running/heartrate ?

L

lspivey09

New Member
Hi everyone!
I have a question about heart rate and training safely: Once you've been working out regularly for a while, is it OK to let your heart rate get out of the upper end of your zone (above 80 - 85%) for a while? Now I don't mean HIIT or Tabata style...let me explain: I've been working out since last February and started STS in March. I'm now repeating it and am in Mesocycle 2 now. I've done Cathe dvds or a VersaClimber for cardio, but started running recently. Once I'm warmed up, I feel like I could go faster, longer, but I try to stay in my zone. I'm 41 and I know not to get too crazy. I really can't believe this is even a question, because I'm still shocked I'm even able to do this (TY Cathe - 34 pounds and dangerously high blood pressure down!). Are there any good running sites you guys could recommend for training tips? The weather is finally cool enough here in the deep south to enjoy being outside - loving it!!!
Thanks,
Lynn
 
I think you'd be fine.

When I attended a race-walking cliinic this summer, I discoverded that the old '220-age" max-heart-rate calculation was based on a limited number (50?) of heart patients and is inaccurate for most people.

This is what most machines are calibrated at if you plug in your age. We did lactate-threshhold tests (walking 'all-out' for 8 minutes at a time, recording our HR at 2-minute intervals, resting for 2 minutes between the 8-minute pushes, before doing another, for a total of 3. The HR that came up regularly as our highest was our LT HR. Our Max HR was calculated from there. I'm 54, but my max HR is that of a 39-year-old according to the regular formula.
 
Lyn- unless you are told by your dr. that you can't tolerate a higher heart rate, don't worry about it. I always use a higher heart rate to help increase my fitness and endurance. I will see a higher rate on hills especially. The way it works is that say you are doing some intervals and you add some sprinting or a hill that increases your heart rate, do it as long as you can tolerate it, then walk it down to 75% of max, rinse and repeat for about 20 min. If you do something like that 1-2x/week, within a couple of weeks your ability will improve, you will adapt. Its like a weight workout for your heart, you ask your muscles to work heard, not just light weights/high reps, in order to build strength. I hope that makes sense.;)
 
Try this one: Target Heart Rate Calculator
Enter your resting heart rate and then calculate using your age and the 211-age/2(fit) formula.

I'll be forever grateful to the Cathelete who posted this for me years ago. The 220-age formula really doesn't cut it for fit people. I wouldn't be able to use most of my Cathe cardio if I stuck with that one.:p

I'm age 44. Every body is different but here's some of my numbers just for reference:

My 10.5 mile run on Monday had an average HR of 160 with a max of 172 at the crest of a short hill. An easy run would average around 154. Running intervals would get me into the upper 160's or 170's.

For cardio workouts, I don't feel like I'm even in a cardio zone until I'm in the 140's. If I'm doing a steady-state workout, I feel really good in the 150's. Intervals or blasts will get me into the 160's or even the low 170's. My max HR for HiiT 40/20 has been as high as 179. Based on how my body feels when I get up there, I'm sure that anything above 180 would not be wise for me.

Hope this helps.
 
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