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Why can't I keep my heart rate low (Read 562 times)

    A little backgroud. 37 Y/O male, I have been running for a couple of years now about 20-25 miles per week. My long run averages around 6-8 miles. The longest I have run is 10 miles or about 1 hour 45 min. I am a slow poke but I see I am improving a bit over the last two years, got my 5K time down from 31:00 min to around 27:00. My recent 10 mile time is 1:35 on a very hilly course. I thought I'd give the Low HR training a shot, and have been slogging away at it the past few weeks (We just had a baby and not finding enough time to run more than 15 MPW right now, but plan on running 25-30 MPW once the midnight feedings are done). In a self test on a treadmill I got my Max HR to about 197 which I probably could have gotten a little higher but did not want to mess up the GYM floor by throwing up Smile. My RHR is about 50. So here is the question, why can't I keep my HR down below 165 even when I slow down to a 13 min mile. I have to run below 15 min mile to get the heart rate under 150, and I just can't run at that pace - feels wierd, and after a while my patience runs out and I unconsiously speed up. I think If I dont pay attention to my heart rate, I am training around an HR of 170-175. Is tihs too fast, and how can I train to run at the seemingly impossibly slow pace to keep my heart rate down. Thanks for reading my long rant. Any suggestions are appreciated
      Your slow twitch fibers have not been trained as much as your others. Keep working at it and you will see your times at 150hr increase. You are the type of person who will benefit greatly from lhrt. Check out the low heart rate training group for much more information. I specifically suggest formationfliers stickied faq about the training.
        There's a good chance your HR is higher than that. When I did an indoor test on a treadmill I couldn't get it past 195 or so. During races I have seen it as high as 215 during my final kick. I didn't have the patience for low HR training either. I saw a little improvement while I was doing it (running 13-15 minute miles like you), but I think just getting out there and running has been much more beneficial. I do most of my long and easy runs based on feel (9-10:30 pace most of the time) and my HR is usually in the 160-170 range.