What happens with "overtraining?' (HR question) (Read 947 times)

Well, I'm toting around 25-30 extra pounds right now - 135 is my goal, even better would be 130, but I somehow doubt I'll ever see that weight ever again, I got down to that weight once but didn't manage to keep it off...I'm at 157 right now. Regarding the slowing down/reducing effort - is it better to be doing that on my long run days or my short run days? or both? Still a noob, so I'm not doing (intentionally anyhow) any speed training. And yes, I've only been running since September. maybe August - I started with the C25k program and I don't think I started logging here until I was towards the end of the program.

Right now, most of the runs should be "aerobic" pace. That's the easy pace everyone has been talking about. Now, assuming you're healthy, and you haven't been injured, I would say that there is nothing wrong with going faster on some of the runs, but never do it the day before or after a long run. I'm not saying go down to the track, but you can certainly work on running at a faster rate for part of the run. An example: Long run on Sat., do your tempo run on Wed. Let's say it's 6 miles. Do 2 miles normal to warm up, then slowly speed up to a pace where you've got to work for it. Maintain that pace for about 2-3 miles, then slow back to your easy pace to finish out the run. This will get you used to running at a faster pace, too, yet still be easier on the body than standard interval training. I wouldn't think about intervals for 6 months to a year, depending on the runner.

Wow, sounds just like me. I feel that I can't be any slower yet my HR is extremely high. After taking some advice from JakeKnight, I realized that I could talk find and it was just my heart. Now I still use garmin for curiosity and with the mileage/splits part of it, but if it says 183 and I'm fine, I just ignore it and I feel a lot better!