Heart rate

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Nov 2007
1:35pm, 15 Nov 2007
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Pammie
Not run for a few days. Monday, deep massage ye-ow.
Tuesday couldn't fit it in yesterday CBA. But did 6½ miles today 144 67%whr that seems norm. Pace a bit slower than normal but not worried too much
Perfect coditions for distance running but have been feeling a bit down lately non running issues but i'm sure i'll be feeling up tempo soon (sorry)
Nov 2007
4:44pm, 15 Nov 2007
2,064 posts
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Velociraptor
I put my HRM on for the first time in ages for my "recovery run" today, to see what my heart rate would be at a strictly aerobic effort level. Ended up with an average of 72%WHR over 8 miles, and from my past experience (and the fact that I was running at "able to sing aloud, though not always in tune" effort today even on the uphills) I suspect that 72% *is* aerobic for me and there's no point slowing up by 20-30s/mile just to stay under 70%.

I also suspect that 85%WHR is too low for my hard runs. I can get up to 85%WHR while still conversational.
Nov 2007
4:48pm, 15 Nov 2007
1,151 posts
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Pammie
Thats brilliant vrap. You have obviously a very high lactate threshold. I'd probably nudge it up a bit further (oh i know all the techno words)
Any idea where it stops being conversational?
Nov 2007
5:48pm, 15 Nov 2007
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B.B.
Ooh, the proverbial %ges and grey areas were being thrown around a little here, I see!

My take on HR training is as follows... athough who knows if it has worked for me.

* I like running at 70% WHR because it's a leisurely pace where I can be clipping along nicely looking at stuff. It gives me good base fitness.

* The 85% WHR floor for hard sessions is a benchmark that kicks my arse. To get to 85% I have to be cranking like a crazy fool, and it's uncomfortable and it hurts like hell. What's more, the fitter I get the more it seems to hurt as I have to go flipping fast to hit that 85%. This is what makes you stronger and faster in races. In club sessions I don't need to look at my HR much, as I know it's up there. Where it comes into its own is when I'm training alone. The HR monitor is sitting there like a devil on my shoulder, saying 'work harder you fat, lazy git'

I haven't opened my Parker book in months. In fact I've loaned it out to 3 or 4 other people to share the love. I don't need to look at it.

It's great for beginners. Manna from heaven in fact. But once you understand it, have done the basics and hopefully got fit, I think it's time to be flexible in your own training programme and get some quality advice from an experienced runner. 9 times out of 10 a good training programme will incorporate nearly everything that Parker suggests.

But if you want to step it up a gear you need to tailor your hard sessions to be harder and longer. Look at Gobi, for example. This is an example of an excellent runner achieving times that many would have doubted - mainly as a result of good old hard work, and basically a lot of kick arse hard sessions. The main reason I haven`t improved much since April was because I hadn`t changed my training plan. I thought what served me well in the first half of the year was the way to go again to carry on improving. It was... if I wanted a similar sort of performance, which is what I got. I had/have reached a plateau for me. I won't get any better unless I put in the extra work to get me there.

And I really like bottoms and boobs
Nov 2007
6:05pm, 15 Nov 2007
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I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said there BB. Funnily enough I haven't looked at the Parker book either for a long, long time - I don't need to. :-)
Nov 2007
6:28pm, 15 Nov 2007
11,109 posts
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B.B.
All hail the mighty BB, I say. By the way, I picked up a US RW on holiday, and Parker's book 'Once a Runner' is a cult book for US runners. It's a fiction about a young athlete training for the olympics. You can only pick up second hand copies at mega bucks now. He's written a follow up to be published soon. They're all wetting themselves about it.
Nov 2007
6:45pm, 15 Nov 2007
2,067 posts
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Velociraptor
Pammie, I stop being able to chat somewhere between 85% and 88%, and my lactate threshold (or the point at which I only just don't feel sick and can maintain the effort level for several miles) is around 92%.

The figure I'm using for max HR may be low, but only by two or three beats at most - not enough to bring my numbers down to 70% and 85%.
Nov 2007
6:56pm, 15 Nov 2007
2,131 posts
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Boingy
Okay, went tonight for 6 miles, and got my somewhere near back to the pace where I was before my injury, 9.25min/mile. Had a few excursions above 70%, but managed to keep each mile average between 65 and 68%, so happy enough. Really enjoyed my run tonight. Nice and cold !

Interesting post BB. I guess when it boils down to it there really isn't much to the Parker way of doing things, it's just a case of keeping an eye on your max and min heart rates, and remembering the 70% & 85% rules. I'm just beginning all this HR training, so a long way to go yet, but it will be interesting to see at what level I plateau out (I hope it's a damn sight quicker than the pace I'm at now:-)).
Nov 2007
8:23pm, 15 Nov 2007
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Boingy, exactly right, there isn't much to the Parker way and that's why it's a good way of getting in to structured training. You don't have to fuss about with any more fine grained training like for example five HR zones or getting complicated with the threshold runs and such like. It helped me no end but I had to be disciplined about it. Now I used that disciplnined aproach to the rest of my training.

Basically, what I advise people on here I don't completely train like it ay more. I give advice based on my experience of it because I trained that way for close on two years and it helped me greatly.

BB has proved though that it can also help seasoned runners to get that discipline of running slow enough on their slow days and hard enough on their hard days though so it is a very useful way of training IMHO.

Keep up the good work Boingy! :-)
Ted
Nov 2007
8:29pm, 15 Nov 2007
521 posts
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Ted
There are 2 really good points in BB's post that I will comment on.

1. Parker's method is good, especially for beginners. It helps us (I class myself here) to train to a structure and has limitations on how far it can take you if you stick religiously to it. By that time you should be man/woman enough to expand upon it and stretch yourself further/harder.*

2. Bottoms and boobs are really nice and I mean really.

*I hope I explained the words in my head on this point properly

About This Thread

Maintained by Elderberry
Everything you need to know about training with a heart rate monitor. Remember the motto "I can maintain a fast pace over the race distance because I am an Endurance God". Mind the trap door....

Gobi lurks here, but for his advice you must first speak his name. Ask and you shall receive.

A quote:

"The area between the top of the aerobic threshold and anaerobic threshold is somewhat of a no mans land of fitness. It is a mix of aerobic and anaerobic states. For the amount of effort the athlete puts forth, not a whole lot of fitness is produced. It does not train the aerobic or anaerobic energy system to a high degree. This area does have its place in training; it is just not in base season. Unfortunately this area is where I find a lot of athletes spending the majority of their seasons, which retards aerobic development. The athletes heart rate shoots up to this zone with little power or speed being produced when it gets there." Matt Russ, US International Coach

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