Finally got a heart rate monitor
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2427 days
Tribro posted 4 years ago.
congrats on getting the monitor. it definitely helps, hard for me to go on perceived exertion as well. I think after using the monitor for a while and knowing more about you rate and zones, running without - on perceived once in a while will be easier.
Good luck on the run this weekend. If you've been running at the 80-85 than I think that's a perfect pace to go at the race with. However I believe running at 80-85% consistently through your training is probably not ideal. You can read some of the articles here: http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/ on getting your zones and what zones to train in.
80-85% should be more of interval/medium training. (typical race pace for longer distances)
85+ should be speed work (in order to condition yourself to go faster at 80-85)
now there's base, that should be done closer to 70-75%. It sounds like you have some races going on so probably aren't into a base training phase right now, but when you start - you should spend a couple months in this phase.
I'll try to do December + January in base (meaning never going out of it). then in february I'll start adding interval training + medium pace. and add speed work at end of march and april to get ready for races in may. then i'll still do some base days during the season but mostly medium pace.
Your season may look different so change things around.
After several months of running and feeling like I was not getting anywhere speed wise, I bought a Polar A3 HRM last night. It made a huge difference! Previously, when I ran 3 miles, I could do it at about 9:30 pace. Anything over 3 miles and I thought I needed to slow down to cover the distance, so I always ran somewhere near 10:30 to 11:00 pace. Last night, with the HRM, I knew exactly where my HR was and I was able to run 5.25 miles at 9:03 pace. It was amazing. When I finished, I felt like I could have run another 5 miles. I had been using the perceived exertion method (which I now think is junk), but knowing what what my body could handle made running so much better. My run course has several large hills that I would always slow way down on at the bottom to make sure I didn't overexert. Last night, I would run the same pace up the hill as I was running before the hill until the HRM started beeping, then would slow down until I got back into range. That thing is so cool.
Ok, enough long story. Here is my question. I am desperately wanting to get faster on the run. When I started tri training, I was at 254 lbs (5'9" tall) and have lost down to 198 lbs since Jan 2003. I know that each lb I lose will help me to run faster at the same HR. I will be incorporating speed work soon. I just want to make sure I am not going to have a heart attack or something running consistently at 80-85% HR. I felt fine during and after the run, is this safe? I will be running a metric half-marathon (13.1 K, 8.1 miles) on Saturday, and I want to try to run it at 80-85%. I think I can finish in about 1:13:00 if I try hard. All you fitness gurus, is this the right course of action?
Thanks.
John
“A man who says it can’t be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.”