Hi all,
been on my current schedule for a few weeks now, gradually upping my time/mileage and a bit concerned I’m going too easy as my pace, for a given HR, is not significantly improving.
I tend to run twice a week for around 1:00-1:20, aiming to keep my HR sub 150bpm (estimated aerobic threshold, based on lactate threshold treadmill test) and my pace maintains around 6:30-6:40 per KM. I also do a 2:00 run at this pace on a Sunday. For these runs I’m not out of breath, and barely break a sweat, so am now worried I could be training harder and getting more benefit. I once considered doing Maffetone training, but at my age (43) I’d be ‘running’ at 137 BPM, which would be impossible!<div>
</div><div>As an indication of my max HR, i recently
ran a 5km park run in 23:18 and my HR sat at around 180-185 for the entire run, so I’m wondering if my training HR zones should be higher than the 150 limit I have set?
I am using a garmin instinct with a garmin chest band, so happy with the accuracy of the HR.
any ideas/thoughts welcome, thanks!</div>
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Comments
Runner's World's Training Pace Calculator (runnersworld.com)
and McMillan's
McMillan Running - The World's Best Running Calculator
they will give you a good idea of suitable training paces.
I would recommend that you race once a month, various distances. Races are good speed sessions and also will give you good feedback that you're still improving so you'll then know that your training is doing what you want it to do.
With the long run you could do two thirds at current HR pace and then increase pace for the last third.
I train to % MHR. Using your figures with a max of 195, just adding on a few beats as you probably didn't feel like throwing up 70-75% would be 137-146 so you're maybe doing your long run at circa 80% MHR.
But there are many different training methods even using an HRM, so it's just a matter of finding what you like and suits you. IMHO training at a lower HR would improve your fitness more, Maffetone is the simplest method, but you would have to go through the initial stages of being very, very patient. There's a couple of runners on my training thread and their MAF training pace is now around 2 minutes a mile faster than when they started and they were already runners when they started.