This is a weekly post for the runners of LoseIt. All levels of runner are welcome, from first timers to experienced marathoners. We welcome someone who just ran for the first time or is just starting couch to 5K (r/c25k) as eagerly as someone who has thousands of miles of experience.
This post is for sharing your progress. From training you got in this last week, your first run, a virtual race, or a real race, we'd love to hear what you did. Got a running related NSV (non-scale victory), we'd love to hear. Have a question or need advice, we are here to help.
In addition to sharing your progress each week, I ramble on about some topic related to running. This week, heart rate myths and misunderstandings.
Heart Rate Myths and Misconceptions
Always, and I mean it without exception, young or old, see a doctor before starting any new exercise plan if you have any concerns.
Your Heart Rate is likely not the Standard Formula
There is a standard formula used for max heart rate -- 220 less your age. As you get older, your rate goes down. Young folks can have 200bpm pop up on their Apple watch and be working as hard as me when at 52 I'm hitting 175bpm.
This formula is widely used. If you have some heart rate measuring watch and you haven't done anything other than enter your age and basic details, this is what you are using.
Here's the problem -- this can easily be off by +/- 20bpm though and is commonly off by +/- 10bpm. Here's some of the science here :https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3935487/
What does this mean for you? Well, it can mean you watch is over or under calculating your effort.
What can you do? Actually try to figure out your max heart rate. This is crazy hard to do for most people when they first start out. But here's all sorts of ways to do it -- https://www.polar.com/blog/calculate-maximum-heart-rate-running/
There is nothing wrong with heart rates that deviate from the formula
I've seen people very confused by Fitbits or Garmins or Apple watches reporting they are in a high zone or aerobic zone from just walking around. They go out and post about their rate never getting very high when doing 30 minutes of burpees or being way high walking the dog.
This is simply your heart rate. You aren't dying because you hit 120bpm on easy stroll. You also aren't going to have a heart attack if you hit 210bpm if you are young with a higher than normal max bpm.
There's also the naturally low folks. They go out and can't get over 165bpm doing crossfit when everyone else is get 190+bpm. I know someone, under 25 years old, who could not top 150bpm. They aren't phoning it in, they just have a lower rate at the same effort. When they walk around they might barely touch 75bpm.
You need to ultimately listen to your body and follow your perceived effort (often ranked by the rating perceived effort scale, or RPE) as a control for heart rate variation. Here's a great article on RPE vs. heart rate.
https://www.mountainpeakfitness.com/blog/rpe-the-problems-with-solely-relying-on-hr
Your Max Heart Rate is not dangerous
This one I see often as well. "I hit the max heart rate for 5 minutes during my run this morning! Am I going to hurt myself?"
You aren't going to hurt yourself if you are healthy and cleared to exercise. But, you are running too fast for training. Slow down unless you are doing a strenuous all out workout or running a 5K race.
Here's the thing -- I've sat at or near my max heart rate at the end of all my PR 5Ks and 10Ks. If you exercise regularly and training for it, a sustained effort at max heart rate is often the peak performance you want to get that new personal record. It's not a problem, it's not dangerous -- it's the goal. It is something though that you want to recover from -- so if you are hitting your max heart rate regularly, make sure there's a day off or easy days in your schedule.
Easier efforts at lower heart rates aren't good as hard efforts at high heart rates
This is a misconception about training. Easy can get you where you are going when match with a modest bit of hard effort.
Are you training to be fast for a long (5K+) distance run? Then easier efforts are a big part of training for that run. Easier efforts for longer periods result in endurance gains with tiny recovery debt. You can go run an easier 60 minutes twice a week and do as much for yourself than harder 20 minute run every day.
For a 5K training plan, someone who runs 60 minutes 3 times a week easy and one 30 minute hard run may perform as well as someone who runs 6 days a week for 30 hard minutes. More time running wins -- mostly.
The best training plans mix lots of lower efforts to keep endurance adaptations happening with modest amounts of high intensity efforts to keep performance/speed progressing. There's no good plan doesn't have both hard and easy effort mixed together.
Easy Runs in Zone 2 are Way Easier than you Think
Recovery for easy runs are to be done in a low range of 60-70% of your max heart rate. Say for me at 175bpm max using the simplest formula/math an easy run is under 122bpm. Well, for many (including me) this will likely mean going really easy from the first glacial stride and walking up hills and or integrating walking breaks to keep to this range. The result to your endurance improvement is still there just as if you ran the whole thing a little harder -- trust me.
Most people do recovery or easy runs way too hard. If you work hard to run 9 minute miles, your recovery runs should likely be 10:30-11 minute miles. (For me my harder efforts are more like 11 minute miles and my easy runs are 12:30-13:00 minute miles.) But our egos and being lapped by everyone will likely keep you from going this slow (more than the zone pointer on your watch or phone). Running easy and figuring out how to do this unlocks how to run miles upon miles upon miles without injury or fatigue. And, over time, your easy run will get faster and faster.
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source https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/i89943/running_with_loseit_8112020_heart_rate_myths_and/
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