Today was my first run that I tried to stay within a target heart rate zone. It was an easy two miles so I wanted to stay within the aerobic zone, which for me is 134-153 beats per minute.
I set my Forerunner 305 to alert me if I went outside of the zone. I reached the proper range pretty quick, but soon found it hard to stay under 153 bpm. My heart rate would get too high and I would have to walk in order to get it back down.
I was frustrated at how slow I had to go in order to keep my heartbeat within that range. My average pace was 13:46 per mile. The last time I ran that slow it was rainy and icy. Before that it has been a long time. I knew that I could be running the whole thing, but I wanted to stay within range and get a good feel for what the range was like.
I am going to be running according to heart rate and allow that to dictate my pace rather than just running at a target pace. It is going to take some patience to run that slow, but I have read the benefits will be worth it. As my heart and lungs get stronger, I will be able to run at a faster pace while in that same heart rate zone.
After the run I felt like I could keep on running for hours. When I slowed to a walk in order to get my heart rate down I was not even out of breath. This run felt really good. I just hope that I can continue in the proper heart rate range while training over the next few months... and hopefully it will make me faster by the time the Broad Street Run comes around.
2 years ago
7 comments:
you will get faster! you are building your base and you need a strong foundation to build your speed on. i imagine it can be very frustrating, but you will see improvements. have patience and hang in there.
I turned my beeps off, because they were driving me crazy. Then I ran a HM next to a guy that his garmin was beeping every 10 seconds. I had to kick it to get a little separation.
Good luck with the HR - I have been trying to do this too, to a degree. I really need to establish a solid baseline for my max HR though, not sure I trust the 220 - age thing...
I have heard the the 220 - age formula is not always correct. I want to actually measure mine, but might not have time until later next week.
Everything I have read says that training based on heart rate is the best way to see progress, so hopefully this works well for me!
I need to do a lot more research in this area, as I'm curious about the possible benefits. I'm happy where I am in my training but I guess I'm always open to try something new--or at least learn about something new.
Where are you getting your info?
I have seen a few books in Barnes and Noble... but all my research is done using google searches and reading as much as I can find.
The is also a lot of stuff on runnersworld.com
I'm completely frustrated w/ the HR zones. I'm the same way on decreasing my HR to an aerobic zone. I have to slow down, way too slow for my liking.
Even though, my HR has gotten better(lower).
Good luck on the HR training.
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