Daniels' Heart Rate & Pace (Read 621 times)

Eustace Tierney

YoYo

posted: 7/3/2008 at 4:47 AM

Hi folks- I have just started using a heart rate monitor and have had 2 runs so far. An 11 mile run where i kept my heart rate around 145 average. and an 8 mile run around 150. Both rates were chosen from Daniels Tables for my current VDOT and were Moderate & High Aerobic runs. I was pleasantly suprised that both of these runs proved so accurate in relation to the pace shown for these heart rates ie 7:29 & 7:10. Both were almost spot on. I would add that conditions were perfect and I felt good on both runs. I just wanted to know how other runners felt who use Daniels. Are his Pace / HR values this accurate for everyone.

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." Goals: Keep on running!

jEfFgObLuE

I've got a fever...

posted: 7/4/2008 at 10:50 AM

Quote from Eustace Tierney on 7/3/2008 at 4:47 AM:

I just wanted to know how other runners felt who use Daniels. Are his Pace / HR values this accurate for everyone.

I've found Daniels' pacing / HR values to be quite accurate. This previous spring, I went out on a run with the explicit goal of putting Daniels to the test. I went on a 20-minute tempo run. Rather than use my Garmin to run a target pace, I aimed to run in the Daniels threshold zone (88-92% of maxHR), without looking at my pace. Lo and behold, the pace I averaged for the 20 minutes in this zone was almost exactly what would be predicted from the VDOT of the race I ran a few weeks later. His numbers are based on pretty large samples and lots of analysis, so the data are robust. But the key thing is to not be a slave to the numbers, but rather, use them as a guide. Sometimes, if you've had a particularly hard week of training, your body may want/need slower than what JD's tables say. So don't forget to listen to your body!

On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.