Treadmill v. Road running

aodh_rua

Quick question guys - I'm about 5 weeks into a new reduce what I drink, watch what I eat, do some exercise regime. For the first three weeks I was taking the exercise gently enough jogging around 2 miles most days around a local housing estate over 20 minutes. For the last two weeks, I've been in a hotel with work and using the gym. I'm now up to cycling 4 miles and running 5k (in 28 minutes with a slight incline) on the exercise bike and the treadmill. I've done this on a 2 or 3 days on - one day off basis.

I'm flying home tomorrow - so when I get back to road running again, what sort of target should I set myself for my runs.

Incidentally - I feel fine after the treadmill sessions, but the machines are consistently reading my heart rate up around 170 (and on different machines from different vendors). I'm not worried - but how long should it take for my rate to start to drop? I was fairly unfit starting out (it's nearly four years since I last did any serious training), and I think I'm starting to break the back of the runs now and I don't feel too bad after my sessions.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

hunnymonster

If you are looking to continue increasing your running then there is a general 10% rule that many people find useful. Never increase
(A) the total milage
(B) the speed or
(C) the distance of your longest run
by more than 10% in any week. Some people can handle faster increases but 10% is a useful guideline.


As for your HR. Do you have a heart rate monitor? If you intend to stick at running it's worth investing in a basic one. I like polar but oter people prefer other brands. Do you know your max and resting heart rates? If not what age and gender are you?

copacetic

as above, sounds like when you come back you should be doing 30 minute runs handy enough. Increase by 10-15% a week with every 4th week step back. i.e
say: 4x30 mins first week, 4x35 second week, 4x40 third week, 4 x35 4th week, 4x40 fifth week and so on if you want to keep increasing. When you get to comfortable 40 min runs I'd start mixing it up with 2x30 min rus a week at easy pace, one 'speed' session and a longer run. have a look online for ideas.

On the HR as hunny says more info is required. However it sounds like you are working too hard on your runs as that HR sounds high. Training that way isn't going to bring your heart rate down in a hurry. There are some good refs online for heart rate training too. Checking your resting rate every morning is a good way to track fitness, it will come down gradually...

aodh_rua

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm 27 and male - and I know the rate is pretty high but I wasn't sure if that would come down with the runs I'm doing or if I need to try something else.

The idea of getting a rate monitor sounds like a winner - I don't know my standing rate so I'm not sure how far off it I'm pushing things at the moment.

copacetic

aodh_rua wrote:

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm 27 and male - and I know the rate is pretty high but I wasn't sure if that would come down with the runs I'm doing or if I need to try something else.

The idea of getting a rate monitor sounds like a winner - I don't know my standing rate so I'm not sure how far off it I'm pushing things at the moment.

it's not high because you aren't fit, it is high because you are working too hard on these runs. it won't get you fitter any quicker and you are risking injury.
have a look at the post by transform, he gives a good begineers program and his heart rate guidelines are bang on for you. consitency is the key, you've got a good start keep it up..

hunnymonster

AS DavyM says 170 is probably a bit high for you to do 30+ minutes at this stage.

Not sure if you want this information but it might be useful to someone. The background you need is

MHR - your maximum heart rate. Serious people will do some sort of exhaustion test (e.g. VO2) to determine this. I've also done the home made version. FInd a hill about 150 m long and quite steep. Run up it 10 times at a "guts out" pace and record the max heart rate obtained. It got my correct value within 1 beat per minute (BPM)
Joe Bloggs can get a rather inaccurate estimate by subracting their age from 220 (226 for women) so in your case
MHR = 220 - 27 = 193

RHR - THis is your resting heart rate. You can get it by wearing a HR monitor overnight and recording the lowest value. Again for Joe Bloggs, record your pulse first thing in the morning. For most people this will involve, getting up for a pee because holding your bladder can raise it slightly. Get back into bed. lie very still for about 10 min and then record it. This value is a measure of your fitness. You should see the value droppping as your fitness increases. I've heard 50-60 bandied about as an "average" figure but I've no concrete evidence of this. Mine is 40 at the moment. If it's above 50 on any morning, I don't train that day. Let's take a value of 50 for you to work out the sums.


now the maths.
To calculate your working heart rate (WHR) take your resting from your max
WHR = MHR - RHR
WHR = 193 - 50 = 143

now work out the percentages of the WHR and add these to your RHR to get the target heart rates
60%(143)=86+50 = 135
70%(143)=100+50 = 150
80%(143)=114+ 50 = 165
90%(143)=129+50 = 179

Between 60 and 70% is your energy efficient zone (also called recovery zone but I don't like this). This is the best place to be to build basic endurance. It also facilitates easy fat burning and a certain amount of muscle recovery

70-80%; This is your true aerobic zone. This work trains your cardiovascular system. As you become fitter more of your 60-70% runs will push their way into this zone

80-90%: This is the anaerobic zone. Training here will develop your lactic acid system. Less fat is burned in this zone, though calories are used at a higher rate and these have to come from somewhere.

>90% - red line zone - you'll only be able to train here for short periods e.g. sprints. It will develop your fast twitch muscles i.e. speed.