Random Running Questions

T-Bird

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121427932#Comment_121427932

I normally do my easy runs based on HR. My normal HR at easy pace pre Dublin was mid to high 130s and is now stubbornly in the low to mid 140s. I have also tried to slow the pace right down and even stop until it goes back down but it just goes back up again.

BeepBeep67

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121427932#Comment_121427932

Could be the monitor reacting to the cold weather, more so than you.

Slow_Runner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121427932#Comment_121427932

I am in the same boat. Is it chest strap HR? This needs moisture between ur skin and the sensor to better pick up the signal your heart rate transmits, so in warm weather you sweat more readily so the HR gets picked up quicker. In cold weather you sweat less so HR is harder to pick up. I usually wet the strap before heading out - doesn't always work tough, I just ignore HR at the start until it settles down

MisterJinx

Thanks all, its wrist based but there could be something there about the cold impacting it either as a reaction or lack to moisture contact. It's usually bang on so I'll try and get it a little wet and see if it makes a difference

TheRef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121430507#Comment_121430507

I just recently gave up on the optical HR monitor on my Garmin. Earlier in the year when I tested it against my chest strap, it was always incredibly similar, but over the last few weeks its being all over the place. No idea why, but I've reverted to the chest strap, and to be honest, I wouldn't train on HR without the chest strap.

event

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121430507#Comment_121430507

If you are training by HR, don't go by wrist based

MisterJinx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121431731#Comment_121431731

I hear that all the time however Dc Rainmaker tested the optical HR in my Garmin 945 compared to other watches and HR straps and it performed very well against them. I also have the natural advantage of having light skin and light fine hair with a fairly controlled arm motion so if there was anyone who would get a good reading it's me!

T-Bird

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121432181#Comment_121432181

I second that as well. I have gone on a few runs with 2 Garmin's with one using a heart strap and there is very little difference apart from a slight delay.

chabsey

Similar experience as myself although for me it's a little weirder. I use a Garmin HR strap and I was regularly running my easy paces about 5:20 per km and a HR of roughly 130. It was very consistent, some days maybe 5 beats higher, some days 5 beats lower but the pace was always around 5:20 or so. I ran DCM and noticed my HR was weirdly elevated very quickly, I put it down to the day that was in it, the event etc. I took a week off after DCM and ever since coming back to regular running my HR is up about 20 BPM and my pace way slower than normal.

For example, a route I have run many many times (I'm the local legend on a bunch of strata segments for it :) ) here are two relevant results:

Pre DCM - Pace: 5:23. HR: 132

Since DCM - Pace: 5:51. HR: 152

I've been back running 3 weeks now and it's the same every single run, elevated HR and slower pace. I'm not sick (maybe a vague cold but nothing bad), not injured, feel fine. HRM has newish batteries, no spikes in HR - just an almost immediate increase in HR with no equivalent pace increase, same route as always and been like this since well before the current cold snap.

Has me baffled.

wersal gummage

Chabsey,

You don't actually say anything about how you feel when running?

I have also noticed fluctuating heart rate over time for similar runs etc, but I usually know it myself. Eg my easy pace run is prob around 130bpm, my max is low 190s, so really I'm only running in a 60bpm window, so for me an extra 20 is very noticeable. Sometimes when I'm tired or whatever the same run under same conditions will be 145bpm whereas a few says before it'll have been 132 or whatever, but I'll usually notice it myself while jogging that it's more effort.

Anyway, long winded but basically do you think your heart rate is massively fluctuating?

On the strap v optical, I've found the strap a lot more reliable. I'm using the fenix 7 so hopefully something reasonably reliable, but always a slight variance from the strap and also it's very slow to react, I'd say about 30 seconds or so behind what's actually happening (eg in speed repeats etc)

Annie get your Run

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121431731#Comment_121431731

I use wrist based all the time, it's perfectly accurate.

chabsey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121433168#Comment_121433168

Thanks for the reply, I generally feel fine on all these runs (although recently as I've got more frustrated with this high HR it means the start of the runs are slightly more fraught than normal easy runs - glancing at the watch in resignation etc.).

One of the things I considered while pondering what the hell was going on was that if I didn't have a HRM strapped on to me I wouldn't be aware of this higher HR. I don't feel more tired, I don't feel like it's harder or that I'm going to run out of energy soon.

Yesterday evening I tried, as an experiment, to up the pace on a 5k run. I ended up running about 1 min quicker on average than my easy pace but only 5 BPM higher.

Unfortunately I also did a lab based lactate test recently (I booked it before this whole HR mess started) and now I don't know whether to trust the zones it's given me. For example, my lab test result zone 2 turned out to be way higher than I would have thought my zone 2 should be.

Do I think my heart rate is massively fluctuating? No - I think it's solidly just gone higher. I have to hope it's a temporary thing (although 3 weeks without change is annoyingly long).

shano_88

Have come down with a flu this week (low energy, achey body etc), I still haven't recovered and am due to run a half marathon on Sunday. Its very annoying as I've given a good 2 months of training to this point but realistically should I just pull the plug now. I want to give it one more day and see if I feel better tomorrow but even at that I don't think I'll be able to race it.

Any advice?

event

Dont. Just dont, wont be worth it

TheRef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121442073#Comment_121442073

If you're not feeling good, don't run it. Not in this weather. You're almost certainty not going to enjoy being out there, and your performance will be very below what you are normally capable of. Afterwards you'll question why you bothered.

The only upside will be a medal and knowing you ran a half, but the downside is you make yourself more sick, and/or you pick up an injury. Even if you think you feel better tomorrow or Sunday, that's just your mind trying to convince yourself you can run.

AlmightyCushion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121442073#Comment_121442073

I got a bad enough dose about 2 months ago. After I recovered from it and felt 100% normally, even easy paced runs were rough enough for a few weeks. I couldn't even imagine doing a race like that. Maybe it won't be the same for you but I just wouldn't chance it. There is also the chance you feel better the day of it but your body still hasn't finished dealing with it and you just get really sick again. Exercise is good for your immune system in general but racing a half marathon will actually reduce your immune system temporarily.

shano_88

Thanks for the replies. As mentioned, even if I did run it, I wouldn't enjoy it and would likely make myself feel even worse.

I'm not going to do it, there'll be plenty of opportunities in the new year.

Border half entry available for free for anyone who wants it.

MisterJinx

Can you run in city parks at night? My local park has a gate that stays open however I've never run inside it after dark. Besides the safely and light concerns are you allowed / will you be kicked out?

Stark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121591841#Comment_121591841

I've never had issues doing so. If the gate is left open then I would assume it's fair game.

MisterJinx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121592025#Comment_121592025

Thanks! It's more like a stile which can't be closed but either way it's open all the time. I see the odd person heading down, usually with a dog. I'll know more after I try it I suppose!

Lazare

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121592212#Comment_121592212

I ran in Corkagh park yesterday evening in the dark with no issue. A couple of others there too.

MisterJinx

@Stark @Lazare Yip no issues at all, it was surprisingly busy actually. The side I usually pass by is on the main road and all the gates are locked etc and it looks ghostly however round the back there were 2 gates open and quite a few people in there. I suppose the fact that there are open tennis courts accounts for some of the traffic (it never struck me before now!!) I wound up chatting to a fella walking his dog who recommended Emmett Dunleavy to me for coaching, Mad!

Rossi7

Heading over to Sydney Mid March for three weeks. Would anyone have a site or list of races that would be on around that time, can't find anything

TheRef

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121633354#Comment_121633354

Running Calendar Australia - Running Events & Fun Runs

Murph_D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121591841#Comment_121591841

You certainly can. Sure who would be there to kick you out anyway?

Unless it’s the Botanic Gardens, where running is never allowed, because as the polite staffer who asked me to leave and drove me to gate in a golf cart said, ‘This isn’t a park!

MisterJinx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121641436#Comment_121641436

Ha Ha, I at least knew you could never run in the bots! I've run in Albert twice now and it's amazing how many people are in it at night.. Funny how I just never considered it possible as looking from the main road with all the gates locked it just seems deserted but then of course in round the back there are 2 gates open, loads of college kids walking through and the tennis courts open. Amazing the things you don't know when only looking at something from one point of view...

brick tamland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121641436#Comment_121641436

I've also been told off for trying to run in botanics, quickly told top stop and get out. I have managed a lap of Glasnevin cemetery though (Not at night time though, I'm not that brave :-) )

MisterJinx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121653356#Comment_121653356

I've though about it but decided it wouldn't be great if coming across a funeral. Use to go in there at night as a teen but those days are long gone!

FinnC

I dunno about anyone else,but to me anyway running around a graveyard just seems a bit disrespectful.

Murph_D

Long ago, living abroad, I was trying to get into the running habit and used to run through a nearby cemetery. There was one gravestone on the route with my own name on it. That was enough to make me choose a new route!