heart rate and running?

aprilgicker

I have started running again. But being older now I use a HRM. What should a target heart rate be for extended cardio runs. I don;t want to run in the red for too long. I ran today and would max at 178 for 30seconds and would slow down even though I think I could have gone longer. Is this too high or am I over worrying?
I would like to run 5k's to be competitive and need to know target rate for a healthy runner?
Thanks for any help out there.

Amarillo_NDN

You can easily find your Target Heart Rate (thr) with this simple method. Subtract your age from 220 (226 for women) to calculate your Maximum Heart Rate (mhr). Find your training zone below and multiply that number times your maximum rate.

TRAINING ZONES

Healthy Heart Zone (Warm up) --- 50 - 60% of maximum heart rate: The easiest zone and probably the best zone for people just starting a fitness program. It can also be used as a warm up for more serious walkers. This zone has been shown to help decrease body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol. It also decreases the risk of degenerative diseases and has a low risk of injury. 85% of calories burned in this zone are fats!

Fitness Zone (Fat Burning) --- 60 - 70% of maximum heart rate: This zone provides the same benefits as the healthy heart zone, but is more intense and burns more total calories. The percent of fat calories is still 85%.

Aerobic Zone (Endurance Training) --- 70 - 80% of maximum heart rate: The aerobic zone will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory system AND increase the size and strength of your heart. This is the preferred zone if you are training for an endurance event. More calories are burned with 50% from fat.

Anaerobic Zone (Performance Training) --- 80 - 90% of maximum heart rate: Benefits of this zone include an improved VO2 maximum (the highest amount of oxygen one can consume during exercise) and thus an improved cardiorespiratory system, and a higher lactate tolerance ability which means your endurance will improve and you'll be able to fight fatigue better. This is a high intensity zone burning more calories, 15 % from fat.

Red Line (Maximum Effort) --- 90 - 100% of maximum heart rate: Although this zone burns the highest number of calories, it is very intense. Most people can only stay in this zone for short periods. You should only train in this zone if you are in very good shape and have been cleared by a physician to do so.

Azdak

I have started running again. But being older now I use a HRM. What should a target heart rate be for extended cardio runs. I don;t want to run in the red for too long. I ran today and would max at 178 for 30seconds and would slow down even though I think I could have gone longer. Is this too high or am I over worrying?
I would like to run 5k's to be competitive and need to know target rate for a healthy runner?
Thanks for any help out there.

Always reference your heart rate numbers to your feelings of perceived exertion. There is a wide range of "normal" heart rate responses to exercise, so there is no fixed number that is appropriate for everyone.

You cannot really "run in the red for too long"--your body will fatigue long before your heart.

Try some different speeds--from "light" to "fairly light" to "somewhat hard" to "hard" and see what heart rate corresponds to each level of perceived exertion. Include different combinations of intensity and distance in your training.

aprilgicker

Thanks for the help guys. It felt good to run again. I really enjoyed it when I was in High school. We lived on a dirt road and I would train barefoot. When my husband got into training and was considering the barefoot running fad, I decided I wanted to run again.