Training run HR?

[RedCanny]

teigyr, my HRM is the Polar RS200 - one that is ideal for running, evidently.

My commute is pretty short - just 7 miles of a long down hill then a short uphill on the way there, and rolling hills on my return. On the way home today my HR rarely got above 127.

Wearing the HRM sure is an education. Even wearing it first around the house was fascinating-I'd never thought how much my HR would change from sitting to standing, much less from an easy cruise rate to racing to make it through a traffic light.

[yellow]

RC, there are sevel good books out there on HR training. It IS really hard to live by it at first, and it almost feels like a step backwards. But it does work. It just takes patience...sometimes alot of patience.

I'm like Grog...super high max, high working rates (usually in the high 160s average), and a pretty high resting HR. Always been that way. I recover quickly, which seems to be my only well known indicator of being "in shape". I am a smaller, tightly wound person (though my blood pressure is very low). I know a 65 year old gentleman who is in fantastic shape and his absolute max is over 200 (mine is 203). Like Wahine says, it just depends.

Interestingly, I find there is no difference between my working and exercise max (not absolute max) heart rates for running and cycling. A lot of the literature indicates that cycling rates are generally lower. As usual, I don't fit the mold.

I quit using my HRM for my trail runs because there is so much climbing (I can't even get it down for some of the hills that I have to walk because the grades are simply too steep) that my HR is always high, period. I always do an easy warm up and pretty extensive cool down, which I think helps.

Maybe someday I'll do a real LT test. Or maybe not!

[tattiefritter]

I'm very similar to Yellow, high working heart rates. I can still breathe comfortably through my nose at 160bpm (in fact I was breathing comfortably through my nose at 171bpm a couple of weeks ago for some reason though that is rare). A friend of mine only hits 160bpm when she is working extremely hard and is about to see stars. In our riding group of 14 at the weekend we had a comparison of heart rates and there was a large range.

I judge how hard I am working by my breathing, if I'm breathing through my nose then I am very comfortable, when I start breathing through my mouth then I am starting to work harder. The switch from all nose to a mix of mouth and nose breathing happens around 163bpm - 165bpm fairly consistently no matter what I'm doing. When I was training for my half marathon I aimed to run at a pace where I was always breathing through my nose, if I was having to start breathing through my mouth a lot (hills excepted) then I was going too fast.

I can reach much higher heart rates cycling than running at the minute. On an MTB ride with technical/steep climbs I can regularly hit 187 if I'm pushing it, I think the highest I've managed to hit running so far is 181. I think that is due to the fact that I'm more conditioned to cycling and not having to support my own body weight. I'm intending on doing some hilly trail running however, it'll be interesting to see what happens then.

[Grog]

I can reach much higher heart rates cycling than running at the minute. On an MTB ride with technical/steep climbs I can regularly hit 187 if I'm pushing it, I think the highest I've managed to hit running so far is 181. I think that is due to the fact that I'm more conditioned to cycling and not having to support my own body weight. I'm intending on doing some hilly trail running however, it'll be interesting to see what happens then.

Your story totally reads like mine. I had that same observation about not cranking up my HR as much when running compared to cycling. Then I started running much more seriously last fall and especially doing hill reps. I can now consistently bring my HR to 195 and I've even hit 200 once or twice going up a hill at race pace. I thought it was pretty cool (one of my running partners thought it was pretty scary!!!). And it really pays off in hilly races.

[Jolt]

RC, there are sevel good books out there on HR training. It IS really hard to live by it at first, and it almost feels like a step backwards. But it does work. It just takes patience...sometimes alot of patience.

I'm like Grog...super high max, high working rates (usually in the high 160s average), and a pretty high resting HR. Always been that way. I recover quickly, which seems to be my only well known indicator of being "in shape". I am a smaller, tightly wound person (though my blood pressure is very low). I know a 65 year old gentleman who is in fantastic shape and his absolute max is over 200 (mine is 203). Like Wahine says, it just depends.

Interestingly, I find there is no difference between my working and exercise max (not absolute max) heart rates for running and cycling. A lot of the literature indicates that cycling rates are generally lower. As usual, I don't fit the mold.

I quit using my HRM for my trail runs because there is so much climbing (I can't even get it down for some of the hills that I have to walk because the grades are simply too steep) that my HR is always high, period. I always do an easy warm up and pretty extensive cool down, which I think helps.

Maybe someday I'll do a real LT test. Or maybe not!

Another high heart rate person here! My max (at least for running) seems to be 211; average while running is in the 160's or 170's (this includes some time spent in the 180's and 190's when going up hills). It's not that unusual for me to top 200 when running up certain hills; that's happened on the bike as well. My resting HR is mid 50's to low 60's. I wonder if there's something to your observation that as a smaller, "tightly wound" person your HR gets higher--that description fits me quite well too (my BP is also good).

[teigyr]

Wearing the HRM sure is an education. Even wearing it first around the house was fascinating-I'd never thought how much my HR would change from sitting to standing, much less from an easy cruise rate to racing to make it through a traffic light.

Me too. The funny thing is I watched it go up when I rode over an overpass, I am scared of heights! That led me to my latest idea, Weight Loss for Lazy People. I could show them suspenseful movies or spiders or whatever elevates their heart rate

[Momof5]

I know this is a little switch of topic but I have been having trouble with my heart rate monitor. Ironically the place it works without fail is in the pool, the very place it may give inaccurate or no readings at all because of the chlorine. When I'm running I have to try all sorts of contortions to try to pick up any reading, so many that I often give up all together. Can anyone shed some light on why this might be happening? It also happens on the bike. It's a Polar F6 or some such other model.

[colby]

I know this is a little switch of topic but I have been having trouble with my heart rate monitor. Ironically the place it works without fail is in the pool, the very place it may give inaccurate or no readings at all because of the chlorine. When I'm running I have to try all sorts of contortions to try to pick up any reading, so many that I often give up all together. Can anyone shed some light on why this might be happening? It also happens on the bike. It's a Polar F6 or some such other model.

You might get the chest strap sensor wet before you put it on. I find it really helps. You might also make sure it's fitting tight, but not so tight that it's uncomfortable. Make sure you're placing it right where the bottom of your sports bra would go, kind of around the biggest part of your rib cage. Until I knew how to use mine, I had it in the wrong place and it angered me to no end... when I saw a picture on Polar's site, the light bulb went on.

Good luck.

[RedCanny]

Yes--- pour water over those 2 fabric sensors on the inside of the chest strap, before you put it on. Mine won't work if I don't do that, even if I'm already sweaty.

If you're doing that already... consider me stumped.