Forums >Running 101>LHR training before HM?
Hi,
I am running a HM (my first) in Delhi on 30 September. I've recently bought a Garmin Forerunner 210 (my first again) with a Heart Rate Monitor. I checked my Max HR and my guess is that it's about 200 BPM. To check this, I ran for about 15 minutes at an easy pace and then ran at 6 min/km pace for 2 minutes and then at 5 min/km for 4 minutes. At the end of this I was out of breath and my HR was showing 200. Based on this, I've estimated that my easy pace should be about 140 to 160 bpm (70% to 80% of max HR)
My best estimate of my "easy" pace before I started running with the HRM was about 7:30 min/km to 8:00 min/km. On some days even a pace of 7:00 seemed easy enough. But with the HRM if I try to keep my pace within 160 bpm (80% of my max HR), I end up with a pace closer to 9:00. Clearly, I wasn't running "easy" enough. On my last 2 long runs (26 Aug - 14 kms, 02 Sep - 16 kms: the only long runs I've run with an HRM) I haven't been too fastidious about running within a HR zone. My average HR has been about 160 bpm and it has reached as high as 180 bpm. My pace has dropped quite a bit to 9:00. It's taken me 2h04m for 14 kms and 2h23m for 16 kms. I am worried that at this pace my HM will go on forever.
My questions:
Thank you for reading!
P.S. - I haven't been too particular about logging my runs, but I generally manage to run about 3 or 4 times during the weekdays and a long run on the weekends. The week day runs include 1 run for about 60 minutes while the others range from 30 to 45 minutes.
LHR training is a long term adaption that takes months. You'd be better off following the typical half marathon training program for this race and then transitioning to LHR training. Do you do any tempo workouts, like 8-10 km at half-marathon pace? That would help more in the short term, as well as let you determine your pace for this race.
I personally think wearing a HRM during a race is an unnecessary distraction.
You will have to run your half marathon by feel. If you train properly, your HM race pace will be faster than your training pace.
To give you an idea, I ran my first HM on a base of about 20 miles per week, with a peak week of 27 miles. I did several ten mile long runs, with the fastest at 10 minutes per mile, and one 13 mile long run where I ended up walking the last two miles. Then I ran my first HM at 9 minutes per mile.
It's OK to wear an HRM during the race. Just don't let it distract you during the race.
You are ready. Go run the race and have fun.
Future running partner.
This reminds me of when I ran my first HM and also my first FM. Since this is your first HM, as long as you have been putting the time in during the week and getting upwards of around 10 to 11 miles for your long run you will be fine for your first HM. Since it's your first race I wouldn't worry too much about pace and just go out at an effort that feels about the same as you do for a training run. Since this is a pace that you will feel comfortable that you can finish with and you really just want to enjoy the race and the experience. More then likely you will either run the same pace you do in training and finish strong or faster. Nervous energy can also give you a boost and cause you to run a little faster then you do in training without realizing it. If you feel you really need a good baseline time to shoot for, choose your avg training mile pace for one of your better days that you still felt comfortable on and multiply it by 13.1 to figure out a rough goal time that should be fairly easy to obtain, barring anything like bad weather or an injury. Once you have this first race out of the way then you can try and focus on lowering that time on subsequent races. The most important thing is to allow yourself and have fun, enjoy the experience and as long as you finish you will have a PR.