Well I have been heart rate training for a couple of weeks now so I thought I would post a little update.
As usual I have be reading around my subject and it has thrown up so much stuff to take onboard.
With this training phase I am in I have two goals. To get my heart rate to a more consistent lower rate and lose some weight (belly fat to be precise.)
The heart rate training is frustrating to say the least. I seem to be doing a lot of walking to keep my heart rate in the recovery zone. I now know I have been running a lot of my runs far too fast as far as my heart rate is conserned. The out come is maybe more walking but a faster pace is emerging. (But there is another reason for this see below) also my recovery rate from runs is getting better. I don't come in from a normal run so beetroot faced and by the next morning I am over my run. I still do one fast run a week and that is really good fun. All in all I think my body is responding to HRM training and I have probably been over training without realising it.
The second part of my journey came from trying to lose some fat. Since learning to run I have become more confident about my body image and had accepted me for me. When the kidney donor consultant asked to me to lose some belly fat it started a whole lose weight thing again.
My problem for the last few years Is that if I exercise I cannot lose weight but if I stop I can. So I was very close to spending £165 which I don't have to find out my resting metabolic rate. I told myself I have to try an experiment before I spent the money and it's been the answer I was looking for.
It has
Begun the weight loss
Brought my resting heart rate down by nearly 10 points
Given me tons of energy
Made me sleep better
Made my runs stronger
Made my moods better.
What is it? Nothing faddy or anything.
I NEEDED TO EAT MORE!
I was eating between 1500-1800 kcal a day.
The 1st weeks experiment I didn't do much exercise at all
I started at 2000 kcal a day and In the first week lost 3lb
I now have 2000kcal as my baseline and eat back my exercise calories and I have a weight loss of 1lb every 5 days.
I always make sure it's good food as usual just more of it. I have settled with a low GI - 50% carbs 25% fat and 25% protein. I know from past experience and my thyroid meds this is a good breakdown for me, we can all be a little different.
I have lost 0.6% body fat in that time. 2.5 weeks.
The reason for the weight loss share is it is easy when you want to lose a few pounds to forget running takes fuel and if you haven't got that fuel the body will adapt and not always in a good way. So please keep a little check that you are eating enough. I have been so surprised at how much energy has appeared after eating more. I'm not physically so exhausted after each run and recovery is so much better.
I will keep you updated as I go along
Wishing you all a happy healthy running week
RFCx.