Forums >Running 101>Running at max heart rate?
I am 30 years old and have a very healthy resting heart rate anywhere from 60-65 BPM. However, whenever I run, it shoots up pretty much right away to high 170's up to 186 and will stay there for the entire duration of my 30-40 minute run. Is it Ok to run at 180 heart rate for 30-40 minutes straight? It's not like when I'm sprinting it gets that high - on a very moderate pace it is that high. If I sprinted, it would probably be in the 190's. Any advice appreciated, thanks!
I would venture to say that you are not at your maximum heart rate.
There are quite a few people who have higher heart rates despite a low resting heart rate. I have a friend who has a max heart rate at 230. His zones are much higher than mine - we both can be running aerobically - my zone will be in the 140s and his will be in the 180s or so. He feels no different than I do...its his normal.
Having said all of that, it may be worthwhile to see a physician just to be safe - especially if you feel fatigued during those periods of your HR being elevated.
If you're healthy, do a few tests to try and see what your max heart rate is.
Walk-Jogger
Yes, it's OK. If you can do it for 30-40 minutes, it's clearly not your max heart rate, and your body in general will not allow you to run your heart rate hard enough to hurt yourself. On the couple of occasions where I've actually hit my true max heart rate on a treadmill test, I could only hold it for a few seconds.
Retired & Loving It
Yes, it's OK. If you can do it for 30-40 minutes, it's clearly not your max heart rate, and your body in general will not allow you to run your heart rate hard enough to hurt yourself.
^^ This
A Saucy Wench
a) as stated it is not your max heart rate - after a short period of time at your max very unpleasant things start to occur.
b) as you gain more fitness you will probably find you have something in between. Do some slower runs now and then.
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Thanks everyone.
The problem is that if I ran any slower I would literally be walking. I'm not even running that fast. I would say I am running at a 12 minute mile pace. And generally running is very hard for me so the entire 30-40 minutes feels awful - just generally uncomfortable the whole time (and I have done the insanity program for 60 days without feeling that awful).
Latent Runner
Thanks everyone. The problem is that if I ran any slower I would literally be walking. I'm not even running that fast. I would say I am running at a 12 minute mile pace. And generally running is very hard for me so the entire 30-40 minutes feels awful - just generally uncomfortable the whole time (and I have done the insanity program for 60 days without feeling that awful).
Believe it or not, a 12-minute pace isn't all that slow; some folks "run" at a 17-minute pace (which is still faster that what is considered a walking pace of 20-minute miles).
As for running for 30-40 minutes straight, yup, when you're first starting, that can be very difficult indeed. When I finally started working my way back into running following a six year layoff due to a badly broken leg (the fact that I gained some 60-70 pounds didn't work in my favor either), I couldn't run that long and I'd been a runner for much of the previous four decades. Per my running logs I ran a whopping 8 miles during the entire first month, and trust me, those 8 miles were painfully slow and very uncomfortable. My second month back at it wasn't much better, I managed 18 miles; they were still slow and uncomfortable, but hey, I did go more than twice as far.
The good news is that within four months I had worked my way up to about 20 miles per week, and a few months after that I topped 100 miles in a month for the first time since the broken leg incident. Now four years later (not all of which included running due to some severe work pressures) I'm putting in ten or so hours per week and logging over 60 miles.
Long story short, if you stick with it, running will become both easier and more pleasureable; I look back at those short painful runs during 2009 and am surprised at how much more it hurt to run a half of a mile back then compared to ten miles now. Go figure.
Fat old man PRs:
This is my experience too, as a new runner. 12 min miles are getting more comfortable for longer periods, but I started with 14-15 min miles (running) and definitely not 30-40 minutes worth for a couple of months. I notice now this post is kind of old-sorry!
What does improve quickly is the time it takes to feel that crappy awful feeling, and the fact that you actually get winds eventually. I'm not afraid to walk when I feel I've pushed too far, but I find a rhythm easier to maintain than the up/down/up down. A way I usually get through it is to treat it as a "this too shall pass" and if it's just not, walk.
Biomimeticist
your heart is a muscle, and it will adapt to the stress loads you can put on it; unless your cardiologist says otherwise.
Both Lance Armstrong and Secretariat had the same heart problem; a hyper developed left ventricle.
The real story of improving your cardio skills is in focus to assure that your right ventricle is as strong as your left.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23470299
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your heart is a muscle, and it will adapt to the stress loads you can put on it; unless your cardiologist says otherwise. Both Lance Armstrong and Secretariat had the same heart problem; a hyper developed left ventricle. The real story of improving your cardio skills is in focus to assure that your right ventricle is as strong as your left. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23470299
What exercises should I do to just work the right ventricle?
Inversion table
not bad for mile 25
O M G
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