I am officially a compleat idiot
As I’ve now done my 10k training plan and needed a new plan, here’s what I’m doing now: Heart Monitor Training For The Compleat Idiot (although the part of me that despises companies/marketers trying to be *ahem* “wacky” with their oh so not funny at all misspellings in their vain attempt at humour put me off but it did get good reviews and if it really starts to bug me I can Tippex it out and write it in, proper spelling and everything).
So off I went with my heart rate monitor strapped on and my new iPod Shuffle (you have no idea how small this is. Well, okay, you will have an idea (or even know exactly) how small it is if a) you have one; b) you’ve seen one; or c) you know the dimensions of it (which you will if you were one of the lucky people I emailed to say it was only 4cm x 2.5cm)). The plan says to stay below my recovery rate even if it means walking. It meant a lot of walking. I set my Garmin to beep at me if I went over the recovery rate and it was trilling like a budgie every couple of minutes or so, so I got home feeling like I’d had a little walk round the field and nothing more. Which, of course, is exactly what I had done.
Next I have to find out my maximum heart rate which entails running up and down a hill. Hmm, there are no hills here, damn. Where am I going to find a hill?
Stats:
Miles: 1.34
Total time: 17:29
Average pace: 13:03 minute/mile
Average speed: 4.6mph
Max speed: 6.5mph
Total calories: 128
Average heart rate: 147
Maximum heart rate: 161
Weather: 53F
Hills: 0
Music:
Baby Teeth – Rock The Boat
Boomtown Rats – Banana Republic
Strontium 90 – Electron Romance
We could probably lend you a few hills from round here. There’s so many I’m sure nobody would notice!
You don’t need hills to find your max heart rate. Just find a track or a nice, long path to run along. Then run as fast as you can for about three minutes, or until you feel like you want to puke (whichever comes first). That should give you a good approximation of your maximum heart rate.
You can also measure your heart rate during your next race (assuming it’s a short race and you race hard). I had my watch report a max rate of 102% at the end of one race…which meant either I was dead or I hadn’t programmed the watch with a high enough max. So I just took the race max and updated the watch setting with it.
Heart rate training will make you a better runner. Really.
Cool, thanks, that’s really helpful 🙂
Although, I don’t think I can run fast for three minutes but I’ll give it my best shot.
Hi Cathy,
Sorry to contact you like this, have not been able to find your email.
You clearly like to blog about your jogs, I’m a web geek that jogs. The geek in me has built a website that allows you to map jogs and share them with people.
I’ve called it Find A Jog, it’s at http://www.findajog.com
What’s so good about it?
Well, I’ve kept it as simple as possible, which makes it easy to use. It simply maps jogs which are then saved and can then be linked to in blogs, such as yours, like so:
http://www.findajog.com/#route53 My lunch time jog in Chiswick
http://www.findajog.com/#route71 My favourite weekend run in Watford.
It also lists all the jogs nearby so you can find routes in your neighbourhood that others have saved.
Please have a look, save a couple of your favourite routes and spread the word!
BTW – You are THE first blogger I have attempted to interest in Find A Jog, I hope your bathroom comes together soon!
Thanks,
Kevin (kevin@findajog.com)
Oh BTW,
Heart rate monitors are really good for when you are learning to run, such as yourself. The best thing about HRM’s is that after a while you begin to be able to feel how your body is performing.
When I first used a HRM I found it almost annoying as it was interupting me, beeping away, that I was outside my cardio zone. Once I had a few runs under my belt using the HRM I found I could run further for longer as it was teaching me to pace my runs according to my body (if that makes sense).
I highly recommend that once you get used to running with a HRM and can keep in the zone, you turn off the alarms and put some masking tape over the display, only checking your stats at the end of a run. This stops you from clock-watching and trains you to pace yourself. Nothing quite like nailing a really good run and having the stats to prove it!
Kevin (kevin@findajog.com)