January 2019 Monthly Running Challenge

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  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    @martaindale Do you have auto pause turned on? I don't use Strava but have heard others say that it tends to pause sometimes when it shouldn't.
  • shanaber
    shanaber Posts: 6,423 Member
    Ha @7lenny7!
    Ias I read your post after I posted mine you reminded me about how much heat can impact your HR (mine is much higher when it is hot out) and I have used it successfully in races where I have not looked at pace but run to keep my HR in a specific range for xx miles and then allowed it to go higher as I headed for the last few miles into the finish.
  • 7lenny7
    7lenny7 Posts: 3,498 Member
    shanaber wrote: »
    Ha @7lenny7!
    Ias I read your post after I posted mine you reminded me about how much heat can impact your HR (mine is much higher when it is hot out) and I have used it successfully in races where I have not looked at pace but run to keep my HR in a specific range for xx miles and then allowed it to go higher as I headed for the last few miles into the finish.

    @shanaber that's exactly what I do. When I was a new runner none of the HR data meant much to me but over time I was able to understand what I was looking at and how my HR reacted to different paces and conditions. I now know what HR to target for different races. 172 for a 5k, 162 to 165 for an HM, 145 or under for a 50k. If I were to race these distances more often I probably wouldn't need to rely on HR data as much but it works very well for me.

    Your advice to track HR now to look for trends later is spot on.
  • RunsOnEspresso
    RunsOnEspresso Posts: 3,218 Member
    @7lenny7 You're right, I mistyped. It was intervals.
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
    7lenny7 wrote: »
    garygse wrote: »
    If you want to ACCURATELY know your heart zones, you will need a lab and like $100 or $200 dollars, something like that. There are sports medicine places that will give you a full workup, including VOMax and so on. I am skeptical at the use case, but if I wanted to know accurately I would do that.
    Use case: A VO2 Max test can give you a much more accurate view of how many calories you can expect to burn at given heart rates (both carb calories and fat calories).

    The fat calories I couldn't give two kittens about (unless I'm trying to reduce body fat percentage), but the carb calories is extremely useful for endurance events. If you know approximately how many carb calories you expect to burn per hour, you can then figure out theoretically how long you should be able to maintain a given level of effort before burning through 2000 carb calories (and start hitting "the wall"). To me, that's valuable info to have for setting realistic expectations for a marathon or beyond.

    @garygse I agree with what you're saying, and I'm an avid HR watcher, but let me present a different perspective.

    When I ran my marathon I spent quite some time figuring out energy expenditures, and how much would come from glycogen and how much from fat, then using my estimated pace and burn and all that I figured how how much carb calories I needed during my run.

    It was only afterwards, while planning ahead for my first 50k that I realized I had no need to calculate all that. I know through training that I can put down 300 carb calories per hour. If I do that during a marathon, I'm replacing glycogen at the highest rate possible anyway.

    And to @PastorVincent point, there is not always a direct correlation between HR and perceived effort. Perceived effort for a given pace, or HR, can change due to sickness, fatigue, and even temperature. For a long run I'll usually go with perceived effort (conversational pace) with HR as a check, but for tempo runs and races I want my HR data. Yes, HR is reactive so it's not going to help for sprints, hill repeats or intervals but it's a great for runs of even somewhat consistent effort such as tempo runs, long runs and any race from 5k on up. There are many ways to skin that cat.

    You certainly don't need to track HR data to run but it sure is a great tool if one wants to use it.

    There is a big difference in using HR while training (where this convo started) and using HR to evaluate training. If you account for all the variables (heat, sickness, and so on) HR can help you judge a work out post work out. It may even help you detect a heart issue. BUT HR is a reactive measure of what is going on and lags behind what you are actually doing. (See Matt Fitzgerald's 80/20 book for details)


    So to be clear: Use heart rate monitor to record your HR data knowing it is best use is post run when you are evaluating your condition and plan. Or at least that is how I see it, but as I have said, I am not a doctor, just a random dude with a keyboard. :)
  • martaindale
    martaindale Posts: 2,333 Member
    @garygse @rheddmobile Thanks for the suggestions. I'll check the autopause and take a look at my route. Maybe it did double back on me.
    As my runs get longer I definitely need to figure something out for route planning. Most of my runs are in suburbia and all the roads look alike so it's hard to know what connects where!!
  • abowersgirl
    abowersgirl Posts: 3,408 Member
    zeesparrow wrote: »
    I'm counting this morning's walk as my cross training session, as we walked fast. Dogs present interesting challenges in keeping a consistent pace sometimes but they're still my best workout partners. Most of the time our walks are intervals of slow, really slow, stop, walk a decent pace, run... stop! Over and over again. Today we walked a decent pace to warm up, then fast, with only the occasional slow, fast, stop, fast intervals.

    We walked 3.25 miles (5.2k) in 53 minutes, smiling the whole way, and singing occasionally just for fun. They flopped on the floor while I went through the Myrtl routine, wrestled a bit and then tried to help me stretch.

    What a great start to the day!

    🤣🤣 I can relate to this on so many levels, when my dog stops(which happens frequently) I will jog in place, catch my breath and keep going. I found it a great for interval training and when I started out running.
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