I have a normal level-set treadmill run that I do frequently. The purpose of the run is to remain in zone 1 or zone 2 on HR (basically anywhere less than 155 HR). To do so, I run a 9:00 mile (6.7mph).
Typically, mile 1 (M1) I have an average HR of 133, M2 @ 143, M3 @ 145, M4 @ 146... and if I go long (ie. 10 miles), I end out about 155 HR for the last mile.
Today was different and I ran the same pace as I normally do ("holding all else equal").... However, today, I did a 1 hour stationary bike ride before I went to the treadmill, and I maintained a 126 HR on my bike (peak of 155) for the hour (which is a little lighter than normal, but I still maintained decent power and cadence). Then I went immediately to the treadmill and began running using the 6.7mph base HR test that I have. I would have thought that my HR would have been higher than my base results because of my hour on the bike.
My HR never exceeded a mile average of 128, and my peak HR was at 132 (over a 54 minute exercise).
What happened? How do I repeat it more frequently? Was it a breakthrough in training, or was it a result of what I ate yesterday, or ????
Notes: AVGHR @ 126, Peak @ 132, Min @ 115M1. 123 HRM2. 126M3. 126M4. 127M5. 127M6. 128Any thoughts would be appreciated.Brian
Life Goals:
#1: Do what I can do
#2: Enjoy life
Puttin' on the foil
Brain - welcome. How old are you and how long have you been training (your log started just this month)? Give me that info. and I'll try to answer your question.
Don't be obsessed with your desires Danny. The Zen philosopher Basha once wrote, 'A flute with no holes, is not a flute. A donut with no hole, is a Danish.'
T-Bone, thanks for the welcome. Yesterday, I found RunningAhead.com.
I'm 37 years old.
I've been running for about 10 years, and I've raced in a couple 1/2 marathons and a marathon. I've logged about 700 miles per year running over the past 3 years.
I've transitioned over the past 2 years from speed to endurance (as I'm training for a 1/2 Ironman), and part of that transition has lead me to the HR training. Over the past 3 - 6 months, I've really worked on HR training and I've used the 6.7MPH treadmill test at least 1 or 2 times per week with different distances and similar results (HR zone 1 up through HR zone 2 as miles progress).
Thanks,Brian
Hey Brain. RunningAhead is a great way to log your workouts and the forums are amazing. For some people, an easyish bike before a run can lead to a good run, I suspect it is like a warm up. I think you are wise to try to do some base building in zone 2 during this part of the year. Are you saying that the upper end of zone 2 is 155 for you? If so, the lower part of zone 2 is going to be about 143 or so. You should try to get into zone 2. If you find yourself in the high 120s, you might consider increasing the elevation of the TM or speeding up. The fact that you HR is rising after you run 3 miles suggests that working on aerobic conditioning is what you need to be working on. That's exactly what you are doing with zone 2 base work. Good job. What half are you training for?
Thanks for the comments. I really appreciate it. Yes, zone 2 for me is between 143 & 155, and I'm trying to do the majority of my work in zone 2 with some training above 1 or 2 workouts per week. A few months ago, I bought a book written by Joe Friel titled "Going Long" that has led me to HR training. It sounds like you're pretty well versed in HR training and endurance racing. (I'm a novice, a student, and an analyst craving more and more data and knowledge).
I'm training for Galveston, TX in April.
The other day, I did a 46 mile bike ride with an average HR @ 138. It was somewhat casual (lower HR that truly desired), but also tough enough for a 37 degree ride at 6:30am..... In my brick workout that I saw my low HR run results, I intentionally kept a lower HR on the bike so that I could stay within my zone 2 on the run using my standard pace.
My workout the other day was not intended to be in the 120s on the run, but that is my standard 6.7mph test that I do periodically. Normally, it's in the 140s. I probably should have increased the speed after the first mile and after I noticed that my HR was below my typical 133.
Below, I've pasted a 10 mile workout that I thought went well and why I consider that pace to be a good fat burning / carb saving / endurance type of run. Based on what I interpreted from your post, my HR shouldn't increase as I go through the miles??? Is that correct? If so, I guess that I'm working on the right things, and need more endurance mile zone 2 training to get where I need to be.
Notes: 6.7mph, AVG HR: 150, Peak HR: 160m1. 133HR, m2. 145HR, m3. 147HR, m4. 150HR, m5. 152HRm6. 153HR, m7. 154HR, m8. 155HR, m9. 156HR, m10. 157HR
That's right, when aerobically fit your HR should be able to maintain a rate at a given pace. If the pace remains the same and the HR goes up, Friel calls that "decoupling." That means you need to work on aerobic fitness. I'd say keep things simple - try to keep your bike rides and your runs all in the 145 BPM ranges, if it start to get up toward the mid-150s, slow down.
I'd say work on that until the end of February. When is your race in April? After this work on aerobic fitness, I'd suggest a 4 week period where you introduce some intensity on the bike and the run. Then a two week taper. So start with the intensity six weeks out from your race. But between now and then, all zone 2.
Going Long is an excellent book. Primarily design for Iron distance racing and training, but much of that applies to halfs as well.
Thanks for the advice.
My race is on 4/10, which is 12 weeks from now.
So, for the next 6 weeks, I should work at 145 HR, and then spend 4 weeks with intensity training, followed by a 2 week taper.
1/14 - 2/27: 145 HR
2/28 - 3/27: Intensity (I may seek help better defining "intensity" later)
3/28 - 4/9: taper
4/10: race
I agree with the full Ironman focus within Going Long, but I'm ok with that as I train for the 1/2. I hope to climb that mountain someday, and a part of my journey before I attempt that mountain is educating myself on how to best prepare for and enjoy the half Ironman.
Cheers,
Brian
KerCanDo-
welcome to RA. If you're interested, there is also a Low HR Training group. For better or worse, most there seem to be fans of Maffetone.
Friel also has an HR Training book, which I like, but I'm not sure it is worth buying in addition to his other books.
Brian - Read the chapter about "peaking." He might call it "tapering." For half, I usually do 3 "breakthrough" workouts. The first is longer and is done on the weekend two weeks out, the seond is a little shorter and is done like mid-week, two weeks out (say Wedneday, abut 10 days out). The last is short (like 1.5 hour bike/.5 our run) the weeknd before. This is good stuff and it will help you if your read it now and plan it out. Good luck.
T-Bone
I've read through Friels "The Trathletes Training Bible" and read a little about the "breakthrough" workouts but he didn't (or I didn't comprehend it) explain what they were exactly. Can you elaborate?
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:
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Welcome Brian!T-Bone definitely knows what he's talking about, and he won't tell you this, so I will - he just did sub-10 at Kona. My best training advice to you would be "listen to T-Bone". His advice helped me a lot with my first half ironman in November.
I got the Triathlete's Training Bible and am trying to be more methodical in training this year.
Fellas - the flattery will get you no where (or everwhere). I have tomorrow off and I will get back to BT's question about break through workouts. It took me awhile to figure it out. It's a central part of the Friel philosophy but its not so clearly outlined in his book. I think it better developed in Going Long.
Tony, I linked over to his blog after I got his original post, and saw his Kona results, and knew that he spoke with authority .
It's been great finding this sight, and knowing that there are folks like all of you that are willing to share your knowledge, trials, and experiences in preparing for endurance race events.
Thanks, y'all.
T-Bone, I'll need to re-read the peaking / tapering chapter. Last night, I skimmed through it again, and need to put a night or two into full comprehension. Thanks! Within Going Long, it's near the end of the book, and there was so much great material early in the book that I "consumed" that it was hard for me to grasp the details in the 1st reading. The book is like the real Bible, you need to read it over and over to better understand it.
Oh, and I think I got confused last week (I'm a novice, and I'm still working from Post It notes attached to my book.... According to the appendix at the end of Friel's book, my biking Zone 2 is within 143 and 152, but my running zone 2 is between 153 & 162. I calculated it by knowing my 5k time and HR and using appendix B within Going Long.
The reason I had been sticking to the 6.7mph is that when I get to the end of a longer run, I end out being in zone 2 (mid 150s HR). (I forgot that when I wrote the original post). I guess that means that I should increase my shorter runs to be at or near the bottom of zone 2, right (153 - 155???)
Constantly studying...
Here is what I wrote on 5/31/2008 as I was getting ready for Ironman Coeur d' Alene (ended up completing the race with a 9:45x, 34th OA 11th amatuer). I was a little unsure of how it would work as you can see from the tone of the log entry. The results did follow. Feel free to go back and look at my log. Take a look at the workouts I did leading into Kona this year. Really felt like I executed the peak/taper properly.
Great race simulation effort. I felt great throughout, probably because of reduced running. Started hard and mainained the same steady effort. Almost race effort. Average HR on the bike on race day should be around 145 or so. Stopped very little throughout the ride. Rode w/ Sam and Heather, but we each did our own thing so I basically rode at my own pace. Satisfied with where the bike is now. I have three weeks to IM. Shin still hurts. I'm going to change things up a bit. Instead of a monster week this week and a two week taper, I'm going to follow the Joel Friel model. Which means I'm going to transition into a two week "Peak" cycle before and one week taper leading into the race. The key to this is elimination of all training fatigue and staying sharp with race simulation efforts. The plan basically involves 4 key breakthrough workouts schedules at least 72 hours apart during the two week period. Both weeks will feature BT workouts on Wednesday and on the weekends. The first Wednesday will be a large brick (4.5 hour bike .5 hour run), or if I still can't run, a day similar to today. Saturday will be a 60 minute run (hopefully!). Sunday will be a 4 hour brick (3.5 hour ride and a .5 hour run). During the second week, I'll hopefully be able to run. If I can without pain, I'll do my last long run on Tuesday 6/10 (about 90 minutes). On Wednesday 6/11 I'll do a 3.5 hour brick (one loop of the course - 2.8 hours - and a 45 minute ROTB). The last BT workout will be on Saturday 6/14, which will be a three hour brick (one loop of the course and a .5 hour ROTB). For now, I'm going to skip my run tomorrow and instead swim 4500 yards. I'm going to take Monday off and get some PT. Tuesday I'm going to swim in the morning and see how I feel. Maybe a short ride, the elliptical trainer or a short run in the afternoon. According to Friel, the key to the Peak phase is to totally focus on the BT workouts, the rest is fluff. You want to feel totally fresh going into each BT workout and a head case like myself is supposed to feel like they are not doing enough during the Peak phase. Any reduction in hours will probably accomplish that. So I'm going to not worry about milage or hours and instead focus on getting healthy and performing the BT workouts at my best. We shall see...
Breakthrough workout = a shorter durationthen planned race, race paced effort brick workout
Sound right T-Bone?