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Reading a book by Dr Christiaan Barnard on maintaining a healthy heart.
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OP does Barnard back up what he says with evidence? The Daily Mail article surveyed 40 elites. Not the biggest survey ever carried out either. Those that had the evidence of potential permanent scarring would have had that before the race unless there happened the most unlikely coincidence of that one race doing the damage. So take with a pinch of salt (maybe not though) what you read into these things
While there is quite possibly a level at which you could do more harm than good to your heart, my personal opinion is that you are unlikely to do that. As Philpub says, you'd have to override the central governor to quite an extent - plus, I think you'd have to repeatedly do that and I suspect other systems (joints, muscles, etc) would start breaking down before you had a chance to do too much damage to your heart!
A common feature on the forums is people finding that when you switch to HR training, you have to drop your pace by quite a bit - that suggests there's a lot of runners out there training well above 75% MHR fairly frequently - and presumeably without causing cardiac problems.
At my peak my resting HR was down to 25 bpm and I could also hit 200 bpm at around the same period. Now its more like 38 bpm at rest and 178 bpm max.
🙂
Wow!
There must be a lot of people having heart attacks at their local 5K then!
... if you are not used to it.
I guess there are not many people hitting 90% at your local 5K who are not experienced and have not been training to compete/achieve a PB. This guy runs for fun and health benefits.
When i first started running, and before i got a HR monitor, i was regularly running at over 90%.
I think if you build up solidly and train your heart regularly there's no reason why you shouldnt be able to run 80%-90% of your heart rate on a run.
I think that unless you're told by a professional what your boundaries are through extensive medical testing - it's all a pinch of salt anyway...
I completely agree with the below statement
Well, the zone you calculate maps exactly on to the age formula calculation, which is more unusual than you might think. So pointing out the flaws in the age formula is reasonable on a heart rate thread.
If Barnaard is correct, are footballers at risk? In a game, some of the players are going to be spend a lot of time over 75% and also quite some time over 90%.
Keeping any exercise to below 75% sounds like a difficult thing to do, for sports where the participant is phsically active.
As Kittenkat hinted at a while ago, these forums allow the possibility for people to display their general lack of knowledge to a wide audience of people who are less than discerning about the quality of the information they are receiving.
Each individual has a different heart and it differs from those of people who appear to be like them. It is possible to make average statements, like the MaxHR formula that King K quoted, but unless you have had a very detailed analysis of your heart (ECG at VO2Max, or better, 3D heart scans), you can only make guesses about what your heart is like. Plenty of people deviate (widely) from average.
Also, a working heart is not just a muscle performing valve operations. It is also wired up with a very complex electrical/ nervous system. Many heart problems relate to a faulty nervous system. Basic point, if anyone has some specific concerns about their heart, don't take advice off the Internet. Go see a cardiologist in person.
For those with a general interest, read from a variety of sources. As a 44yo man with high levels of cholesterol (LDL and HDLs), I have an annual heart check up in a sports lab. The doctors take pleasure in seeing me run to 100% of my heart capacity and I don't have to sign any wavers about the damage this will cause me. In marathons I run an average HR of around 89-90% of maximum and two days ago whilst running an interval effort at 28C temperatures, my HR hit 180 of my maximum 182 beats. I feel fine now. Someone else attempting a comparable effort could have dropped down dead on the spot. It might even be me next week.
No one has any guarantees in this business of living. So live well my friends.
Well said Tricky!
I need updating in that case - does this mean you're running again? I mean, clearly you are, but what's the score?
Hey Phil.
Well I had the meniscus op 6 weeks ago and seem to be recovering well. I did do a 12km run exactly a week after the op - took it very easy - and had no ill effects. Surgeon said to 'be guided by pain' when exercising, so am staying inside those limits. Not run any great distances or gone for more than 80 minutes.
Have bought myself a very nice race bike and just received the cycling shoes today. This is going to form the backbone of my cardio-vascular training from now on. The plan is to dramatically reduce weekly running mileage (did nearly 4.000kms last year) to make life easier for my knee(s). So I am planning to only run max 3x/ week, probably with 3 cycling and swim/gym sessions.
Inevitably I will move on to some other competitive discipline than just running marathons, but i don't know what yet. Triathlons are an obvious possibility but something in me shies away from (my perceived) ostentatiousness of it.
Anyway, back to the thread. My full intention is to get my HR above 90% of max at least 3 times a week. The body responds very well when it is progressively adapted to train at various levels of heart workrate intensity: 60-70% for recovery, 70-80% for endurance, 80-90% for strengthening and 90-95% (or higher, but usually with either experience or coaching oversight), for cardio-vascular capacity maximisation.
The worst thing you can do for your heart is sit on your ass and eat crap everyday. Believe that. The rest of what I said, check other sources.
Good stuff! It's easy to take for granted the idea of "cross-training" being a good thing, blah-de-blah, but when you're forced to put your body through it (because of injury or whatever) it really helps you appreciate it first hand.
My training log is telling me I managed a paltry 103 running miles last year (83 of which was in December, after my hip op). But I also managed 3,343 bike miles, which, together with lots of gym time, clearly got me into better aerobic shape than ever because within 4 months of getting back to running I was back in PB shape. Not bad after a 12 month lay-off. So yeah, get your heart rate up whichever way you can and see where the new activity takes you. Maybe see you in a duathlon one day. (I will always swim like a brick.)