Low HR Training

1

Ditching the HRM for awhile (Read 385 times)

    Ok so I've decided to ditch the HRM for a little while, its frustrating me. 

     

    Short/long story: I busted my butt all Spring/Summer/Fall to BQ. BQ'd on October 17th. Took off some time the rest of Oct and Nov and worked on my swimming and also to recover from some knee tendinitis that I had developed at some point during the Summer/Fall. Started up running again this month, but whenever I go my HR is way above (170's) my Maff (152). Back in Sep I would go out for a run at high 7 or 8 min/per mile pace and my avg HR would be low 150's or high 140's. Now I go for a run and I can hardly get it in the 160's. Tried slowing it down to 9 min/per pace and my HR was still high. 

     

    Maybe i'm over analyzing, maybe I'm still not recovered from October (I don't think so, as my legs feel fine, but I can't catch my breathe). 

     

    Who knows, but I need to start ramping up soon since Boston is in April.  

    BeeRunB


      BZ,

       

      I don't think you are overanalyzing. When working properly, the HRM pretty much tells you the truth.

      And it's telling you, obviously, that your aerobic fitness has taken a dive, which can be a symptom of other things

      (e.g. undertraining, over-training, iron deficiency, vitamin D deficiency, etc ).

      What do you think is going on?

      When you  "can't catch your breath", at what HR is that happening?

       

      --Jimmy

        I think its a combination of things, my diet has been pretty bad the last month (gotta love holidays), and I'm sure with the weather being in the 20's and 30's thats not helping the lungs. I also think my body is trying to get back into shape. Just didn't think it would be this difficult. Got well over a foot of snow today so I'm gonna hop on the treadmill. We'll see how it goes.

          From exercise.about.com

           

        • Aerobic power can decline about 5-10% in three weeks
        • It takes about 2 months of inactivity to completely lose the gains you've made
        • Extremely fit exercisers will experience a rapid drop in fitness during the first three weeks of inactivity before it tapers off
        • Muscular strength and endurance lasts longer than aerobic fitness. Muscles retain a memory of exercises for weeks or even months
        •  

          Looks like you took alot of time off from running and biking and I don't think the swimming fitness translates into running or biking fitness at all so you may be looking at bullet number two as the reason for your high HR.

           

          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

           

            Thanks for the resource Burnt Toast. Damn, was tough taking that much time off but my body or at least me knee needed it. Back to the drawing board I guess. One positive thing is my legs and muscles have been fine and I have not been sore at all on my recent runs. Its just the high heart rate.
              Thanks for the resource Burnt Toast. Damn, was tough taking that much time off but my body or at least me knee needed it. Back to the drawing board I guess. One positive thing is my legs and muscles have been fine and I have not been sore at all on my recent runs. Its just the high heart rate.

               

              the good news is, you will get that fitness back fast.

               

              so why ditch the HRM. enjoy seeing the quick improvements Big grin

               

              by the way 9min/mile isn't that terribly slow, it's all relative really

                Congrats on qualifying for Boston and your recent marathon PR.  I know that you worked hard for this, based on your past posts that I recall.

                 

                I used to obsess over HR changes over the past, but I do not anymore, so much.  I recently cut way back on mileage and noticed within a couple of weeks that I lost about 10 beats of HR.  But, I also recall that I gained about 10 beats last spring within a few weeks, once I got  mileage back up and got in some long runs. 

                 

                For me, it seems like the long runs make the biggest difference to getting HR down for the pace and maintaining that.  I also think the cold weather, and the weight of the extra layers makes a difference if you are running outside.

                  Yea 9 min/mile is def not slow, when i started maff'ng i was running 10-11 min. per mile for a while. Just didn't think that I would lose the base that quick. Or I expected the opposite that is happening, my HR to be normal and my legs to be sore, which is not happening. 

                   

                  Thanks for all the input, hopefully have it back down in a few weeks.