Quote Originally Posted by Tri Girl View Post
And don't worry if your HR is higher. When I run, I'm always in the high 160's (which is far too high according to norms). I'm not breathing hard, not struggling- but it's just where I run. My HR shoots up so high on the run, I cannot keep it down. It'll be in the 130's when I walk, then I run and it shoots up to the 160's. My resting HR is in the 50's so it's not like my heart is out of conditioning or anything.
I stressed about it for a long time, but finally realized that it is what it is. Last year I did some HR training and actually got it to stay in the 150's, but that's the lowest I've EVER gotten it to stay during a run.
Some people just have a higher HR when working out, and that's OK, too.
You sound just like me! I tend to run in the 160's-170's and it's highly unusual for me to get through a run (usually 3-4 miles) without getting into the 180's at least once on an uphill stretch, and often I spend a fair amount of time in that territory during the second half of the run if there's a lot of uphill stuff (which there usually is around here). Sometimes I even get into the 190's; my max seems to be 211 which is way off from what that 220-age formula says. And I have a resting HR in the mid 50's as well, so as in your case it's not a matter of being out of shape. I don't think any "one size fits all" formula works--there is too much variation between people.