Maximum Heart Rate

[Steffysprout]

So I nearly completed W2R1, but I was wearing a heart rate monitor and was a bit alarmed to see my heart rate up at 224bpm, (theoretical max heart rate around 180bpm) so decided it was best to go back to walking and abandon the run. During week 1 I was around 190bpm max.

I am a 41 year old female, no health problems other than being 2st overweight and not very fit. So far I've found the runs to be doable, apart from getting very sweaty I'm not really too much out of breath and feel comfortable.

Do you think I should take note of this and try and keep my heart rate under a certain level, or just carry on as long as I'm feeling good?

[agedsnailspace Graduate]

Hmm - how long was your hr high and how did you feel? It's not unreasonable for your help to spike, but you wouldn't want to keep going for any time at such a high rate. I would be surprised you weren"t feeling sick. Were you running with anyone? I had a strap hr monitor which used to pick up signals from a friends, too if I wore the watch the side she was running - very concerning!

[davelinks Graduate]

Well done! But, put the hrm away and just do the programme! Just concentrate on c25k and times, and take it very slow & steady! By the time you graduate you should notice how much fitter you are, you can use the hrm by all means later on, but isn't nessacary.. just try backing off!😊

[Steffysprout in reply to davelinks]

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll turn my monitor off in future, I'm only going at a slow jog so not pushing myself, and I'll just listen to my body if it's too much.

[Bazza1234 Graduate]

At this stage of your running career , you should be only running at an easy conversational level. Conversational level means able to converse with somebody (or yourself) almost as easily as you can when walking. If you can't do that, you are running too fast. This is NOT EASY!!!! Many/most people who have poor aerobic capacity find this very difficult to do - both in terms of the breathing side of things and the legs side of things. And indeed, even after you are a seasoned athlete , you will probably still find this to be an awkward gait/pace. I feel that I am only now just really achieving it almost 3 years after I started to run. However, developing a solid aerobic capacity is absolutely essential .!!

[Steffysprout in reply to Bazza1234]

Thanks Bazza, I'll knock the speed down for my next run and see how that feels, I was going 7.3kph which seemed slow to me but I could go slower.