Zone 5

[adnewg73]

Hi Everyone

Just a bit of advice and reassurance I guess. I ran 10K last night, for the first time since October (I've been on the treadmill over winter) and pretty much chatted to my mate the whole way round. I surprised myself in that I ran it in 1hr 3mins at the same time as holding a conversation, the only thing of note was that my Garmin watch (I know not to take too much notice of it's stats) said I need 83 hours recovery but that the whole run was in Zone 5 (maximum) heart rate.

My simple question is this - was it just that I was chatting and running 10K for the first time since October that made my heart rate so elevated. I'm hoping to get back to running 10K each week from now on again as it's lighter in the evenings, so hoping that my heart rate will level out, the more I do.

Thanks in advance, as always for any advice 👍😀

[MissUnderstanding Administrator Graduate10]

Congratulations on a great run! Hitting 10k again is a massive milestone. As an illness/injury prone runner I know what that feels like.

The question I always ask myself when my garmin is unhappy with me is: what would I have thought of that run if I hadn’t been wearing it? It sounds like you were super comfortable and had no reason to be concerned. Personally, I’d just write it off as a grumpy garmin. People used to run before smartwatches and going by feel works well for me. Watches aren’t perfect for measuring heart rate-using a chest strap might give you a more accurate reading but that’s not a route I’ve gone down, Others might take a different view.

Enjoy your next run! It’s so much nicer outdoors and with a bonus mate alongside, perfect run conditions!

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate10]

Great run, well done.

My Garmin says I run in Zone 5 for a large part of most of my runs except when I consciously pay attention to keep my HR lower. I've been running for 4 years now so have decided that this is just the way that I'm built.

My Zone 5 starts at >138 bpm according to Garmin. If I'm running at any sort of pace my HR is around 142-148. It feels completely comfortable. If it goes above 150 bpm I start to feel uncomfortable and slow down. As far as I'm concerned this is where my 'maximum' range starts (I'm older than you so my numbers will be different to yours, this is just as an example).

Thankfully my watch doesn't advise me how long I need for recovery, I hate being told what to do, but the only time I ran 10k I needed a few days to feel fresh again.

The way to get your HR down is to run slower. Pay attention to how you feel, the numbers aren't the only measure of how you perform. Seems like you're doing pretty well to me

[Beachcomber66 Graduate10]

Lots of different points wrapped up in your post adnewg73. First, I run by feel; if I felt that I was really panting for breath in run,I would back off;I am 73 after all! In reality, that rarely happens.

Second, I have adjusted the values in my Garmin heart rate zones to match my heart rate pattern. So for me, Zone 5 starts at 157 bpm. Zone 4 is 145 to 157 bpm, Zone 3 is 123 to 144, Zone 2 is 105 to 122. Zone 1 doesn’t really come into the picture! If I were a lot younger, those values would be different. So that is a round about way of asking whether the values in your VO2 max correspond to your usual heart rate pattern. Just knowing that you were in Zone 5 doesn’t mean a lot if the calibration is out.

Finally, did you build up to that 10 k and that pace over a period of weeks? If not, the high heart rate is just what you would expect and the ticking off from Mr Garmin was in order 😂.

Great that you are building up again, but take care. 👍

[Cmoi Graduate10]

As someone who prefers to run by feel and not by numbers, I'd say either the reading's wrong or your heart rate settings are.

To me it makes no sense that you can run while chatting for over an hour in a zone which Garmin itself describes as "90%-100% of maximum heart rate, sprinting pace, unsustainable for long period of time, labored breathing." I also don't see how you managed to accelerate from zero into zone 5 with no apparent time in any other zone, unless you're a cheetah!

If you'd felt unwell and/or the numbers were very different to your usual readings then I'd suggest caution. As things are, if it were me I'd ignore my Garmin.