I may be a zombie.

 

Or maybe just lazy.

 

Sometimes I wear a heart rate monitor and I find that I have to work hard and concentrate to get my heartrate up into the 120s. If I zone out and just cruise, it drops into the one-teens. If I slow to a walk, it drops to under 100 almost immediately.

 

I wore it for a weight workout before a run. Between my initial sets of squats, my heartrate dropped into the 60s. I don't care about keeping my heartrate up while lifting, but what's wrong with me that my heartrate is so low while exercising?

 

Not that I really worry about it, I just read this advice about how you should slow down because everyone runs their easy runs too fast. They say get a heartrate monitor to make sure you keep your heartrate low enough. For me, getting the monitor just showed me how lazy I am.

Might be that your HR is in check but you are assuming your max is what it isn't?

i wonder what your max HR is. My “easy” run HR is usually 140ish, but my max HR is around 203. So I think I’m doing it right?

Runshortii - Yes, you're doing it right.

GC100k - I second the others... find your Max and go from there.  I heard Galen Rupp only hits mid-150's at marathon pace.  Not everyone has a fast ticker, and yours may be pushing more volume per stroke, which is perfectly fine.  But find your max for a baseline.

GC - I have the opposite issue. When I'm running at a slow recovery pace, my HR is in the 140s. At a moderate easy pace it's up around 160. I think my max is around 185, but I've never really tested it. I just got up to 182 a couple of times on hills. I don't wear the HRM often because the only way I can keep the HR low enough is to walk almost continually.

Ginny, is it definitely your HR and not cadence lock? I get that issue too. Not sure why I wear the chafe inducing strap.....

JayB and OFR - do you guys wear the LunarTempos? I found them on Amazon for like $70 something and thought I might give them a go for my speed workouts, and I know you guys have had issues with the AT's. I can't find them on RW though so IDK if they're legit off Amazon? Hopefully not knock offs.

I feel like ass today. Woke up all night long with a sore throat, and then when I got out of bed today I noticed some congestion/runny nose. Glad today's a SRD. Hoping some water and motrin do the trick and I can finish my week of running (I know it's not much running but I do like to stretch my legs most days).

2nd q, how much reverse tapering do you guys usually do for a half? My muscles are feeling fine so I was going to email my coach that I think I can resume speed work by next week (will have just been a tad over a week from my HM). My Achilles feels good, too.

GC - I have the opposite issue. When I'm running at a slow recovery pace, my HR is in the 140s. At a moderate easy pace it's up around 160. I think my max is around 185, but I've never really tested it. I just got up to 182 a couple of times on hills. I don't wear the HRM often because the only way I can keep the HR low enough is to walk almost continually.

You might have a narrow range between your resting and max HR.  Maybe using %HRR would be better for you.  In any case, if you feel your running is fine, I wouldn't worry too much about it.  However I suspect your max is above 185, but that's just a wild guess .

 

2nd q, how much reverse tapering do you guys usually do for a half? My muscles are feeling fine so I was going to email my coach that I think I can resume speed work by next week (will have just been a tad over a week from my HM). My Achilles feels good, too.

Back when I was relevant, I cannot recall ever needing extended time away from quality sessions after a half. My speed days are Tue/Wed - Sat/Sun, so at most I would skip the T/W session, and be good to go by the weekend.

The one exception (for me anyway) might be coming off of a half during marathon race training. But then again, we usually feel like crap anyway when mired in MRT, so you just kind of roll with it.

 

 

2nd q, how much reverse tapering do you guys usually do for a half? My muscles are feeling fine so I was going to email my coach that I think I can resume speed work by next week (will have just been a tad over a week from my HM).

My coach gives me a hard speed workout four days after a full effort HM.  He's a mean bastard.