Well, I have some questions to ask you guys......
I was staying at a hotel overnight and used the small gym for a treadmill run as the weather was hot and surrounding roads very narrow.
I started by doing a 5-10 minute warmup on the stationary bike, then some weights and finally a run of just under an hour.
I do not normally bother about my heart rate but as the bike and treadmill offered readouts I checked from time to time out of curiosity.
My heart rate during the warmup was 90bpm.
On the treadmill after several minutes at 10min per mile I was under 130bpm.
After speeding up to around 9 min per mile for some time I was at 168bpm.
For the last 10 minutes I ran at tempo, 8 mins per mile, and reached 178bpm.
I did not think of trying for a max heart rate, which actually would have been interesting information to have as I have never checked this.
Notes- my resting heart rate seems to vary from day to day depending on coffee consumption and stress level!
I realize there is a lot of variability between individuals, but this seems like a high rate for the effort level, especially at my age.
Should I be concerned?
PBs since age 60: 5k- 24:36, 10k - 47:17. Half Marathon- 1:42:41.
10 miles (unofficial) 1:16:44.
Simon... That does seem but I doubt that it's anything to be concerned about. From what I understand, about 80% of people fit the "formula" for maximum heart rate but about 10% are under that and another 10% are over that and it's just a natural variation and neither is better or worse... just different. It's likely that you're either in that 10% that is higher than normal (which is the case with me) or that possibly the data you were getting from the machines wasn't correct (a good possibility as well).
I'm a big proponent of heart rate training and always wear a heart rate monitor. I always go by my heart rate in races and it's so helpful that I'd feel like it's an unfair advantage if not for the fact that anybody else can do it too if they want to.
My Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) is 185 and in races I'll build up to between 165 and 170 and just stay there. If I go over 170 I'll slack off a little and under 165 I'll go just a little harder. It works great. I never overextend myself and I know whether or not I'm going too slowly. I don't look at my pace -- that just takes care of itself.
I had an interesting age group experience this past weekend. I ran a 10k that wasn't marked correctly and I ended up running 7.3 miles instead of 6.2. Only 4 people in the race ran the correct route and that included two girls and two 69-year-old guys who are fast age-groupers. I ended up 12th overall in the race behind all four of those who ran the correct route. One of the 69-year-olds had a 7:42 pace and all of the others were around 8 minutes. My pace was 7:03 for the 7.3 miles but they all ended up beating me and I ended up 3rd in the age group. That's a race I won't be running next year.
Richard Hefner Past Race Results (Athlinks)
#artbydmcbride
Simon, your heart rates sound fine to me! Mine gets up to 188 on a long run or a fast tempo run.
Runners run
So I got greedy for points for my running club's Grand Prix. I get extra points if I get a PR in a race, so I signed up for this Mile Race since I have never raced a mile before, it would be an automatic PR. and, bonus, it is only a mile, so piece of cake right?
As the date grew closer I started to sweat....how the hell do you race a mile? I usually am just warming up and remembering how to run during the first 2 miles of a race.
Plus I am sort of picturing this humiliating scenario where everyone else is done and they are all watching me struggle to finish. What the hell was I thinking?
Anyway, with a few track workouts under my belt, I calmed down. The only burr under my belt now was my running club friend who also signed up (since she is trying to catch me in Grand Prix points A fast 48 year old woman who just finished her first half ironman!
So race day was yesterday. WHAT a BLAST! A non-earthshattering 7:14 mile, but I am thrilled and I beat my club friend (7:38) , so all the sweeter. I want to do it again!
Oh yeah and second in my division so I got a place medal too!
Congrats Ilene... that's a great time! I've been avoiding 1-mile races because just as you mentioned, I'm just warming up in the first mile.
It wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it would be! Everyone should try it! It just takes a long warm up
Congratulations! Sounds like you really enjoyed yourself.
I ran the mile a couple of times in high school, I think back then I was around 5:00, never was a fast twitch guy.
I joined a Facebook page to bring back the mile- somehow the 1500 does not have much of a ring to it.
I have seen that campaign to 'bring back the mile' Simon, but all it seems to be doing is promoting the idea. It seems like if they organized mile races, it would do more to 'bring back the mile' than what they are doing.
Although it seems they are promoting it for high schoolers, not for us geezers anyway.
Yay, Ilene! Nice mile. I used to have to race the mile for a corporate team many years ago and I thought it hurt a lot!
Out there running since dinosaurs roamed the earth
Yeah, I am pretty sure I didn't do it right because it didn't hurt nearly as much as it should have. I will definitely sign up for another if I see one.