February 2018 Running Challenge

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  • kat_ontherun
    kat_ontherun Posts: 45 Member
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    Starflight00 wrote: »
    @kat_ontherun , you could use one of the online formulas to roughly estimate your zones based on your age, but best is to do a lactate test, if they're available in your area. I'm 34 and had one done last August, and for what it's worth, my long slow runs should be performed @135-147 bpm. Your resting HR seems to be a bit high, did you measure it right after you wake up before you get out of bed?

    Thanks for your advice! I must have messed up the resting heart rate. We did it once in health class but it was later in the day, so it must have been too high because I had been active and it wasn't first thing in the morning. I will retake my resting HR tomorrow morning to get a more accurate reading.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    @_nikkiwolf_ If I drank two glasses of water before a long run, I would need to pee about thirty minutes in! How does everyone handle this? Most places I run are way too public to pop a squat behind a bush, but have no toilet facilities or only one at the trail head.
  • PastorVincent
    PastorVincent Posts: 6,668 Member
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    kat_ontherun wrote: »
    Starflight00 wrote: »
    @kat_ontherun , you could use one of the online formulas to roughly estimate your zones based on your age, but best is to do a lactate test, if they're available in your area. I'm 34 and had one done last August, and for what it's worth, my long slow runs should be performed @135-147 bpm. Your resting HR seems to be a bit high, did you measure it right after you wake up before you get out of bed?

    Thanks for your advice! I must have messed up the resting heart rate. We did it once in health class but it was later in the day, so it must have been too high because I had been active and it wasn't first thing in the morning. I will retake my resting HR tomorrow morning to get a more accurate reading.

    A normal resting heart rate for adults ranges from 60 to 100 beats a minute. Trained athletes may drop below that, but that is about the normal range for normal people (src: Mayo Clinic)

    To find yours, you want to take it when you have been resting for a while. You do not have to have been asleep (pending your dreams, or what woke you, you might have an accelerated heart when you wake up) but you should have been resting quietly for like 15 or more minutes.


    As for your thresholds... since most people can not get the official test, you can estimate it several ways. These seem to be the two ones I see recommended most often:

    WARNING- I am not a doctor. Check with your doctor before doing any rigorous activity. Listen to your body and stop if anything seems wrong.

    1) Wear a heart rate monitor of some kind (Watch, chest, etc) and then go sprint up hills. Work as hard as you can and do like 5 reps. Whatever your highest reading was during that, is probably close to your max heart rate.

    2) Run for an hour at a pace you can finish the hour, but not go much farther. This may take a few tries to figure out, but if you do run for an hour, and have nothing left at the end, the heart rate you have for the last 15 mins or so is your lactate threshold.

    #1 will help you find your max heart rate, #2 will help you find your lactate threshold. Different training plans suggest using either or value.

    The age-based formulas are completely worthless, do not use them.

    This book has great information on heart rate training:

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    Click to see on Amazon.com

    And would be a good read for you to get something from an actual expert, unlike me. :)

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