running for first time and heart rate is super high

Doodlewhopper

Everbody's different but I often have a heart rate in the 190s while running or on the elliptical and have talked to my doctor about it and he's not concerned

Perhaps doodlewhopper should give your doctor a call and lecture him on how irresponsible he is for not heeding the readings of a $100 toy. Entire emergency rooms are filled up with people that ran 14 min miles without HRMs.

What's that? No doctor has ever advised anyone to use an hrm? Odd. People on mfp swear it's life or death. Doctors must be stupid

Youre in the company of adults. Behave. Quit pouting. Put your tongue back in your mouth.

lyttlewon

Have you tried starting in walk/run intervals? I still do this, when I feel super tired and over worked I will walk for a few seconds until my heart rate chills again. When I first started running I would start out too fast and kill all my endurance for the rest of the run. I also ran so slow I could have walked faster. In fact I still run hella slow, I run a 17 minute mile, but that is the only way I can make it the entire 5K without feeling like dying.

katapple

One way I got my HR to be more stable while running is to belly breathe, google it and try it.

scottb81

The reason your HR is so high is because your aerobic fitness is poor. At 45 years old you ought to be able to run at a reasonable pace at a heart rate of around 135. With a very high aerobic function you could run fast at 135.

The only way to improve it to the point you can run reasonably well at that heart rate is to train at that heart rate.

RAFValentina

^^ Say what?! Even when I was mega fit and fast my HR when running was around 150-160BPM! Running at about a 7.5 -9 min mile. When I've not been running for a while it is noticeably higher as, as you rightly say, aerobic fitness has declined.

scottb81

^^ Say what?! Even when I was mega fit and fast my HR when running was around 150-160BPM! Running at about a 7.5 -9 min mile. When I've not been running for a while it is noticeably higher as, as you rightly say, aerobic fitness has declined.

At your age 150 to 160 is exactly the right range for maximizing gains in aerobic fitness. At my age I have to run from around 122 to 132 to get the same training effect. Right now that is anywhere from around 8:30/mi to 9:45/mi depending on the day and the route. Someone that is 45 years old that is just starting out should run between around 125 to 135 bpm.

The purpose for running at this low heartrate is to stay at or under the aerobic threshold to maximize the training effect on the slow twitch muscles in the legs. Specifically, it maximizes the growth of capillaries and mitochondria and the activity of aerobic enzymes in the muscles. This allows one to run faster aerobically while maximizing the use of the nearly unlimited supply of fat for fuel. Over time, the speed at that heartrate will increase as well as the speed at higher heartrates allowing one to race much faster for longer distances.

Once a person has spent some time developing their aerobic capacity at this level they could then spend a short time training at higher intensities to get ready to race. However, spending all their time at higher intensities is a big waste of training time because gains at that level are maximized in around 6 to 10 weeks at which time that person will plateau. Gains in aerobic capacity from training at lower training intensities are not maximized for many years.

clover5

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clover5

Most of the advice is seems to be something between keep running and it will improve or slow down a bit. I charted a path around my neighborhood that measures out to 3.1 miles. I did that with a combination of running and walking in 50 minutes. I'd like to keep this route and see how my time improves over the next month or two. Anything wrong with that? Is 3.1 miles too much to start out with?

That looks like a good and reasonable plan to me. Good luck.
Add me if you want.

Azdak

Running is a high-intensity exercise. Once you move to a "running" movement (i.e. both feet off the ground at some point in the gait cycle) the energy cost of the movement increases signficantly, even at a slow pace. For example going from walking @ 4 mph to running @ 6 mph results in an energy increase of about 125%.

It is conceivable that, while you (referring to the OP) have trained at an endurance level for swimming and the elliptical, your aerobic fitness capacity is still low enough that running represents a very, very hard or near max effort. That might also be combined with the fact that you need to adapt to the specific physiologic and metabolic demands of running.

If you want to run, then the best approach is a walk/jog routine. Start off with a relatively short running interval (1-2 min) with a 3:1 walk:jog interval pattern. As your conditioning improves, gradually increase the running interval. If the running is pushing you into a 90+% intensity level, it is best to break up the running into small chunks. As fitness level improves, the running speed should represent an increasingly smaller % of max effort.

As for heart rate, it is not abnormal for some people to have an actual max heart rate that is 25-30 bpm above the "age predicted" number. If you are one of those people, your exercise heart rate will always be "high" at any given workload compared to someone closer to the "average". As your fitness level and running endurance improve, it is likely that the heart rate will decline at that running speed. I doubt that it will go down into the 130s--I don't think that would be all that effective, to be honest. In the absence of symptoms or heart disease, exercising at a high level of effort (reflected by a high heart rate) is not inherently harmful. I am not saying that it is recommended or necessary to work that hard.

_SABOTEUR_

The day my heart rate reached 220 on a hrm was the day i threw the hrm in the bin. That was 6 years ago.

p.s. If you're worried seek medical advice.

xidia

I've been running almost 6 months and my comfortable, sustainable pace still puts my heart rate in the 185+ zone (pace increases with training, heart rate remains as far as I can tell). Biking is 150 ish, but also doesn't get me out of breath. My resting heart rate and blood pressure are down, my stamina is up, I feel fine, so I'm ignoring the heart rate. It's always, always been high, even since a kid, whenever I run, play netball, play tennis, or anything else that requires a running motion.

My blood pressure used to be ~110/70, and is now around 100/62. Resting heart rate dropped from 78 to 62 (at peak fitness, I've fallen off the wagon recently).

If you feel ok, I'd say keep going. If you're feeling like you're going to pass out or throw up, ease off.

basillowe66

You should check with your doctor. if you swim and work out your heart shouldn't be that high!! I wouldn't run anymore until you talk to your doctor

dsjohndrow

That is not unusual for a beginner. I used to 140 just walking! Today I rode at 19 miles per hour on a bike and was in the 135 range. It just takes times. In a 5K I run about 160, lower for the 10K and 1/2 m.

Use one of the training courses like C25K, and if you think there might be a problem, see a doctor!

CnocNaCu

do yourself a huge favor and throw your HRM away. Better, sell it to some other sucker on Craiglist. For some advanced training regimens an hrm can be helpful. For a beginning or intermediate runner, not only is it not needed it actually hurts more than it helps.

Just go run. Running and lifting and dieting are things that get people fit. Not checking hrm readings every 20 steps. I swear 90% of the HRM users on this site are slowing their progress down with those things

Ignore this advice. I'm a beginner/intermediate runner and I find my HRM is brilliant to see improvement, log my calories and make me feel like I have a cool toy. A HRM is fantastic tool for anyone doing any exercise. No one said you are 'checking your Hr every 20 steps'. Wear your HR so at the end of the run you can see your av heart rate and calories burned.

I second this! I started running a year ago and my HRM is what shows the results of my training. It is amazing to see that I am getting faster and fitter, that I can run farther. I started with a Couch to 5K app for the phone and it helped me a lot since I was a smoker for many years and had just quit before I started running. Running for 2 mins and walking for one...then building up slowly but surely....that was the right way for me. Maybe it is something you want to check out for yourself. Happy running, my friend:flowerforyou:

Azdak

^^ Say what?! Even when I was mega fit and fast my HR when running was around 150-160BPM! Running at about a 7.5 -9 min mile. When I've not been running for a while it is noticeably higher as, as you rightly say, aerobic fitness has declined.

At your age 150 to 160 is exactly the right range for maximizing gains in aerobic fitness. At my age I have to run from around 122 to 132 to get the same training effect. Right now that is anywhere from around 8:30/mi to 9:45/mi depending on the day and the route. Someone that is 45 years old that is just starting out should run between around 125 to 135 bpm.

The purpose for running at this low heartrate is to stay at or under the aerobic threshold to maximize the training effect on the slow twitch muscles in the legs. Specifically, it maximizes the growth of capillaries and mitochondria and the activity of aerobic enzymes in the muscles. This allows one to run faster aerobically while maximizing the use of the nearly unlimited supply of fat for fuel. Over time, the speed at that heartrate will increase as well as the speed at higher heartrates allowing one to race much faster for longer distances.

Once a person has spent some time developing their aerobic capacity at this level they could then spend a short time training at higher intensities to get ready to race. However, spending all their time at higher intensities is a big waste of training time because gains at that level are maximized in around 6 to 10 weeks at which time that person will plateau. Gains in aerobic capacity from training at lower training intensities are not maximized for many years.

The inherent problem with that explanation is that running, even at slow speeds, has a relative high (and fixed) energy cost. Someone with a low fitness level who wants to take up running cannot run at an "aerobic threshold"--not at any speed.

So they have two choices:

1. Use another modality (e.g. elliptical) that allows the user to increase the aerobic workload in smaller increments to cross the bridge between the aerobic demands for "walking" and "running".

2. Ultilize a "walk/jog" high-intensity interval program to achieve the increases in aerobic fitness and physiologic adaptations to running.

Choice 1 will still require an adaptaton period to running, but it will be shorter and more easily managed.

Choice 2 is harder and has inherently greater risk, but can be a suitable alternative is one does not have access to a gym, or, in the case of the OP, already has a decent level of endurance and needs to work on increasing max aerobic fitness.

There is nothing inherently wrong with your explanations-they are just more relevant to someone who has made the initial adaptaton to running and has built up a certain level of endurance.

kuger4119

I'll have to agree with the poster that said that it is irresponsible to ignore your heart rate. I will say that you need to listen to your own body more than a piece of equipment. I've been blessed with relatively good cardio and I've never seen my heart rate at 190 bpm but I can't imagine how hard you have to be pushing your body to require that kind of rate.

I agree with the idea that you should probably work on interval training for a couple months. Extended periods with a high heart rate is an excellent way to cause damage to your heart. Mix in some walking to give yourself a break. About six months ago, a study showed that 10% of marathon runners had run so much and so hard that they had scarred their heart.

Run what you feel comfortable doing but watch your heart rate. In time, it will drop. Two years ago, when I would run at 6 mph for any amount of time, my heart rate would run up to 160 bpm. If I ran 9 mph, it would go to 180 bpm. Now, after losing some weight and improving my cardio to closer to what it was when I was younger, my heartrate is 135-140 at 6 mph and 160 bpm at 8-9 mph. My resting heartrate dropped from 65 bpm down to 45-50 bpm.