Running

An Gaeilgoir · July 08, 2014, 09:56:25 PM

Went to Achill and did the Half marathon on Saturday, great weather, good course and a well run even...was too cautious for the first 9 miles...tried to get it back over the last 4, but it was no good...finished in 1 hour 56..was hoping for 1:50....had plenty left at the end, which was worse....

my local 10 k in Tourmakeady over the August BH weekend is next on the list....

laoislad · July 10, 2014, 06:23:57 PM

Quote from: Never beat the deeler on July 08, 2014, 01:27:18 AM
So for those that have never tried the heart rate training, will add my own experience so far.

Bought the book at the recommendations of a few posters on here - I already had the GPS watch so I bought the strap to go along with it.

A bit of background - I am a beginner runner, go through bursts where I will go out for a run 2-3 times a week for a few weeks. Usually start out doing 5km runs and building up to longer runs but I found that I was very one-paced. My average speed for 5kms was remarkably similar for 10kms.

After a couple of weeks messing around with the HRM - making sure I had my calcs right, finding the right type of flat course to do it on - I set out for my first 'recovery run' at 70% HR on 24th June. As it predicts in the book, I had to do a bit of a run/walk combo to stay below my threshold and ended up completing 10.6kms.
I have since completed a further 4 runs over the 2 weeks at 12.9km, 9.2km, 15.6km and 10.2km last night. Over the course of these runs, my average time per km has dropped every single run, and I have knocked 73seconds/km off my pace at 70%. (Now would be a good time to remind you that I was starting from quite a low base, albeit fit enough to run a very slow 10km at the start)

From reading the book, he repeatedly asks for patience and to stick it out for a month, so I thought any sort of results would be much longer coming, but I suppose the book is aimed both at seasoned runners and beginners alike.

A further benefit of the 70% runs, is I can now exercise multiple nights in a row without coming in knackered!
I have been mixing in a couple of boot camps a week to get the heart pumping in between.

A couple of months ago I signed up for my first half marathon, which is on 31st August. I didn't realise at the time that I will be flying home from Perth for a friend's wedding, and will only land back in on 30th! So I am going to train as if I am doing the half marathon, and just see how I feel.....
Am I crazy to be even suggesting this? It is quite a hilly course, but I am just looking to complete and I still have 5.5 weeks before I go home

Just back from my first proper attempt at heart rate zone training.
I had a 5 mile run to do so thought it would be a good place to start. I normally do the midweek 5 mile run at a training pace of 9'40 ish per mile,but I was determined no matter how slow I had to go I would stick to the 70% zone.
So how did it go.. Here's what I found.

I kept to the 70% as best I could,it was hovering around 71-72% which was according to my watch 131 bpm ,anytime it hit about 74% I'd slow to a walk and let it settle back down to 70%. I had to do this more times than I would have liked but you have said the book says this will happen so I didn't mind too much(I have the book on order)

Anytime I hit a hill I had to walk to keep the 70% zone,so I guess I should be finding somewhere more flat?

My pace as I say would usually be about 9'40 per mile for this training run but checking my GPS watch at the end I averaged 13'10min per mile. Fair enough that includes walking but is it to slow to be training for a Marathon?
I know over the weeks this should/will improve but do I have that sort of time with the Marathon only 15 weeks or so away?

The last half mile I did at 80% because I was getting bored and it was starting to rain! and this brought my average pace up to 11'09 min per mile which is still very slow.

Yeah at the end of it I could have done another 5 miles easily and I'm not a bit sore like I probably normally would be but I'm unsure as whether I'll stick to this or not as I'm concerned my paces at 70% are just to slow?

I'll keep at it for a week and until I get the book.
Anyone any opinions?

muppet · July 10, 2014, 07:03:01 PM

Jabra sports wireless+

Got them in duty free.

imtommygunn · July 10, 2014, 08:54:10 PM

Ll how many easy runs a week are there in your training? I actually think it could help you rather than hinder you if you do your easier runs at that- your pace will increase in no time. The benefits you would gain in fitness would be massive. Just the easy runs at 70% though- you have the pace runs on a saturday don't you?

I have a pair of sinnheisser headphones- can't remember the model- but they're similar to the ones ml has. Them and an ipod nano.

Tempo run tonight. Found breathing tough as it's ver clammy here but pace not bad.

laoislad · July 10, 2014, 09:09:10 PM

Quote from: imtommygunn on July 10, 2014, 08:54:10 PM
Ll how many easy runs a week are there in your training? I actually think it could help you rather than hinder you if you do your easier runs at that- your pace will increase in no time. The benefits you would gain in fitness would be massive. Just the easy runs at 70% though- you have the pace runs on a saturday don't you?

I have a pair of sinnheisser headphones- can't remember the model- but they're similar to the ones ml has. Them and an ipod nano.

Tempo run tonight. Found breathing tough as it's ver clammy here but pace not bad.

The 3 runs during the week and the long run on the Sunday aren't meant to be run at a fast pace but as you say there is a race pace run on a Saturday.
If I stick to heart rate training what zone should I be in for the Saturday run?

imtommygunn · July 10, 2014, 10:00:49 PM

I'd recommend 80. That's tempo pace which would be about right.

There are runs tuesday wednesday thursday aren't there? Do one or two of those at 70 and just run how you feel to the other one i'd say so you're not trying to be too disciplined and just enjoy it.

laoislad · July 10, 2014, 10:04:28 PM

Quote from: imtommygunn on July 10, 2014, 10:00:49 PM
I'd recommend 80. That's tempo pace which would be about right.

There are runs tuesday wednesday thursday aren't there? Do one or two of those at 70 and just run how you feel to the other one i'd say so you're not trying to be too disciplined and just enjoy it.

Thanks tommy. I suppose I just got a surprise how slow I was going based on my heart rate. Even 80% will be slow.
Every second Thursday I'm doing Yasso 800s just for something different.

imtommygunn · July 10, 2014, 10:10:03 PM

Are you not busted at the end of each run?? I would do 20-30 minutes every thursday at 80 odd and i'm wrecked - wouldn't like to be feeling like that at the end of each run!

laoislad · July 10, 2014, 10:17:41 PM

I was starting to feel a bit tired alright! I was wondering how I was going to cope when the training miles got longer.
As I said earlier I could have easily run another 5 miles tonight using the 70% zone.

imtommygunn · July 10, 2014, 10:23:34 PM

Lol- then i'd definitely recommend the heart rate stuff. Seems disciplined but massively beneficial.

As muppet says don't be a slave to it but definitely i would recommend using it a few times a week.

Running till you're wrecked actually doesn't improve your fitness that much. Every little helps and all but slower way better for fitness.

imtommygunn · July 11, 2014, 08:52:38 AM

Don't worry about heart rate as it's more for training zones. If you're worried about blowing up use 80 for the first few k but then push on.

Never beat the deeler · July 11, 2014, 09:07:08 AM

Quote from: imtommygunn on July 11, 2014, 08:52:38 AM
Don't worry about heart rate as it's more for training zones. If you're worried about blowing up use 80 for the first few k but then push on.

Thanks

magpie seanie · July 11, 2014, 03:36:29 PM

LL - I'm glad you had that experience. It mirrors what happened with me. Even though everyone says it will improve drastically and pretty immediately I'm still sceptical. I shouldn't be - this seems to be the silver bullet if you do it correctly!. Are you using the monitor you got in LIDL that time?

laoislad · July 11, 2014, 03:44:12 PM

Yeah I was using the Lidl one. I've ordered one to suit my GPS watch though as it was annoying me wearing two watches. Saying that the Lidl one does seem accurate enough now that I've got my head around it and it will be handy as a spare.
I'm skeptical myself but I'm going to stick at it. I'll start to worry if I don't see some improvement after a few weeks.

muppet · July 12, 2014, 09:14:41 PM

Maybe Seanie and LL have naturally higher max rates and the rule of thumb calculation is actually working out such that you are really running at a lower (say 60%) hr?

For example, my max should be around 175 using the rule of thumb, but I use 188 as I have seen that on a treadmill. The real max could in fact be slightly higher.