HM training day 4 - stay in the zone, man, like stay in the zone 🧘‍♀️

15 minutes in zone 1, 10 minutes in zone 2, 20 minutes in zone 4, 5 minutes in zone 1

This was HARD! I had to walk at almost stationary pace to keep my heart rate down in zone1 -

Down the Oxford Road with Bear, my Polar watch, buzzing at me because my heart rate was too high: ooh, lavender, how lovely, it smells divine; buzz 🐝; oh , no, a slope and I’m already going at less than walking pace, 🐝; those roses look gorgeous, buzz 🐝 buzz; over the road, quick dash because a car’s coming; 🐝 🐝 🐝; ten minutes in zone 1 with the watch going crazy - my heart rate was over what it should have been before I even started running. Mindfullness of breathing like Claire suggested ... Om ...

Up into zone 2: still buzzing every 30 seconds, past a garden stuffed with hollyhocks, bees busy making almost as much noise as The watch.

Then, at last, a 20 minute run in zone 4! That’s a shock to the system. And the bloody thing is now buzzing at me because my heart rate is too LOW! AND I’m out of breath. This is really hard!

So turning off along a tree lined avenue. Oh, darn, somebody has put an enticing box of books and general tat out for people to take, and I can’t stop and look, let alone carry anything home.

But at least I’m stretching my legs and actually getting somewhere as I pant along past the Waitrose car park and back into the town, glancing at my watch as I go. And at least this time, when another runner approaches, I’m not high stepping on the spot like a carriage horse!

Exhausted and now have to get my heart rate right down for the cool down 5 minutes in zone1 - which proves an impossible task and the heart rate indicator stays stubbornly green.

So all round knackering but huge FUN . And look at the little gremlin I found lurking in the pattern on my capris.

[alisonx]

oooh what a cheeky little devil he looks!

I dread to think how i would manage a run with the heart rate 🤦‍♀️ but really glad you are enjoying the challenge.

Sounds like a nice route too

[Hidden in reply to alisonx]

Isn’t he cute! Gary the Gremlin 👹

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Love the gremlin! Out of interest how did you decide your heart rate zones - based on max HR? If so, how did you calculate your max HR? After almost two years, I manually changed my max HR to a number which is much more realistic for me than the 'age calculated' max HR that Garmin gave me automatically. Makes my heart rate zones much more meaningful to work with now.

[Hidden in reply to linda9389]

I found a different calculation to the 220- age, and that took it from 155 to 159, but that’s still too low I think, so I’ve put it up to 165 on my watch. I feel that’s more realistic and will see how Wednesday’s run goes. I don’t think a one size fits all approach is realistic. I have a very low resting heart rate for my age, so I wouldn't be surprised if my maximum HR is higher. I’m having to run on the spot to keep my heart rate down with the training plan at the moment!

[Hidden in reply to linda9389]

Ps: how much higher did you set it?

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Hidden]

I set mine to 174. I think I found a Scandinavian formula that gave me the highest figure! I'm 58. My 220-58 calculation just wasn't right. Garmin frequently measures my HR above 174 so I don't feel I'm cheating.

[Hidden in reply to linda9389]

Can you tell me the formula please?

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Hidden]

I'm just going out for a ride but will take a look when I get back and see if I can find it again

[Hidden in reply to linda9389]

👍🏼

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Hidden]

ntnu.edu/cerg/hrmax .... now I really must get on my bike!!!

[Hidden in reply to linda9389]

Thank you lovely x

[Hidden in reply to linda9389]

Wow that puts mine at 165 which is what I felt it was and what I put in my profile when I changed it earlier today!

Clairecandothis take note of this!

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Hidden]

It was the best I could find for me!

[Hidden in reply to linda9389]

It makes total sense of why my Garmin always had me running in zones 4/5

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to Hidden]

I'm still mostly in 4, but at least it's not all 5 as it used to be 😂

[Clairecandothis Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Hidden]

I've just looked at this and I would be 185 for max heartrate. Does that make my zone 2 higher or lower? It makes sense that mine is a little higher maybe as I could talk in zone 4 and 5! My resting heartrate is usually around 60....

[Hidden in reply to Clairecandothis]

it makes your zone lower or do I mean higher. You will be able to run faster in each zone before your HR goes too high.

My resting heart rate is 55, sometimes lower! Yikes, i'm a zombie!

[Clairecandothis Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Hidden]

I'm scared to mess with the data too much lol. I think I will do the test that the link Linda posted suggests. Going on my heartrate maxing out at 185 my zone 2 runs would be at a higher heart rate and therefor everything would be slightly faster too. That would help in terms of my hopeful aim for time with the marathon but I'm also sure that endurance training is helpful for marathon too and zone 2 or 3 wouldn't be my race pace I don't think. 🙈 It is all confusing! But making it unique to individuals does make sense and 5 beats per minute for a max and across the zones probably isn't that huge a thing. 🤞

[Hidden in reply to Clairecandothis]

Mine definitely needed setting higher. Just my warmup walk was sending me into zone 3/4

[Clairecandothis Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Hidden]

Oh gosh yes you needed to. I will look into the link more but I think I'm quite near for now. X

[Hidden in reply to Clairecandothis]

If it aint broke, don't fix it Everybody is different, and your heart rate pattern seems closer to the calculations you've already used. And it seems to be working for you. For myself, i will be relieved to actually run instead of this weird rocking horse shuffle I've been doing - to the amusement of the local population. I hope they don't recognise me in future ... or that they think I was power walking!

[Clairecandothis Marathon Half Marathon in reply to Hidden]

🤣🤣🤣

Flick I definitely agree that you should adapt your heartrate! I think the true revelation for me has been finding out there can be a training pace and a race day/run day pace! I am much better at staying in zones now so I just need to do the personal test in that link just to see if I'm going ok. 😊

It's so nice to have someone else use the heartrate stuff though. Xx

[Hidden in reply to Clairecandothis]

Despite the need for adjustment, I think the plan is brilliant. I’m ALWAYS going to keep an eye on the zones from now on, and I have a watch now that I can actually see them on. Polar rocks! Xx

[limberlou Half Marathon in reply to Hidden]

Mine is now 169 and I’ve been struggling trying to keep it down below 154. And there was some other calculation I did which said I needed to run at below 110 to actually lose weight running. I can barely walk at that rate!!!

[Hidden in reply to limberlou]

These calculations don’t take account of genetics, fitness etc. I’ve peaked at 178bpm many times, looking back over my runs, and I’m 72 - and I’m not dead yet! I think the value of the heart rate zones is staying within certain zones for specific results, once you’ve worked out what the zones should be. And those zones will change as you get fitter, older etc

[SlowLoris in reply to linda9389]

Hi Linda, your max HR is literally just that. You cannot go higher. If you frequently measure a higher rate set it to at least that rate to get more meaningful HR zones.

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to SlowLoris]

I did think about that, but I think the higher readings mostly tend to be 'spikes' so not sure how valid they are. 174 seems to be a reasonable working tool for me at the moment. If I were trying to train by HR I imagine it would be worth having a more detailed look at my readings to try to work out what my highest reading tends to be when I'm 'going for it', and then use that as you suggest.

[SlowLoris in reply to linda9389]

I like the link you posted earlier because they are one of the few that point out that the calculator is not very accurate.

The problem is that the original data showed a huge variation in MaxHR at any particular age. The graph actually looks like a scatter gun. Because the variation is so large only a limited number pf people actually sit on the mathematical average.

NTNU recommend doing your own field test and tell you how to do it.

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to SlowLoris]

I will take another look. Thanks for that info 🙂

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to SlowLoris]

A second a field test. My max heart regularly goes much higher than the calculators would ever give me. I am trying to train to effort at the moment but if I used heart rate I would set my max at 195ish as I've reached that during short (280m) sprint repeats and haven't died - yet 🤣

[SlowLoris in reply to pianoteacher]

So why not set it at 195?

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to SlowLoris]

Because I don't train to heart rate 😁 I never look at it while I'm running and try to work to "feel". I take a peek at it on Strava afterwards but tbh it often makes no sense. I've paced at parkrun a good 5 mins outside my tempo pace and my heart rate has registered a higher average even though the run is ridiculously easy paced and pretty much feels like walking 🤷‍♀️ Having said that I don't have a chest strap so I'm not sure how accurate it is? x

[SlowLoris in reply to pianoteacher]

Depends on what you're measuring with I suppose.

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to SlowLoris]

Garmin Forerunner35

[SlowLoris in reply to pianoteacher]

That should be pretty good. Has to be fairly snug and on the thin bit of your arm above the wrist bones when running.

[pianoteacher Marathon Half Marathon in reply to SlowLoris]

I think it's in the right place. Can't move it now - I've got one hell of a tan line 😁

[Hidden in reply to linda9389]

In fact just at random I’ve checked a run and max hr was 178

[Hidden in reply to SlowLoris]

In which case, even at 165bpm I’m dead! Because mine has been 174 before now

[SlowLoris in reply to Hidden]

So set it at 174. Mine is set at 183.

[Hidden in reply to SlowLoris]

See second reply - I’ve hit at least 178. I’m 72 years old so clearly I’m now dead with hr that high 😂😂

[SlowLoris in reply to Hidden]

You're just young at heart.

[Hidden in reply to SlowLoris]

Oh, very good! 😂

[SlowLoris in reply to Hidden]

I ain't no spring chicken Flick!

Seriously though, set it to 178 and you'll get much more meaningful HR training.

[Hidden in reply to SlowLoris]

It wouldn’t stretch me. I would just be running the same pace as usual instead of slowing down and building stamina. I will see what results 165bpm brings. If I’m still ridiculously slow I will fine tune again.

[SlowLoris in reply to Hidden]

Slowing down to a slow walk is not building stamina. It's just walking slowly.

[Hidden in reply to SlowLoris]

Precisely- which is why I’ve upped the max hr. though I was still running, just absurdly slowly

[Hidden in reply to SlowLoris]

I’m not sure how much use the HM hr zones training would be if I set it that high

[SlowLoris in reply to Hidden]

I find doing an easy long run I'm sitting in zone 2-3. Normal steady pace I'm mostly in zone 3 and in a race mostly zone 4. Hills push me up into 5. Feels about right.

[Hidden in reply to SlowLoris]

Interesting. Thanks for the info on this

[Clairecandothis Marathon Half Marathon]

I never run in zone 1! I've also started to just keep running and hope if I slow down slightly I will get back in to the right zone.... usually if I'm just over zone 2 by going up a hill or something. I don't want to keep running/walk so I ignored the buzzing! 🤣 I can't get down from zone 4 to zone 2 though without walking! You make it all sound lots of fun! Are you having rest days too? X

[Hidden in reply to Clairecandothis]

Try Linda's calculation, which is further up this thread. It put my max heart rate at 165, 27bpm higher than the usual 220 - age formula, but is exactly what I felt it should be. That would make it possible for both of us to run in zone 1. i will find out on Wednesday if 5he watch has adjusted the program.

I run five days a week and swim the other two - yoga every day. I think rest days are supposed to include cross training ...xxx

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

Ha ha, you've got a gremlin! Will you ever wear those tights again?? 😄

I got whacked in the face by some lavender once...

Awesome run xxx

[Hidden in reply to roseabi]

Yes! His name is Gary. I posted the pic in the Sturdy by Design Facebook group, and they’re all checking their aurora pattern leggings and capris for him 😂

I’ve upped my Max heart rate in my Polar profile. It was ridiculous, I was going into zone 3/4 just walking. So hopefully I will be able to move forward now instead of slow motion kneesup on the spot 🤪 xxx