Lindsay’s comment to my mojo post deserves a longer reply that I can fit into the comment box (yep I know it expands as you write ;) So, here goes. I don’t know what I want to achieve by this, so if I don’t make sense just let me know!
I’ve never done a max pulse test, either a proper one or on my own. I’d love to do one, but a) don’t want to fork out obscene amounts of money and b) I don’t know how to do it on my own. I guess I should do one soon though.
Though nowhere near the elite athlete side of things, my resting pulse isn’t that high (about 50 last time I checked), also commented on by my doctor recently when he prescribed an EEG (53 at the time, midday and after not much rest prior to the actual EEG) as I had my lead legs checked up. So when I’ve hit 212 bpm (on my garmin) and an average of 177 in the same 9K session without feeling completely dead I don’t know if my garmin’s off or what’s going on. I’ve also done a 5K race – in a Santa outfit, which probably adds a few beats – with 204 max / 180 average which felt a lot harder than that 9K. In my one and only (so far) marathon I averaged 158 (max 177), with dips mainly around the water stations and my two massage stops.
9K tempo run (including street crossings): 212 bpm max, 177 average (pace: 5:34)
Santa Run (5K) – 204 bpm max, 180 average (pace: 5:53)
Paris Marathon: 177 bpm max, 158 average (pace: 7:00) – I’d expected a higher pulse towards the end considering how tired I was, but it seems to drop towards “normal” quite easily. I kept a steady pace the first half (between the water stations & 2 loo stops = the dips at 6 & 10K)
The usual spike in the beginning, otherwise an “easy” (pace-wise) 30K run (190 max, 151 average, pace: 7:11 (again with 2 loo stops))
Average seems to be low 160s if I look at this past year and a half, but that includes the spikes in the beginning and races and hills and everything. And speaking of hills – a “run until you puke”-session up a downhill slope only brought me up to 180 (just as I turned to head back down).
I’d estimate my “easy” looking at the scenery-range is about 152-158, which makes the Maffetone target of 143 quite low. The spike in the beginning is there on most sessions, I suppose a proper warm-up will cure that. But should I then reset garmin before the actual run?
I don’t notice when my pulse is approaching 200, just as I can’t tell when it’s 140. Normally I go by breathing if I’m running at a sustainable pace – I count my breath/cadence-rate. And I never check my hrm as I run, I fall over enough as it is. Until now I’ve only logged my heart rate because I could, and only found it useful as a tool to see when I’ve had a cold coming on – in hindsight. Training in heart rate zones feels a bit alien since my pulse keeps having funny moments – and how do people even manage it without falling over looking at the monitor?!
Right. If you’ve managed to last this long I’m impressed. Clearly I haven’t a clue what to do with my hrm – should’ve just paid £20 less for a garmin without one I suppose…
lol. i'm no heart rate expert either... but my "take your age and subtract it from 180" was low too. probably about the same as yours as i think we are about the same age. so, i took my max hr from a 2-mile race (201 or so, based on my polar hrm) and made my calculations based off that. it's probably still not 100% accurate, but to me it seemed more accurate than the "subtract" method. my easy zone is in the 150s too, which is definitely a huge difference from 143 for me as well. i think i've read (online) that it's better to take the max hr from a shorter distance as you don't tend to go all-out in a longer race.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.howtobefit.com/determine-maximum-heart-rate.htm
that site talks about various ways to try and figure out your max hr including a "step test" (which i've never tried).
i use my hr to keep me from going too hard on an easy day, and i tend to go by my goal paces on speed days. i know they say that over time you can see trends in your hr and tell if you are overtraining or not and such, but i'm no expert on all that yet.
you don't sound clueless - just keep reading up on it if it's something you want to try and incorporate in your running! good luck :)
(ps if 212 is your max -- you are a machine!! wow!)