Hi friends!  It’s Marathon Monday again already!  The weeks are flying by!

So as you may recall my 14 mile run didn’t go too well.  I was awake a lot the night after that run because of my knees aching and I had a lot of time to think.  I really went back and forth a lot about whether I wanted to continue this journey.  By the time Sunday evening rolled around, while I was pre-writing the next day’s Marathon Monday post, I knew that I would press on for the time being but that I would definitely have to make some adjustments.

Prior to this experience, when I would run what I consider “comfortable” distances (in the vicinity of 3 to 5 miles) I enjoy running a 10:00 minute mile average pace.  It’s a pace at which I can carry on a conversation with running buddies yet still feel that I’m getting in a good workout.  I can run faster at those distances if I really want to challenge myself, but usually not much faster than an 8:45 or 9:00 minute pace.  The best half-marathon I completed was a time of 1:59 which is a few seconds over 9′s for the whole distance.  I was ecstatic when I crossed that finish line.

But that was 2006.

It occurred to me when I signed on for this ‘challenge’ that I’d be upping my distances in a BIG hurry and was concerned that I’d be forcing the distance progression too quickly.

Mainly because leading up to the start of our training 7 weeks ago, the farthest I’d run in the months recent to that time was 4.25 miles. It’d also been 3 years since my last half-marathon.

And during those shorter runs, I’d run at a pace that had my heart rate pretty high (mid to high 170s), without concern because I wasn’t aiming to improve my body’s aerobic capacity, increase my oxygen consumption or improve my lactate threshold.  I was just running for fun.

Now let’s talk a little about heart rate.  There are a number of methods one can use to determine their estimated maximum heart rate and the levels of training intensities as a percentage of that estimated max.  Short of doing a field test, the simplest method (but considered less accurate than other methods) is to subtract your age from 220.  For me, at 37 years old, that places my max at 183 beats per minute (bpm).  You can also use the newer equation of 205 – (.5 * age).  That one puts me at about 186 bpm.

So using the 186 bpm as the starting point, here’s what my heart rate looks like at various intensity levels:

Intensity BPM
100% 186
95% 177
90% 167
85% 158
80% 149
75% 140
70% 130
65% 121

Over the course of our recent runs, my heart rate has looked like this:

Mileage Avg HR Max HR
5.5 run 164 192
7.6 run 175 186
9.1 run 173 186
10.1 run 170 188
12.0 run 166 181
14.0 run 166 181

This means that I am generally working at intensity levels of 90-95% of my MHR.  For well over two hours!

Wanna know where I should be for long runs while training for a marathon?  65% to 75%  (121 to 140 bpm)

Now, I’ve known that I’ve been running at a rate that is too high.  If I had a client tell me that this is what they’d been doing, I’d be sitting them down for a serious chat.

I have been letting pride and ego get in the way of proper endurance training.  (Here’s what goes on in my head:  I don’t WANT to run slower than I already am because I already FEEL slow.  I really like having people to run with and if I go even slower I’ll lose my running buddies.  I ran a half-marathon at a 9 min mile at 155 bpm, I just need to suck it up and push through.)

But I also know that I’ve been running at an anaerobic level which isn’t going to do much to improve my AEROBIC level if I don’t start training at it. (Aerobic basically means “with oxygen” and anaerobic means “without oxygen” – there’s a little more to it than that, but that’s a whole other discussion and this is already a lengthy post.)

The point here?  I have to slow down to get faster.

Seems weird huh?  Here’s why:

Once I take the time to start running in my aerobic zone I will train my body’s energy system to start burning fat as fuel (rather than carbohydrates [glycogen]).   As that happens my pace will increase, but at the lower heart rate level. So I’ll slowly be getting faster, but without having to work at 95% intensity.

So this past weekend, while my running buddies were out of town, I decided to do a 10 mile training run where I focused all of my attention on my heart rate and none of my attention on pace.

My goal was to keep my heart rate under 143.  During the first 5 miles that wasn’t too hard to accomplish because I was running downstream.  Coming back from the turnaround point it did creep up a little as I had a gradual incline (if 1,150’ of ascent is considered ‘gradual’).  Truly there is no place flat to run when you live near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. :) Even when it LOOKS and FEELS  flat I get home and plug in my Garmin to find out it’s not even close to flat.

I finished the run with an average heart rate at 150 bpm, so I was around 81% intensity.  I need to drop that down a bit further on the next one (16 miles) and really focus on staying at LEAST under 143.  As much as I hate to see the snail’s pace I was running at this week get even SLOWER, I know it is what must be done.

The outcome:

  • The run itself was VERY enjoyable.  MSP was kind enough to rollerblade alongside me while I ran and it was so nice, pointing out scenery and having a few hours of quality time together. (Thank you MSP – I know it took a lot of time out of your day!)
  • My knees still hurt this time (concrete bike paths be damned!!) but they recovered pretty well by the next morning.  So well that we were able to take the dogs out Sunday morning for a hilly 5 miles, so that’s a great sign. And I didn’t even ice them Saturday (or take a torturous ice bath.)
  • No issues sleeping the night before or the night after the run.
  • No physical (or mental) fatigue afterward.

The trick will be finding out whether I have enough time to build up my speed within the aerobic zone before the marathon date of May 16.  (Or maybe pick one in May that’s at sea level rather than a mile high – that would definitely improve the heart rate!) ;)

Today’s discussion question:  do you monitor your heart rate when you exercise?  Or do you follow the RPE method?  (Rate of Perceived Exertion) I have used a heart rate monitor for cardio since I became a personal trainer in 2001 and I have to admit, I love it. It helps me keep an eye on when things aren’t working as well.

Speaking of running, I want to give a big shout out to Beth who ran another half-marathon this past weekend at DisneyWorld. Nice job Beth!!  If you are interested in helping Beth raise money on behalf of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, please click on the Team In Training banner in the right side-bar to donate.  She’ll be running her first marathon in June in support of this great cause.

Make it a GREAT week everyone!

– Shari B. =)  (aka The Tortoise!)

***

For further reading on the topic of heart rate training and aerobic endurance:

http://www.duathlon.com/articles/1460

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267–1039-1-2X5-2,00.html

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out: