭
    I am so new to running that all this talk of zones, hr zones and aerobic conditioning is a little frightening..
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  • Cassandra_2189Cassandra_2189 ✭✭
    Hi,

    To determine your ideal running heart rate, you’ll first need to calculate your maximum heart rate.

    You can do this by a mathematical calculation to get a fairly good idea. Subtract your age that is 44 from 220 which is 176. That is maximum heart rate.

    Now 50(88) to 85% (149.60)of 176 is considered safe heart rate while you run. So yeah 155 is a little higher and you need to sow down on your pace.

    You can reduce pace by 50% and monitor heart rate till it is in range using various running Apps or fitness trackers or smartwatches and then gradually increase pace by 20%.
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  • northernsoul_mannorthernsoul_man ✭✭✭
    Hi all,
    Just checked my HR and over 7 1/2 miles this morning my average HR was 149 and my max for the session was 159, my max HR is set at 168 but this was my uptempo session lasting 1 hr 18 mins with my pace at 10:20 min/mile pace and my age is 55, been jogging now for nearly a year and really enjoying it, but my next 3 sessions will be in HR zone 1 (62 - 68% of max HR) or around 5-6 miles a session, so nice and easy.
    Not sure if this is ok only I have been doing it on my own since starting and have been injury free which at my age is a bonus, not done anything competitively just keeping it nice and easy for now waiting for the warmer weather but the last couple of days have been nice for jogging.

    Paul.
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