i've always known that I usually don't fit "the norm"
Progressing with this heart rate training has raised a lot of questions in my mind, and being from a technical background, often troubleshooting computer issues, I incorrectly expect things to either work or not work; to go exactly according to plan, but of course they don't.
No, I'm not giving up on this already. Groover commented on my post from a few days ago after my incredibly slow my run trying to stay in the aerobic zone, about noting my perceived exhaustion. Thank you! I'm not sure there was any level of exhaustion during that run other than perhaps mentally when hearing the beeps from Garmin telling me my HR was still too high. So I thought about that for a while.
I then picked up my copy of "The Triathlete's Training Bible" by Joe Friel that I bought a few months back. Truth be told, I only got to about page 26, set it down and haven't looked at it in a few months. I quickly looked through the index to see if he discussed heart rate training. Had I only gotten about 6 pages further, I would have had a great introduction to this months ago. LOL, figures.
He discusses lactic acid, threshold, zones, intensity and rate of perceived exhaustion. He uses Borg's Rating of Perceived Exertion, which I've pasted below, taken from this website. It's a scale of 6-20 to rate how you're feeling while exercising.
The run I had thursday left me feeling like an 7 or 8, even though I was in my "aerobic" zone -- 70%-80% of my MHR.
I'm thinking I should be focusing on more of a 10-14 range to continue building my base, endurance and cardio. I think if I rely strictly on HR, my pace will decrease too drastically and I'm not sure I'll produce the results I'm looking for. I asked Robin at Gotta Run what her pace was like as she is also heart rate training, and she let me know that her pace was pretty much right on target, whereas my pace was not.
I just need to personalize this a bit more, tailor this training to my genetics, screwed up as they may be and my abilities. :o) No manual, book, article on the www, nobody else's experience will be exactly like mine.
So, I will continue to work with my heart rate diligently, monitor the data and hopefully note my progress, but I won't stress if it goes above the calculated zone as long as my RPE is still within the desired range.
Today will be a treadmill run in the gym, after which I'll have another H2O massage. It's about -14℃/6.8℉ with the windchill, the air is crisp and an extreme cold alert has been posted, so indoors it will be.
23 comments:
Brrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Keep us informed with what you learn and how you're doing with the HR stuff.
This H20 Massage thing sounds very good. And definitely sexier than my rolling pin massage.
Way to roll with the punches, sistre! :o)
(That's international emoticon, ethnically neutral, I just now decided.)
Are you sure you have the right Max HR?? That might be why your % are off?? But if what I'm saying makes no sense, don't listen to me, I don't train by HR!
Have a good w/e!
How accurate is your HR monitor? It could be a calibration error? I am heading to the gym today for my 4 mile recovery run. Too cold!!
I'm reading about PRE right now in my personal training stuff. It's just another thing we need to pay attention to!!
I don't know much about heart rate training or the PRE stuff, but it seems like no matter what, you have to do what feels right for you. Hope you have a good treadmill workout!
Brrr! Interesting that your RPE and your HR don't seem to be going hand in hand. I'm learning so much from you LOL.
you are totally right... everyone is different so its good to tailor plans to suit you. you are doing a great job!!!
I hope you figure it out. It sounds complicated to me.
What is this H20 massage?
It looks like Ohio is going to get some bitter cold middle of next week.
I have heard it before, cannt remember who said it but we are all an experiment of one.
Way to go Melly Melz. I would think the base building zone you are looking for is 11-14. A good test while running, for me, is to make sure my breathing remains steady and quiet, I feel "comfortable", and that I am able to speak in complete sentences without "huffing" between phrases.
Every time I see those H2O message things, I TOTALLY want one.
I'm not nearly patient enough to do heart rate training right, but I'm always interested to read other people's journey. You'll see great gains soon.
Well, I know I posted a comment on this before, but just wanted to say again - from the sounds of everyone at our store who does heart rate training, it's always hard at the start because your pace for the correct HR zone will often be way slower than what you want it to be. But, the point of heart rate training is to train your body properly so that you can increase your pace while keeping your HR in the right zone. If you skip that slow stage at the start you skip out on the benefit of using your HR to monitor. I'll see if I can find a specific book from anyone in our club that discusses this and try to recommend it.
a smart approach to your training - it is for *you* afterall! and you have to remember, the results of hr training don't show up immediately. you gotta stick with it! (not in the -14degrees though...)
I'll say this again....BRRRRRRRRR
I know i wouldn't run outside if it was below 65, never mind -14C. Yikes!
Oooooohhh H2O Massage sounds sooooo nice :-)
I think your points about slowing down are what concerned me. but then I read an article by this guy who is a 5 min miler that started going it, initally he slowed to 8:30 but slowly came back to more easily do 5 min miles... who knows!!
i tried to do it today, but didn't have my heart monitor synced to the Garmin so i ran with it tracking nothing...BOO
Hey you, I've been following your blog recently and just started heart rate training as well.
Today I did my first HR run outside on a scheduled 16k/10 miler. Normally I'm running about 6:13/km running 10 and 1's at half marathon race pace as per my Garmy and today keeping myself around 80% max I eeked out exactly an 8 minutes/km pace in week 1 of marathon training.
Disappointing, but no worse than when I first started running and couldn't manage distance. I'm faster on treadmill with this type of training, but still...
We're going to get better! It will be worth it. Keep it up and thanks for making me feel like I'm not alone, Lisa.
I think most people would be surprised at their HR's if they didn't keep track of them. Before I checked mine- i was in the 85% range for all of my runs, including long run days. Too high!
It's hard for me to slow down to keep my HR in the aerobic zone - seems to slow..
Better conditioning I need..
I think it's a good idea to take perceived effort into consideration. If all of your runs feel too easy, are you really going to make any progress? I don't know anything about this stuff, but that's my $0.02. :)
Friel's training bible is a great help and I'm glad my comment helped. You actually inspired me to start taking my morning HR again. Thanks.
I'm with Gaven: too much math!
And, I think your blog might be possessed by demons. Huge sections of it just disappear for a few seconds and then reappear. The demon moves randomly throughout the page. Spoooooky.
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