New training program increased my resting heart rate 🤔

herblovinmom · November 21

I wanna be a runner! I like the feeling of running, I enjoy it and want to do more of it. I honestly don’t know if I’m doing it right. I probably need a coach or at the least a running store. Since the weather has cooled down around here I’ve started back walking 1-2x daily 4-5 days a week with the intention to advance to running/jogging eventually, i progressed my walks slowly and i also do strength training 1-3x weekly and recently (the last month) added some running intervals into my walks. I take rest days every other day or every two days from the intervals and just walk. But just recently, the last 2 weeks, my resting heart rate has gone up by at least 10bpm. My apple health alerted me to the change. There seems to be a correlation with the addition of my run/jog intervals.
So what now?
I was under the impression the opposite would happen with regular cardio, and for the most part that has happened from a year ago but this sudden uptick has me concerned..
How do I proceed?
Do I need more rest days?
Faster walking with no run/jog
intervals?
This is frustrating me and i could use some advice from the runners out there.
Is this temporary? Should I just continue what I’m doing?
In the past, I would progress to quickly from walking to walking with run intervals and would injure myself so I made it a point this time to go slowly. So far not many injuries to speak of except some occasional foot pain which i probably need different shoes even though I just bought these. But I don’t know, I was having occasional foot pain before any running intervals were added. I also have hip problems on that same leg as the foot pain.

Sorry if that was a lot all at once.

Any one out there to offer any guidance?

Thanks in advance

Lietchi · November 21

Well, theoretically an increase in resting heart over a short period would indicate overtraining or something else that your body is dealing with (a virus your body is fighting, insomnia, high stress, etc.).
That's been my experience in any case.
Your programme doesn't sound excessive 'on paper', but we're all different and context matters. Also, a lot of new runners to tend to run too fast during their intervals.

If I were in your shoes, I would take a step back for recovery: an extra rest day short-term and/or scaling back the intervals (slower speed and/or number of intervals).

yirara · November 21

At what time of the day do you go run/walking? If you do it in the evening then it's maybe not totally surprising as adrenaline and other hormones stay in your system for quite a while and resting heartrate will be higher. (this assumes that Apple's definition of resting heartrate is the lowest during sleep). Do you eat more after your run/walk? Digestion during sleep might play a role. Alternative idea: You might simply be running a small infection. Does your watch do something like heartrate variation or stress level? If HRV is lower and stress level higher then this, or simple more stress during work might play a role. Lots of reasons, really.

AnnPT77 · November 21

Good advice from Lietchi.

Also, two weeks isn't necessarily long enough to see that benefit. Overdoing could be part of the picture, but improving HRrest tends to be a gradual process IME, with potentially a short run cost. Results could differ from your younger self, even with the same stimulus, too.

One common rule of thumb is to increase intensity/duration by maybe 10% per week, max.

I've been doing pretty serious cardio for around 22 years, even got some coaching certifications in my sport (on water rowing).

Here's my HR chart for the past year. The highs are a decent rough indication of when I was doing more intense exercise, without making this more complicated. HRrest has gone up (and down) with increased intensity, but also up (and down) with decreased intensity.

Long term trend since 2002 has definitely been down, though. 😉

My best guess is that unless you have other worrisome symptoms - faintness, weakness, fatigue, light headedness, gasping for breath, difficulty breathing, weird feelings in chest or lungs/heart, etc. - high odds this is a temporary blip, just part off the process or related to some other relatively minor health issue. Even some of those symptoms could be from overdoing.

Give a think to overall average nutrition, adequacy of hydration (mostly based on urine color), sleep quality/quantity, size of calorie deficit (if you have one).

If you're worried, talk to your doctor, not a random idiot on the internet like me who knows nothing about your age or medical history.

Best wishes!

spiriteagle99 · November 21

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Watches are not that accurate for heart rate and can be higher or lower depending on how tightly you are wearing it. Stress, lack of sleep or fighting off a cold can also raise your HR. Pay attention to how you feel during your walks and runs. It should feel easy. If it doesn't, slow down. If it does, then don't worry about the HR.

herblovinmom · November 22

Well I’ve decided to just keep an eye on things and listen to my body. Take an extra rest day occasionally and slow down. My pace may have been too fast for my abilities. I don’t think I can carry on a conversation while running but somehow that’s an indicator of the correct pace. Running is still hard for me. It feels challenging, but at the same time, when walking I feel the urge to run so I’m just gonna keep training and see how I feel in a couple more weeks. Maybe my body will acclimate. I’m not overly concerned as I don’t have any other symptoms like fatigue or dizziness or racing heart beat, nothing that really warrants a doctor as of yet. It’s just frustrating when your trying to work towards your goals and things come up that slow you down. When I feel that motivation, that drive, I definitely wanna ride it out as I know the energy will ebb and flow. But listening to my body is important or else I won’t be able to train at all.
Thank you all that responded. I appreciate your opinions and insight.

AnnPT77 · 1:41AM

herblovinmom wrote: »

Well I’ve decided to just keep an eye on things and listen to my body. Take an extra rest day occasionally and slow down. My pace may have been too fast for my abilities. I don’t think I can carry on a conversation while running but somehow that’s an indicator of the correct pace. Running is still hard for me. It feels challenging, but at the same time, when walking I feel the urge to run so I’m just gonna keep training and see how I feel in a couple more weeks. Maybe my body will acclimate. I’m not overly concerned as I don’t have any other symptoms like fatigue or dizziness or racing heart beat, nothing that really warrants a doctor as of yet. It’s just frustrating when your trying to work towards your goals and things come up that slow you down. When I feel that motivation, that drive, I definitely wanna ride it out as I know the energy will ebb and flow. But listening to my body is important or else I won’t be able to train at all.
Thank you all that responded. I appreciate your opinions and insight.

Doing the right things may not be a faster pace on each run . . . but it will create faster progress (in calendar terms) toward the big goals.

IME, fitness really is similar to weight loss in that way: Aggression feels faster in the moment, but patient persistence and gradual changes really are the faster way calendar-wise to reaching the big goal (not just reaching a healthy weight, but also staying there long term).

You're not slowing your progress, you're reaching it in a smarter, more suitable way.

Best wishes!

New training program increased my resting heart rate 🤔

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