Distance Run Training with HR Monitor
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Member
940 days
mgetting posted 31 weeks ago.
To find your TRUE HR - take your resting HR for 1 minute for 3 days when you wake up in the morning. Take the average of that. Now, for your HR Zones, take 220-age - this will give you your max. Take your max-your resting heart rate and multiply that times .80 to find your 80% zone, then add in your resting heart rate. I've added a sample below.
Resting Heart Rate = 50
Age = 31
220-31 = 189 (Max heart rate)
(189-50) *.8 + 50 = 161
161 would be 80% of MHR
You could also get a VO2 test to find out your exact training zones.
1041
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838 days
TryScott posted 31 weeks ago.
How did you find out your Max HR? I ran up a 50 yard hill about 4-5 times till I about died. It hurts a little more than subtracting your age from 220, but it's a lot more accurate.
As for your pace, I was going painfully slow (10:00 min/mile) and walking up every hill when I started HR training also (summer of 2007). It got me in shape rather quickly by my standards. You won't drop from a 24 min 5k to a 17 min 5k in one summer, but I started in July of 2007 with a 8 min/mi pace for a 5k, and by March of 2009 I did 7:15 min/mi in a marathon.
2766
Member
1444 days
tri-ac posted 31 weeks ago.
DannoE wrote:
Okay, so I've owned up to not being a good runner. I am not a good runner. I'm okay with it, but I like to run, and I'd like to get better. Still, I consider a 6-mile run to be "long distance". To combat this, I signed up for a half-marathon this summer, and I've been slowly increasing my mileage by 10%/week. And I bought a HR monitor. I'd read that I ought to be training at 80% of my max HR, which for me ought to be about 150 beats/min, and I'd been wondering if part of my problem was just incorrect training philosophy.So I strapped the monitor on, set its alarm to go off when it got above 150, and then headed out for a long run--7 miles. That's FAR for me.
The run was fine, but it was WAY SLOW. I was gone so long that my wife thought I'd been hit by a car and was about to call the police. I might have been going 9:15/mile. Maybe even 9:30. I mean, the run was comfortable, but it was the furthest thing from fun. I normally run about 8:30/mile when I'm training, so slowing up that much was almost infuriating.
So what's the deal? Am I trying to do too much too fast, or is it maybe that my max HR is higher than the schedules predict, or should just quit worrying and run how I feel? I want to do the latter, but I also want to avoid injuries, and I'm prone to them. My knees suck. However, after my long, slow run, I felt fine and even ran the next day. Do I just have to suck it up and bore myself to tears until I get faster, or can I safely increase to say 85% of my HR without blowing a gasket?
Thanks for your thoughts.
This is the typical experience. If you follow through with it, you will return to your previous pace in about 2 months at a lower HR and an ability to go longer.
I think HR training is really well suited to beginners in need of base training, because it prevents runners from going too fast too early. You will definitely achieve a comfort level in moving up to half mary injury-free following this method. But it is not particularly suited to developing speed.
You will want to train by pace to improve speed, usually on a main run sequence of short, medium & long runs with target paces that push your current thresholds. Ideally, you'd be running more than 3x week, but as a triathlete, your biking is your supplemental "recovery" from the main running days. ["Runners" would be doing more running on the in-between days.]
If your long run of 6mi is a chore right now, stick with this method for now. Next race training period you can concentrate on speed with your newly developed endurance. :)
143
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263 days
DannoE posted 31 weeks ago.
Thanks guys. Using mgetting's method, my training HR ought to be about 158.
But it also sounds like I need to be more patient, and I know that I need to stay injury-free a lot more than I need to build speed right now. So I think I'll re-set the meter to 155 and try it out and see where I am and how I feel. And if that goes well, I'll bump it up to 158 or even 160, but hold there and try to be patient.
Thanks again!
DannoE
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one..."
2766
Member
1444 days
tri-ac posted 31 weeks ago.
don't forget RPE in this effort
if your calc's show a threshold of 158, but you're heaving, knock it down a hair (or vice versa), depending on the HR goal for the day
2255
Member
701 days
TriSooner posted 31 weeks ago.
DannoE wrote:
Okay, so I've owned up to not being a good runner . . . and then headed out for a long run--7 miles . . . I might have been going 9:15/mile. Maybe even 9:30.
I always giggle when people write about their "slow" pace and it turns out to be a 10k time most people couldn't even do a bike. Ok, I exagerate a bit, but a sub-1hr 10k isn't exactly glacial. My advice is to put the HRM in a drawer and forget about it. HRMs are not good training tools for the exact scenario you experienced:
DannoE wrote:
I normally run about 8:30/mile when I'm training, so slowing up that much was almost infuriating.
Then why aren't your running at an 8:30 pace? Because some generic formula told you to slow down? Solution? Don't use the HRM and run your usual 8:30 and faster. HRM be damned.
313
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1495 days
NotAsFast posted 31 weeks ago.
I read somehere " A runner isnt fast because he has a high LT, he has a high LT because he runs fast."
The HRM is a tool to use to help guage your efforts. I threw HR out the window last year after being a slave to my HR and now I run a consistant 8 min mile at 234 pounds. And wouldnt you know, my Avg HR came down as well.
Of course I didnt run at speed all the time, but I ignored the HR monitor.
191
Member
436 days
sasquatch posted 31 weeks ago.
A general rule of thumb I use for measuring effort:
Long Run Pace - Can maintain a steady conversation, if you are breathing to hard to do this, then you are running too fast/hard.
Tempo Run Pace - Can talk while running, but only by squeezing in words bewteen breaths
Speed work - Can't talk at all while running.
See how these relate to your HR's. They may help to get a better idea of where you're at. If you're running three times a week aim for one long run, one tempo run, and one medium length easy pace run(recovery). And be patient, I ran my fastest 5k durig a hard tempo run while training for a marathon. It will come with time if you're patient.
Okay, so I've owned up to not being a good runner. I am not a good runner. I'm okay with it, but I like to run, and I'd like to get better. Still, I consider a 6-mile run to be "long distance". To combat this, I signed up for a half-marathon this summer, and I've been slowly increasing my mileage by 10%/week. And I bought a HR monitor. I'd read that I ought to be training at 80% of my max HR, which for me ought to be about 150 beats/min, and I'd been wondering if part of my problem was just incorrect training philosophy.
So I strapped the monitor on, set its alarm to go off when it got above 150, and then headed out for a long run--7 miles. That's FAR for me.
The run was fine, but it was WAY SLOW. I was gone so long that my wife thought I'd been hit by a car and was about to call the police. I might have been going 9:15/mile. Maybe even 9:30. I mean, the run was comfortable, but it was the furthest thing from fun. I normally run about 8:30/mile when I'm training, so slowing up that much was almost infuriating.
So what's the deal? Am I trying to do too much too fast, or is it maybe that my max HR is higher than the schedules predict, or should just quit worrying and run how I feel? I want to do the latter, but I also want to avoid injuries, and I'm prone to them. My knees suck. However, after my long, slow run, I felt fine and even ran the next day. Do I just have to suck it up and bore myself to tears until I get faster, or can I safely increase to say 85% of my HR without blowing a gasket?
Thanks for your thoughts.
DannoE
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one..."