POLL --- Do you use a heart-rate monitor in your RUN training? (Read 386 times)

ROD in Miami


    Poll to accompany my earlier posted question:

    "As I mentioned in my earlier post this morning ("Weird -- Getting to near or beyond MaxHeartRate at beginning of easy run") I have been running for most of the adult portion of my 55 years sans heart-rate monitor.  Friday I put on my Garmin's HR strap which had been hanging virgin in the closet and went out for my usual pre-dawn 10k run.  Wore it again this morning.  It's cool to see the extra graph on RunningAhead but am not clear of its practical training value.  I train by pace: McMillan's formulas or the paces prescribed in whatever training plan I may be following.

     

    Now as a former (reformed) Ironman Triathlete I recall that my cyclist buddies loved the HRM because, set on the handlebars, they could watch it like a tachometer on a car.  And it gave them a constant gauge for level-of-effort that on a bike speed will not give you (because of uphill, downhill, into wind, out of wind, drafting, not drafting, etc.).

     

    But what's the consensus now-a-days on the practical training value for us runners?  Thoughts?  Should I start using mine regularly and if so in what manner?"

    TJoseph


      Is "RUN" training an acronym or does it just mean training for running?  I never use a HRM even though one came with my Garmin.

      ROD in Miami


        RUN = running.  All caps to deferentiate using it for cycling.


        Not dead. Yet.

          I'm a geek, so I love seeing the data.  I don't use the numbers to train.  I want to get a foot pod just so I can see my cadence on a graph.

          How can we know our limits if we don't test them?

          TJoseph


            I have the footpod too and used to use it on the treadmill. But calibration is a PITA, I don't remember where I put it, and it is just easier to jump on the treadmill without my Garmin and use the console, so I don't use that anymore either. I always wear the Garmin when I run outside though (without the strap). My cadence didn't really vary much so that data wasn't very interesting after the first run.
            joescott


              Only when I have to for work.

              - Joe

              We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.

              FSBD


                I got a Garmin with heart rate monitor and foot pod for Christmas   I used the heart rate monitor two days in a row and it left such bad cuts in my chest that I still have the marks.  I have not used it since.  I'm pretty pissed about it because I am a numbers geek so I liked looking at the data, such as a much more accurate calorie count.  (not to mention the extra cost)

                Now the foot pod I use all the time so I don't have to count laps on the 1/8 mile indoor track at my gym.

                We are the music makers,

                    And we are the dreamers of dreams,

                Wandering by lone sea-breakers,

                    And sitting by desolate streams; 

                World-losers and world-forsakers,

                    On whom the pale moon gleams:

                Yet we are the movers and shakers

                    Of the world for ever, it seems.


                Wandering Wally

                  Just started using a HRM recently and now I won't run without it.  I strive to stay in my aerobic zone while training.

                  Run!  Just Run!

                   

                  Trail Runner Nation Podcast

                  ROD in Miami


                    I have the footpad and for cadence (not for distance) I love it and use it.  Trying to push my cadence at or above 90 (180).  I setup an extra Garmin screen so I can look at it occasionally while running.

                     

                    Rod Lauredo

                    Miami

                    DoppleBock


                      I seldom use a watch, never use a HR monitor

                       

                      I like to run by feel

                      Long dead ... But my stench lingers !

                       

                       

                        How about I send you a couple bucks so you can ship me the Garmin accessories you are not likely to or never use like the HR strap and footpod? I'd appreciate it.

                         

                        I have the footpod too and used to use it on the treadmill. But calibration is a PITA, I don't remember where I put it, and it is just easier to jump on the treadmill without my Garmin and use the console, so I don't use that anymore either. I always wear the Garmin when I run outside though (without the strap). My cadence didn't really vary much so that data wasn't very interesting after the first run.

                         

                        The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff

                         

                        2014 Goals:

                         

                        Stay healthy

                        Enjoy life

                         

                        Nakedbabytoes


                        levitation specialist

                          When I first got my Garmin last January, I wore it and I got so worried at seeing the high numbers, that I stopped wearing it after a few weeks. I just recently got curious and started wearing it again, wow, how I have progressed! I can't get the high numbers I saw before(running 11mm pace) unless I sprint below a 6mm.

                          So I wear it all the time now and like to see that my perceived effort does indeed match what I am seeing on my watch and graphs later on. I think in a way, it reminds me to run each workout in the correct pacing zone(Pfitz), if my HR goes above a certain number, then I am working too hard and not getting the benefit of the recovery run. Or say, I am feeling good and my pace should be 7:30mm according to my calculations for an interval but yet my HR no longer says this is challenging, so not running the hard run hard enough.

                          I guess I see it as another check and balance to the vague idea of running by feel. They are related but can be influenced by different things independently. I can see that I am progressing instead of feeling I am and then questioning that feeling. Sometimes we overthink training. The numbers let me relax about my progress. I see it. It is there in raw data.

                          I have a 610 with HRM and a footpod, every run, all the time.


                          SheCan

                            I used the heart rate monitor that came with my Garmin for about a week when I first got my watch over a year ago.  After about a week, I was pretty much finished with it, and have not had the urge to revisit it.

                            Cherie

                            "We do not become the people who this world needs simply by turning our backs on anyone we don’t like, trust, or deem healthy enough to be in our presence. "  ---- Shasta Nelson


                            Why is it sideways?

                              I wore one once. My average heart rate for an 8 mile run at an easy pace on a beautiful day for running was 138.

                               

                              I was satisfied with that.

                              kcam


                                That's a 'no' for me.  I'm a data geek and I tried using an HRM for about 3 or 4 months and finally just gave up.  B-O-R-I-N-G.  I found it added little of value to my running but it did tell me that I'm a low-heart-rate trainer and didn't need to worry much about slowing down on my easy days.