Anyone out there use HR Training.  I started it 4 months ago and although I enjoy it, all my times have got slower and I struggle to run at my old pace.  It seems I have gone backwards and it has slowed me up.  SHould i keep going or should I go back to to my old routine.  I have a Garmin 405 and my training plans are on there from Runners World.  I have also worked out my Max and Min HR properly so I know that is correct.  ANy advise gratefully received

Thanks Lisa

I will try the book.  I do follow my plan although I must admit the full up effort work I find a struggle and maybe I should push myself a bit more.  Thanks for the book recommend

Robert

I found a way to work out my heart rate.  I run full pelt for 3 minutes, rest for 2 then full pelt again for 3 minutes, within this 8 minute run you can generally get your max HR and mine is 190 when i did it this way.  I do struggle to get my HR up to 90% initially as it means running very fast but the longer I go the slower my pace becomes and the more manageable it is.  Thanks for all your posts

Lisa

I received the book you recommended the other day and I must say it has made things much clearer.  I look forward to reading the book and training properly.  Thansk for the recommendation

Lisa

I am now 2 weeks into the HR Training from the book you recommended and I must say I feel really good, had a hard session today and felt superb as I felt i could push it further than i would normally.  I still get frustrated with the slow recovery runs but hopefully they will get faster as the book says.  So thanks for the book recommendation

Still enjoying my HR Training but finding it difficult to put in the longer miles, but getting round it.  One of the benefits I have found is that my resting HR has gone from 54 to 45, which means readjusting my zones.  One thing I would say is that I am starting to feel shaky and dizzy when not running so wondering if I need to increase my nutrition, not losing any weight but miles have increased so might start eating more.  Has anyone else ever experience this weakness and dizziness when not running.  When I run I feel superb

Thanks

Not really.  Did a race the other week and was 5 mins slower, however I felt really good and felt I could have run the race faster.  I have another one on Sunday so will see how it goes then,

Crickey Helen, a dilemma indeed,

i would say if you feel comfortable at the faster pace than your heart rate zone tells you to run just go at that pace. Perhaps your max heart rate is higher than you think and therefore the zones are all a bit low?

Andy

Hi Helen, when I do my slow recovery run at 70% I tend to jog really slow and shorten my stride quite considerably, in fact its more of a shuffle  and I'm sure I can walk faster, but it works for me.

Helen- I have exactly the same issue.

My lovely wife bought me a HRM recently, and I am finding that it is impossible to keep 'in zone' when running. If I try to keep my BPM in the right area, I have to walk. If I try to jog that slowly I also experience an uncomfortable tightness and aching in the botom of my calf muscles and the achilles which surely can't be good!  

When running at a slow comfortable pace that I can hold a conversation at, my heart rate is way up at 176, but I don't feel in any way unwell or even out of breath. I was a bit worried, so looked at the forums on the Polar website, and it seems this is a common issue. 

The usual estimate (220-age) for maximum heart rate is often as much as 20 bpm off your true MHR - the standard deviation is about 11 bpm!   If you are feeling otherwise well, you should be fine running at a comfortable pace regardless of whether you are 'in zone' according to your monitor. Chances are you are actually in the correct zone for your own natural MHR.

You could always do a test to find a more accurate MHR and manually set your monitor to use that, and see if the zones it gives you are more sensible? (Or you could just add 5 to 10 BPM to your estimated MHR and see if it the zones are any better, but not sure if that is the right thing to suggest!)

For comparison, I'm a 34 yr old man, 12 stone, 5' 9", resting heart rate naturally low at 53. Only started running 5 weeks ago, and never been particularly fit / sporty.

Keep running! 

Ian