It’s interesting to observe how your resting HR tends to be a silent indicator of your overall health and well being.
We’ve had flue-like symptoms throughout the house for the past few weeks (headache, tired, cough, bla….). It was pretty clear with my daughter and wife, they were sick and in bed for a few days. Myself, I never admitted that I was getting sick but have simply felt lousy, tired, headache and fatigued for the past 7+ days. Because of this and other work or weather related excuses, I have not run since Sunday thinking my body needed rest and would likely fight-off possible illness.
Its been 6 days since my last run and feeling generally OK I thought I’d get up and go for an easy morning run. I’m shocked to see my resting HR.
Typically my resting HR is around 48-50, this morning it’s up around 59-65! I’m guessing this is an indication that the body is still fighting something off and I did not escape the flue/cold bug. I don't think 6 days of non-running can have such adverse impact on fitness/ health?
Although the HR is way up I am still going to log a few easy miles and not let this low-grade something control my life.
Like so many other aspects of low HR training, it’s interesting to see how resting HR fluctuates with overall health. For me, it continues to be one big experiment with ever changing results.
--Jimmy
I also notice that the resting HR is higher for a day or two after a hard workout or race. It is also higher when fighting off of a cold. I wonder why that is too. Is it just that the heart is working harder to get blood to the parts of the body that are healing. I assume that is what it is.
But, this leads to another question I have had. If my resting heart rate is higher than normal, should I rest (not run at all, or run well below MAF) until it returns to normal? If my resting heartrate is normal it will be in the mid to high 50s. If I am recovering from a more stressful run or sickness it will be in the high 60s. I remember one time, when I had the flu, it was in the 80s, even when resting. At that point, it was obvious that I needed to rest.
It's also a good idea to get to know how your body behaves. Sometimes you can do a hard long run one day, and the next your RHR might be lower than normal. THis doesn't mean your fitness has improved dramatically over night, but that your body is bit woo-woo. Lower than normal can also be a sign of overtraining. You have to get to know your RHR landscape. See patterns.
I ran 8.5 last saturday followed by 5.5 on monday, mostly at maf to maf +15 and by wednesday I had the beginnings of a cold. Each day it has gotten worse. This also happened to me last month after a high mileage week. You'd think I would learn something, huh. My resting hr is usually 52-54 but it was 61 this morning and I haven't moved since monday. It's gotta be the cold.
Bob
all good points. As you pointed out, the #1 thing is to understand your HR and how it responds to stress variations.
Its interesting how the resting HR does indeed identify the body responding to stresses.
Althought elevated I actually went for an easy track run this morning and progressively built from 114, 118, 124, 126ish at mile splits. 5.75miles around and around and around, without getting dizzy...
