I've been doing a little research about running zones this week, as I was becoming so frustrated that my Garmin showed me in the red of Zone 5 for almost the entirety of each run, which I really didn't think could be right 😬.......
Browsing articles online worried me further when I read that a HR over 180bpm during exercise (mine's around 185bpm) was dangerous - but I never feel like I'm pushing myself too hard or that I'm going to keel over during a run, and I can hold a conversation. By contrast other articles said HR is too individual for everyone's stats to adhere to the general principle of working out your max HR (220 - your age). Reassured by further reading which explained how I could adapt the running zone boundaries on my Garmin to better reflect my own stats, I began to work out my own HR boundaries so that I could do just that. Coincidentally SaskAlliecat 's post yesterday about her own heart rate monitor and running zones raised similar points and convinced me I was on the right track.
I entered my own stats into my Garmin Connect, including my resting and maximum HR, selected the Heart Rate Reserve option instead of the perentage of maximum HR and hey presto, the boundaries changed!
Today I ran my 5k using the newly calculated zone boundaries. I also consciously tried to run at a slower pace (surprisingly difficult) and as a result today's 5k was one of my slowest but it was also a very comfortable run.
So, as SaskAlliecat has already said, if the zones are not working for you, don't be afraid to adapt them. I feel a lot better for having sorted mine out and now I feel I have a starting point to begin trying to increase the percentage of time I spend in the green of zone 3 (perhaps that could be my quest for November...... 🤔?).
Look at those graphs! Yes!!!! It made such a difference for me switching to %HRR. Instead of being frustrated and ending my "run" because I'm basically walking now, I could actually run a super slow enjoyable pace the whole time. I'm glad you are seeing the same benefits.
Thanks for helping point me in the right direction ☺️. I’m looking forward to exploring zones now instead of being put off by them. Bring on the green! 😊👟🐌
Nice post. To be honest I have never looked at heart rate zones. I must look into it a little more and calculate my own zones. Last year through increased training and running my resting heart rate dropped from 80 bpm average to 50 bpm average. But I never looked at heart rate zones. I will now, especially for longer runs.
Thanks Damien. I initially avoided everything heart zone related because all my stats were glaringly in the red zone which was really off putting. I feel more comfortable with it all now that I think the boundaries reflect me and my own stats and not generated by a generic number.
I better log my nice slow 5k on your (not)Parkrun post 🐌 😊!
Thanks for pointing out that you could use different ways to set up the zones on Garmin I hadn't realised that.
I set up my zones about 8 weeks ago using my max HR (I used a figure from a run done mainly in Z5) I still suspect that the max figure may not be right.
I then set up several workouts on the connect app so I'd run to the zones rather than pace.
I've used them ever since. Suddenly I could run up the hills 😊, when running to a pace I'd have to stop on hills!
For me it made a massive difference to my running suddenly I felt I could actually achieve goals.
Anyway I've just updated the zones using the HRR they aren't that different so I'll see what happens on my next run.
I was in exactly the same situation, so I knew something wasn't right. I adjusted the zones within the settings on Garmin Connect. I took an average of my max heart rate and entered it as the final normal in the Zone 5 range, then selected the %HRR (Heart Rate Reserve) option which allowed me to enter my average resting HR, then the zone boundaries adjusted to reflect this. I certainly feel much better about running in zone 4 as opposed to being in the red zone all the time!
So glad you’ve got your zones sorted on Garmin. Makes such a difference as does slowing down slightly. I hope this results in lots of very happy running 🤗
Hi Delly-dot glad you’re feeling happier with running in zones now you’ve adjusted your max HR .I hope this helps keep the gremlins at bay more often. I set my max at 173 a while ago (which is much higher than using the 220-age method) as like you I found I was running in red most of the time. I don’t seem to have much more than that on my watch (45)
since deciding to try slow running I’ve been using my HR monitor to run ( polar chest ) I keep my hR around 125/130 and it feels easy/enjoyable and body/mind doesn’t complain afterwards. I didn’t track my HR for my 10k recently and again for my last 5k and heart rate was up again 🙄 and oh my knees are not happy at all 🥴
Take care, keep running 🤗
in reply to
Hi Mrs Jorge. Thank you 🤗 The gremlins are behaving themselves just now and Mymojo is enjoying running away from zombies! I'm going to play around with zone running for a while and start to gradually increase my distance back towards 10k. I'd like to lower my heart rate but running slowly is hard work! Sorry to hear your knees are sore. I hope they improve soon 🤗
I'd set my max HR to 190 (as I'd occasionally peaked at 188 during hard runs) and let the software work it out using the %MaxHR method.
A %HRR setting seems to only be available on Forerunner watches, so I needed to work out the values myself, using my resting HR of 60, and enter them manually. I'll be interested to see how my watch responds.
I've been running mostly at what %MaxHR would call the zone 3/zone 4 boundary, and generally ignoring the watch. However that would actually be comfortably in %HRR zone 3.
Thanks Buddy. I thought my HR was awful before I started reading, but I'm not bothered now. The run was fun, another Zombie Run (CBDB has a lot to answer for 🤣!).
That all sounds reassuring Delly-Dot! You are getting some nice runs going again. 😊
As someone who never monitors heart rate because I'm scared my stats will tell me I'm about to explode, I just rely on talking out loud, including on this morning's run when my daughter phoned me and I had a little chat while running!
Sounds like when you re-set your boundaries your instinct that you were running at a good, safe, pace were right!
Well done Delly-dot!! 😉 Looks like you’ve got a great plan.
I haven’t advanced to looking at this kind of data yet 😳, but I do follow Jeff Galloway’s general tips about not pushing, slowing down and walking as part of the training technique. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do 10k in a couple of weeks without walking 🤔 . Training this way is unusual for me, but I trust he and Sgt Major Garmin have got this! 🦾❤️.
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the 5 aural zones of training
A much better run today🙂🏃🏽♀️
There, that's better!
Heart Rate Zones
