Running HR

Heat_Wave

Hi All,

Female, 30.

I’ve been running 5ks on/off for years, and have been pretty consistent since March of last year, running 5ks and 10ks 3/4 times per week.

My average heart rate is always around 182bpm. I feel this is quite high.

Any thoughts?

Klopp

Heat_Wave wrote: »

Hi All,

Female, 30.

I’ve been running 5ks on/off for years, and have been pretty consistent since March of last year, running 5ks and 10ks 3/4 times per week.

My average heart rate is always around 182bpm. I feel this is quite high.

Any thoughts?

My Garmin watch always recorded my HR between 184/187 which I thought was very high. I recently got my own Garmin HR and did an LT test two weeks back and it recorded my max HR at 177. I don't think a watch HR is a true reflection, the HR strap is more accurate between the two.

Trampas

Heat_Wave wrote: »

Hi All,

Female, 30.

I’ve been running 5ks on/off for years, and have been pretty consistent since March of last year, running 5ks and 10ks 3/4 times per week.

My average heart rate is always around 182bpm. I feel this is quite high.

Any thoughts?

You run 3/4 times a week where your hr is 180 bpm?

If that’s correct then you race 3/4 times a week.

Slow down

Heat_Wave

Trampas wrote: »

You run 3/4 times a week where your hr is 180 bpm?

If that’s correct then you race 3/4 times a week.

Slow down

I’m not going fast, though. It takes me anything between 28-30mins to run 5k.

Also I should have noted, I wear a polar strap on my forearm.

Trampas

Heat_Wave wrote: »

I’m not going fast, though. It takes me anything between 28-30mins to run 5k.

Also I should have noted, I wear a polar strap on my forearm.

It’s all relative. You’re running to hard

CJay1

It would be worth your while establishing your HR zones.

Or at least your max HR

Yeah, sounds like you're running too fast too often

Heat_Wave

CJay1 wrote: »

It would be worth your while establishing your HR zones.

Or at least your max HR

Yeah, sounds like you're running too fast too often

I played around with it for a few weeks and had a trainer check-in on it and we landed on a Max HR of 211.

When I do very intense exercise (where I can barely breathe), it reaches about 194-196 bpm.

I’d consider myself very fit, as in, I workout 6 days per week.

Why is it that when I run 5k in 28-30mins, my max hr averages 180-182 bpm, whereas someone else (who works out a lot less than me, and would be considered overweight) can run 5k in 25mins with an average hr of 155-165 bpm? (I am thinking of someone I know here for comparison).

event

What is your resting HR?

Measure it for a day with no running and see. Then you'll know more

Heat_Wave

Heat_Wave wrote: »

Hi All,

Female, 30.

I’ve been running 5ks on/off for years, and have been pretty consistent since March of last year, running 5ks and 10ks 3/4 times per week.

My average heart rate is always around 182bpm. I feel this is quite high.

Any thoughts?

Whats your weight, don't have to answer but maybe are you carrying excess?

Anyway I was averaging in the high 170s, consciously ran slowly for a few months, very frustrating. Got new carbon runners and now my heart rate is about 156 -162, still hight in my opinion for the workrate. I found the runners i was using must of been causing stress without knowing it

Murph_D

Everyone’s HR is different so you can’t compare with others by just looking at the bpm. Best to compare your effort by thinking in terms of % of max (180/211 = 85%), or better % of HR reserve (for which you need to know your testing HR).

That said, if you’re getting 85% for an easy run, there’s probably something wrong with the strap, or how you’re wearing it. Cross reference with some different equipment.

Heat_Wave

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Whats your weight, don't have to answer but maybe are you carrying excess?

Anyway I was averaging in the high 170s, consciously ran slowly for a few months, very frustrating. Got new carbon runners and now my heart rate is about 156 -162, still hight in my opinion for the workrate. I found the runners i was using must of been causing stress without knowing it

I’m 5’8 and 11st. BMI is 23.4

I did a gait analysis test so I believe I am wearing the correct runners.

Does running slow for a few months improve your heart rate down the line? As in, if I run at a slower pace for a few months, and then in 3/4 months’ time run at my average (current) pace, will my heart rate be lower?

BeginnerRunner

Heat_Wave wrote: »

I played around with it for a few weeks and had a trainer check-in on it and we landed on a Max HR of 211.

When I do very intense exercise (where I can barely breathe), it reaches about 194-196 bpm.

I’d consider myself very fit, as in, I workout 6 days per week.

Why is it that when I run 5k in 28-30mins, my max hr averages 180-182 bpm, whereas someone else (who works out a lot less than me, and would be considered overweight) can run 5k in 25mins with an average hr of 155-165 bpm? (I am thinking of someone I know here for comparison).

Very simply, they're just better at running than you. Running is a sport specific skill it takes time to get good at.

There's plenty of people here who'd wipe the floor with on a 2k or 30 minute row test, but put them beside them over 5k or 10k and they'd make an embarrassment of me.

Being generally "fit" doesn't mean you're also going to be good at running unless you specifically train for it.

It sounds like you're doing what new people in a gym do too - failing to make the distinction between testing and training.

If every workout is a test (ie run 5k as hard and fast as you can) you rapidly tap out your current potential. In order to build further potential you have to step back and spend some time building up the base qualities needed for long term progress (I know far less of running than lifting - but the principal is the same, lots of base work).

You can build a decent gaff pretty quick on shallow foundations, but if you want to build a big ass apartment block or skyscraper the foundations are deeper, stronger and take longer to build - but they ultimately lead to a much bigger completed project.

Taken another way - you can't force fitness, you can only coax it along.

Heat_Wave

BeginnerRunner wrote: »

Very simply, they're just better at running than you. Running is a sport specific skill it takes time to get good at.

There's plenty of people here who'd wipe the floor with on a 2k or 30 minute row test, but put them beside them over 5k or 10k and they'd make an embarrassment of me.

Being generally "fit" doesn't mean you're also going to be good at running unless you specifically train for it.

It sounds like you're doing what new people in a gym do too - failing to make the distinction between testing and training.

If every workout is a test (ie run 5k as hard and fast as you can) you rapidly tap out your current potential. In order to build further potential you have to step back and spend some time building up the base qualities needed for long term progress (I know far less of running than lifting - but the principal is the same, lots of base work).

You can build a decent gaff pretty quick on shallow foundations, but if you want to build a big ass apartment block or skyscraper the foundations are deeper, stronger and take longer to build - but they ultimately lead to a much bigger completed project.

Taken another way - you can't force fitness, you can only coax it along.

Thanks a mil for this great response!

How should one “train” for running? If there’s a book I should read, or a training program which you’d recommend, I’d love to hear as I’m eager to learn and get my HR down.

Ceepo

Heat_Wave wrote: »

Thanks a mil for this great response!

How should one “train” for running? If there’s a book I should read, or a training program which you’d recommend, I’d love to hear as I’m eager to learn and get my HR down.

As others have pointed out HR is individual to you, and you cant compare yourself to someone you know.

Other factors are the type of HR monitor you use, the most accurate is a chest strap, and some of these can be glitchy depending on which brand.

For you to get the best benefit out of your training, you should try getting more structure into your weekly training session,
Doing months of "easy" running will bring on your aerobic capacity and will be highly beneficial, but can be boring.
Alternately you could structure your week to include some easy, medium and other specific run's like hill reps or similar.

An example of this would be.
Mon: easy 5k,
Tue: 1.5 warm up and cool down, 6 x 60 second hill stride's, trying to stay relaxed and keeping good "form" with a easy jog back down as your recovery.
Wed: Same as Monday.
Thurs: Rest day
Friday: 6k easy
Sat: 4k easy, but include 4/6 30 strides (not sprints) in the last 1k, with full
recovery,
Sunday: Easy 10k.
All easy runs should be approx 75% of max hr.

This would be a reasonable starting place to work from and can be progressed and build up as the weeks go by, Its also important to take a recovery week every 2/4 weeks depending of fatigue levels to let the body adjust to the training load, more is not always better.

Hope is is some what helpful.

token56

Heat_Wave wrote: »

Thanks a mil for this great response!

How should one “train” for running? If there’s a book I should read, or a training program which you’d recommend, I’d love to hear as I’m eager to learn and get my HR down.

It can be a difficult plan to follow but the 80/20 plan is a pretty good framework to follow. The idea is that for whatever amount of running you are doing, you do 80% of it at an easy pace and the remaining 20% for harder sessions/runs. Use this framework to build up mileage and the distance of your runs slowly. If you are running say 20km a week, doing just 4K hard a week doesn't seem like it will improve you too much however what this does allow you to do is to gradually build your mileage up while minimizing injury. So if after a few months you are now running 50km a week and doing 10K or 20% of your time hard a week while training for say a 5K, there is plenty of room there to do some quality work.

The big trap most people fall into, and I count myself as one of them, is what people think easy pace is. There has been quite a bit of research into this and your average recreational running who thinks they are running easy are normally running well above this. The general rule for an easy run is that it should be conversational pace, meaning you could hold a conversation with someone while running. If you are gasping for breathe while trying to talk then you are running too hard. This easy pace is going to vary quite a lot depending on your ability. For an elite running it could be 6 min per mile, for an average runner it is probably well above 8 min per mile.

There is a book I read recently on all this which might be of use:
80/20 Running: Run Stronger and Race Faster By Training by Matt Fitzgerald

If you are going to follow this you do need to have faith in the process because it will be a slow one and there will be times when you just want to run hard. However I do believe the logic and evidence is there to show it works.

robinph

Not sure if you guys are allowed to run with one other person or not, but easiest way to make yourself run slower and make sure you are running slower would be to run with a friend and ensure that you are chatting the whole way round. Slight complication in that you'll likely be able for different paces, but if you are running at the pace that the slower of you can still talk then you are definitely not going to fast for either of you.

To get faster do more running at a slower speed that you are able to talk at. If you've got some countryside trails without many other people on available to you then just try talking to yourself.

BKWDR

I recommend you have a listen to this podcast

https://anchor.fm/the-prymal-podcast/episodes/Sen-Kinane---VO2-Max-If-Youre-Not-Testing--Youre-Guessing---16-en6tef

Its about heart rate, vo2 max and how to improve your times and what you need to do in order to expand your aerobic base

Heat_Wave

Heat_Wave wrote: »

I’m 5’8 and 11st. BMI is 23.4

I did a gait analysis test so I believe I am wearing the correct runners.

Does running slow for a few months improve your heart rate down the line? As in, if I run at a slower pace for a few months, and then in 3/4 months’ time run at my average (current) pace, will my heart rate be lower?

i've done it for 3 months and nearly back at what i would class as my training pace. I have dropped about 10 bpm, thinking i need to slow down for another month to get it down to the low 150s. if i ramp up the running it gets high very fast. I do be jealous of my friends who run at a good pace over a long distance and keep it in the 140s.

Heat_Wave

I took people's advice and jogged 3.21km (2miles) today at a slower pace than I normally would and my average HR was 165 bpm. However, my graph was a gradual incline, and by the time I had finished I was up at 178 bpm again.

Today's 3.21km:
20:29 duration.
165 average bpm.
6:22 /km speed.

Last Week's 3.21km:
18:25 duration.
180 average bpm.
5:43 /km speed.

Ceepo

Heat_Wave wrote: »

I took people's advice and jogged 3.21km (2miles) today at a slower pace than I normally would and my average HR was 165 bpm. However, my graph was a gradual incline, and by the time I had finished I was up at 178 bpm again.

Today's 3.21km:
20:29 duration.
165 average bpm.
6:22 /km speed.

Last Week's 3.21km:
18:25 duration.
180 average bpm.
5:43 /km speed.

Well done on slowing down a bit.
It is common to see HR to drift upwards. This is called cardiac drift, usually due to poor aerobic conditioning. The best way to increases aerobic capacity is by slower paced running. This will take time and patience but worth it. Stick at it and you'll see gradual improvements.

Hannibal_Smith

Just as an aside to the great advice you got above - if you're worried your heart rate is too high despite heeding whats already been said, you could take a visit to your GP and ask him to check your bloods.

Heat_Wave

Ceepo wrote: »

Well done on slowing down a bit.
It is common to see HR to drift upwards. This is called cardiac drift, usually due to poor aerobic conditioning. The best way to increases aerobic capacity is by slower paced running. This will take time and patience but worth it. Stick at it and you'll see gradual improvements.

Thanks, Ceepo. Looking forward to seeing the results. I purchased two running books today, and will listen to the podcast (thanks to the poster who recommended this).

On a side note, I enjoyed the run today compared to previous runs. I will check back in here in a few weeks/months time with a progress update.

Thanks All

Annie get your Run

I'd suggest you read HADD heart rate training, you'll find a good overview here. I'm not suggesting you do this as you need to be running an hour a few days a week + 2 hours at the weekend (ish) but it will give you a really good understanding of the how and why.