Low HR Training

1

First post after long sabbatical (Read 59 times)

tortoise88


    Hello group,

     

    I posted a few times in the spring/summer of 2011.  I was relatively new to LHR and running in general with a 2012 goal of 10:00 MAF and personal best 5K.  I don’t do a true MAF test but simply track progress based on a reference route that I run most days – a one hour run - so I always go by MPH (i.e. 10:00 mpm average equating to 6.0 MPH).  When I last posted, I had started running some 5K’s and was basically hovering around my personal best (22:30, achieved 2 years prior to LHR training), so I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t breaking through but at the same time pleased that I was at that level with only LHR training.

     

    I met my goal of 6.0 MPH in July 2011.  Long story short, after that I stopped running altogether until September 2012, mainly due to having child number 2 (we don’t call him that).  I finally got my act together and started up again in mid-September last fall and was disheartened, but not surprised (thanks this forum!), to see that I was all the way back to square one:  4.5 MPH (13:20 mpm).  However, by early December I was hitting 6.0 again, so that was encouraging.

     

    Later in December, my performance started to fall off, probably due to weight gain (never met a Christmas cookie I didn’t like) and being slightly under the weather while never completely sick.  I took 10 days off and started up again last week.  The extra weight is still there but I’m back to 6.0 MPH plus or minus, which I take as progress.  Based on my rate of progress in 2011 when I trained pretty consistently for 7 months, I gain about 0.2 MPH per month (or drop MAF pace about 24 seconds per month).  I don’t expect that rate of improvement to continue, because it has to plateau sometime short of becoming an Olympian, but if it did I would hit 7.0 MPH by May or June (9:00 mpm average).  I’m hoping that translates to better 5K times, and whatever spoils come with that (probably just an irrational and insatiable desire to go even faster).

     

    Other notes:  I may have already posted this but around May 2011 I was also experiencing increasingly severe bouts of tachycardia during my runs.  At one point I went to the emergency room during the day when I got a little faint after a particularly alarming skipped beat.  The doc confirmed I had an arrhythmia (SVT or one of those) and recommended a zapping procedure to fix it.  Loathe to get  my heart zapped, I noted that I was also regularly visiting Smoothie King and wondered if there were chemicals therein that could be influencing things.  I procrastinated the zapping, went cold turkey on Smoothie King and never had another bout of tachycardia during a run.  It doesn’t mean I don’t still have the physical condition but if it's easy enough to manage without surgery, that's my preferred option.

     

    The best part about the arrhythmia experience is that I had two stress tests done as part of getting that checked out and in both cases the doctors seemed very impressed with my fitness level (I’m not accustomed to anyone being impressed with my fitness level, let alone a heart doctor)!  If you haven’t done one of these stress tests, basically you run on a treadmill while they monitor your heart rate and other things and increasingly raise the incline to make it harder.  The whole point is to get your heart to go fast and they had a devil of a time getting that to happen!  So, points for the old Maffetone Method Smile.

     

    Cheers,

    tortoise88

    BeeRunB


      Welcome back, Tortoise!

      Congratulations on having your second child. I hope Two has  a happy, healthy life.

      Glad to hear the tachycardia has subsided.

       

      I've had to go back to square one several times in the past 3 years. The good news is that the aerobic fitness comes back, and doesn't take as long you might fear. Just stick with it. You'll be beating 22:00 before you know it.

       

      Keep us posted.

       

      --JimmyCool

        Hello group,

         

        I posted a few times in the spring/summer of 2011.  I was relatively new to LHR and running in general with a 2012 goal of 10:00 MAF and personal best 5K.  I don’t do a true MAF test but simply track progress based on a reference route that I run most days – a one hour run - so I always go by MPH (i.e. 10:00 mpm average equating to 6.0 MPH).  When I last posted, I had started running some 5K’s and was basically hovering around my personal best (22:30, achieved 2 years prior to LHR training), so I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t breaking through but at the same time pleased that I was at that level with only LHR training.

         

        (...)

         

        I don’t expect that rate of improvement to continue, because it has to plateau sometime short of becoming an Olympian, but if it did I would hit 7.0 MPH by May or June (9:00 mpm average).  I’m hoping that translates to better 5K times, and whatever spoils come with that (probably just an irrational and insatiable desire to go even faster). 

         

        for 5K races, why not do 5K specific training beyond just LHR base building? maffetone says that to do competitive racing you have to train over MAF too

        tortoise88


          Naturally.  My plan was to do only LHR through May, then spend the summer/fall doing 5K prep training.  However, I think my MAF improvement may have plateaued so I'm considering taking it through February and then picking up the pace.