Is peak zone HR detrimental?

SciFish
SciFish Posts: 23 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I started doing interval running (C25K type) mid-February and use a Fitbit Charge HR which is giving me reasonable data for comparison. I can't help but notice how high my average HR is during these 30-35 minute workouts (3 times per week). My 'fat burn' zone is 127 and 'peak' is 154. My average workout HR is 140-149, and on Friday I spent a record 56% of the time in the peak zone. This seems wrong to me, especially given that moderate activity is recommended by gmnt departments.

Since January my resting HR has decreased from about 72 to 60, which amazes me, and the vast change has been since I started running. I REALLY struggle with running stamina, and poor lung capacity. I have no chest pain and my heart is probably fine (GP recently checked) but I always feel like it's a near-death experience!!! I run very slowly because I'm trying to KEEP GOING; my goal is 5km straight, and I don't care how long it takes me.

So why does my HR rise so much? This is only the average too, of course 8-|
How much time can I safely spend in the peak HR zone? I can't seem to find this info online. I know the difference between my resting HR and average when running is enormous, but I want to understand what is safe, and if it is detrimental to exercise with my HR so high. I'm 38 so max HR is 182 ish.

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    So why does my HR rise so much?
    Here's the answer.....
    I REALLY struggle with running stamina, and poor lung capacity

    I have no chest pain and my heart is probably fine (GP recently checked).
    Good - carry on.

    I run very slowly because I'm trying to KEEP GOING; my goal is 5km straight, and I don't care how long it takes me.
    Sensible! Good strategy. But feeling "near death" probably means you need to back it off a little more.

    How much time can I safely spend in the peak HR zone?
    As regards safely all the time in my view. I'm frequently in what my HRM rates at the highest zone for all but the first few minutes of warmup for my high intensity cardio sessions. But again feeling "near death" probably means you need to back it off a little more.

    I'm 38 so max HR is 182 ish.
    That's just a very rough estimate. Your actual max HR may be considerably different and is very individual. Without doing a max HR test you won't really know. Mine was only 11bpm higher than my age related maximum but my brother regularly exceeded 200bpm at age 50.

    I know the difference between my resting HR and average when running is enormous,
    My minimum HR is 48 and I can comfortably maintain 150bpm for an hour. Bear in mind I'm very fit now but that only comes with time and training progressively.

    Since January my resting HR has decreased from about 72 to 60
    Great progress.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    ^^^^ I think he pretty much nailed it.

    Don't worry too much about "zones" the 220-your age has been demonstrated to be pretty mush useless (it was arbitrarily chosen as a max HR for people recovering from heart attacks...)

    If you need to slow down and then slow down some more, build your aerobic base slowly and have fun along the journey. I've been where you are now, when I was 52 I ran my first 5K in just under 40 minutes (and it hurt..) but I haven't looked back. Now I'm running half-marathons & Olympic distance duathlons......you can do it!


  • capaul42
    capaul42 Posts: 1,390 Member
    Everyone else pretty much nailed it but I will add that you can't take Fitbit's resting heartrate as gold. It's an average of your recent low readings. True resting heart rate is calculated a little differently I'm told. If you've had some relaxing days where you spent long periods of time not doing anything, your resting heart rate drops dramatically.
  • SciFish
    SciFish Posts: 23 Member
    Thanks for your info everyone. I was really concerned about safety and I blame a treadmill for that. Wet days have seen me on a rubbish treadmill at the uni gym and I usually hold the bar as I manually drop the speed for intervals (it's so rubbish that I can't preset two speeds). It invariably flashes some warning on the screen around this point saying "HR 154 too fast!" or similar. So I figured this peak zone must be dangerous somehow...?

    I'm not dependent on these zones or Fitbit data. I tried to emphasise that I'm using these stats only for comparative purposes, which is their real value. Accuracy is low, I appreciate, and even more so for the treadmill's hand HR monitor! But still, there are some broad concepts like these, which have been highlighted because of my data-watching, and I realise that I need to understand them better.

    Thanks again.
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    depome wrote: »
    I started doing interval running (C25K type) mid-February and use a Fitbit Charge HR which is giving me reasonable data for comparison. I can't help but notice how high my average HR is during these 30-35 minute workouts (3 times per week). My 'fat burn' zone is 127 and 'peak' is 154. My average workout HR is 140-149, and on Friday I spent a record 56% of the time in the peak zone. This seems wrong to me, especially given that moderate activity is recommended by gmnt departments.

    Since January my resting HR has decreased from about 72 to 60, which amazes me, and the vast change has been since I started running. I REALLY struggle with running stamina, and poor lung capacity. I have no chest pain and my heart is probably fine (GP recently checked) but I always feel like it's a near-death experience!!! I run very slowly because I'm trying to KEEP GOING; my goal is 5km straight, and I don't care how long it takes me.

    So why does my HR rise so much? This is only the average too, of course 8-|
    How much time can I safely spend in the peak HR zone? I can't seem to find this info online. I know the difference between my resting HR and average when running is enormous, but I want to understand what is safe, and if it is detrimental to exercise with my HR so high. I'm 38 so max HR is 182 ish.

    You're fine.

    I'm 54 and plan on spending 3-4 hours between a heart rate of 161-175 today on the bike? :smile:

    http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/joe-friel-s-quick-guide-to-setting-zones

    Run Zones

    Zone 1 Less than 85% of LTHR
    Zone 2 85% to 89% of LTHR
    Zone 3 90% to 94% of LTHR
    Zone 4 95% to 99% of LTHR
    Zone 5a 100% to 102% of LTHR
    Zone 5b 103% to 106% of LTHR
    Zone 5c More than 106% of LTHR



  • pernajack
    pernajack Posts: 7 Member
    Heart rate zone training is really more for runners trying to refine their training by targetting specific adaptations. Just run consistently at a pace you don't find awful. You don't need to overthink this when you're so detrained. Consistency and gradual increases in volume are all you need to think about.

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