Today's run was good, better than the last several weeks. There were several factors involved...the weather was mid-70s with a light breeze, it was earlier in the day than I've been going lately, I had a decent lunch. Mostly I think it was that I made a conscious decision to see if I could keep my HR below 165 (80%) and still run.
The answer, sadly, is "not right now". My highest HR was 177, and my average was 160 for the 37:25 workout (28-minute run). However, I did feel 100% better running at a lower HR. My shins didn't complain as much, I didn't have to talk myself into the last 5-10 minutes, and I wasn't exhausted afterward. This makes me think that I really was straining too much at that upper range, and probably hurting myself more than I was really helping. I'm not an athlete, and I think training at that level for an entire 30-minute workout is more than my body can handle without setting myself up for injury. This puts me in a difficult position, because I can't run in an aerobic range either. If I slow down to a pace where I can still run but I don't feel like falling over dead afterward, I'm squarely in a 155-175 range (75-85% MHR, roughly). It's not optimal, but I'm okay with it for now. My speed is not entirely embarrassing in that range--4.2 mph running.
After reading some things and exchanging some emails, I think that I'm overthinking this whole HR thing. The HRM data is important, but I'm not really in good enough shape (yet?) that tweaking it at a micro level is really going to do much good. I'm just making myself crazy worrying about the ranges, when my focus right now should really be more on making exercise a habit, and figuring out what works for me. If I get too hung up on the numbers, I'm likely to quit altogether (it's what I do). And what good would that do?
So, I'm done with that. I'm still going to note my HR, and I'm going to do the workouts at the intensity that I feel most comfortable with. Hopefully my numbers will improve gradually over time, but the hand-wringing over them is...well, over. Until I'm fit enough to concentrate on improving my performance v. just getting out there and DOING it, the HRs are what they are.
Posted by Joy at April 15, 2005 08:23 PMYa know, I think I inadvertently did that. The first 2 months I wore the watch and noted the number after all my cardio walking or running but I wasn't really trying to do anything with it. Reading that post where you had the calculator link a few weeks ago made me look it up and save the info but it was still a bit over my head.
It wasn't till two weeks ago reading, yet another article ;), that I said "oohhhh now I see how I can make this happen" and after 2 months of data and analyzing my routine I saw how to work it into my system.
I went thru the same thing w/food. I tracked C/p/f gms just to get into the habit and when my mind got to the point it could comprehend what on earth it all meant, b/c I was reading up about it in the meantime, I finally got how I should eat.
I think we have a bit of similarity in that area & approach I'm guessing you'll keep tracking and one day in the near future start making the #'s work for you. In the meantime the whole concept is marinating in your head.
Posted by: Renee on April 16, 2005 06:43 AM